Catalogue Entry
When Johnson returned to the United States, he not only painted genre paintings but he also continued to paint portraits, which gave him a steady income. After 1880 Johnson turned to portraiture almost exclusively. During the 1880s and 1890s he painted businessmen, lawyers, university presidents, and three U.S. presidents from life. At times he also painted their wives and children.
He was also commissioned to paint posthumous portraits, often from photographs. These portraits by and large do not have the sparkle and active brushwork of those done from life. It seems that the demand for portraits of business and civic leaders (and members of exclusive men’s clubs) was so high that portrait painters would often make copies of each other’s paintings to satisfy the market for such images. In many instances, it has been difficult to render opinions for such paintings. —PH
MacGibeny, 2021: See the linked Century Association photograph of Whitelaw Reid for his likeness in 1870, at age 33.
Whitelaw Reid (October 27, 1837–December 15, 1912). Politician and notable editor and publisher of the New York Tribune, from 1872. Counseled presidential nominee James A. Garfield in 1880; after Benjamin Harrison’s election in 1888 he was given the post of Ambassador to France; served as President Harrison’s running mate for re-election in 1892 [“Around and About James A. Garfield: Whitelaw Reid (Part I)” – NPS].
- Portrait pose: