Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné

Patricia Hills, PhD, Founder and Director | Abigael MacGibeny, MA, Project Manager

Catalogue Entry

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Photo: Richard Walker

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Photo: Richard Walker

Overall

Photo: Patricia Hills

Detail

Photo: Patricia Hills

[ 19.0 Children and Artisans ]

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19.0 Children and Artisans

The artisan teaching or showing his skills to children is a common theme in both European and American genre painting. The passing of knowledge from generation to generation had great appeal to those interested in the stability of community. —PH

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Hills no. 19.0.5

Baur no. 137

The Scissors Grinder

Alternate title: Scissors Grinder

1870

Oil on canvas

20 1/4 x 16 1/4 in. (51.4 x 41.3 cm)

Signed and dated lower right: E. Johnson/1870

Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York, Gift of Stephen C. Clark (N0424.1955)

Description / Remarks

Fenimore Art Museum information sheet, undated: "Scene depicts male scissors grinder standing at small table and sharpening scissors on a grindstone. He is observed by a young girl and boy. Predominant colors are dark black/green background of threes (top 1/3), brown and green ground (bottom 1/2) white blouse and gred [sic] skirt of girl, flesh tones of girl's back and neck, boy's red shirt, and drab green coat of scissors grinder."

MacGibeny, 2021: On Sunday, February 23, 1873, Johnson's friend and fellow artist Jervis McEntee wrote in his diary: "Hamilton [likely William H. Hamilton, a businessman and active collector] came in with his wife to tell me I made a great mistake in not allowing him to make me an offer the last time he was here. That he was prepared to offer me within $40 of my price but that I was so decided he went and spent the money for a picture of Eastman Johnson, the Scissors Grinder."

Markings

Label: MacBeth

Provenance

Likely William Henry Hamilton, New York, 1873

Francis P. Garvan, by 1937

Macbeth Gallery, New York

Stephen Carlton Clark, Sr., Cooperstown, New York, until January 21, 1946

Otsego County Historical Society, Inc., Cooperstown, New York, January 21, 1946, until 1955 (by gift)

Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York (originally New York State Historical Association, until renaming of NYSHA property Fenimore House to Fenimore Art Museum in 1999 and dissolution of NYSHA in 2017), 1955 (by gift)

References

McEntee 1872–74

McEntee, Jervis. Diary, Volume I, 1872 May 10–1874 November 20. 1872–74. Jervis McEntee papers, 1796, 1848–1905, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Sun. Feb. 23, 1873, "Hamilton [probably William H. Hamilton, a businessman and active collector] came in with his wife to tell me I made a great mistake in not allowing him to make me an offer the last time he was here. That he was prepared to offer me within $40 of my price but that I was so decided he went and spent the money for a picture of Eastman Johnson, the Scissors Grinder".

Baur 1940

Baur, John I. H. An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 1940. Exhibition catalogue (1939 Brooklyn Museum), p. 66, no. 137, as Scissors Grinder.

Crosby 1944

Crosby, Everett U. Eastman Johnson at Nantucket: His Paintings and Sketches of Nantucket People and Scenes. Nantucket, MA, 1944, pp. 19, 62, C.56, illus., as The Scissors Grinder.

Dun's Review 1949

Dun's Review (New York) (February 1949), p. 5.

Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association 2000

The Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association 53, no. 2 (June 2000), reproduced on front cover.

Hills Examination / Opinion

Examination date(s): 1971-09-25; 2018-06-27

Examination notes: 1971-09-25: Salmon pink blouse on boy and girl's skirt. He has turquoise stockings and brown pants. Sweet bon-bon face. Still life details are good. Two umbrellas at left. Scissors and bell. Attention paid to his face, her braids. Man's face is in shadow. Setting seems artificial. An arbor with green leaves. Figures don't seem well placed in space.Extraordinarily large hand on man. Contrived subject.

Related work

Keywords

Subject matter:
- Adults teaching children »

Record last updated March 22, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.

Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "The Scissors Grinder, 1870 (Hills no. 19.0.5)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=164 (accessed on May 6, 2024).