Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
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14.0 Lily Pond Scenes
Johnson did few landscapes. Of those he did, he seems to have never sent them out on exhibition. Some of them are intimate views of his trips into nature, with sunlight falling on paths that lead through woodland trees or a haze on quiet lakes. None of them are dramatic views of mountains or rivers. He made several of the villages of Nantucket. Some seem to be instances where he painted the backyards of friends or family with a focus on the compositions of angles of planks, stairs, and siding. —PH
Hills no. 14.0.1
Baur no. 107
Gathering Lilies
Alternate titles: Girl Picking Lilies; Girl Picking Water Lilies; Girl Picking Waterlilies; Woman Picking Waterlilies
1865
Oil on board
18 1/2 x 15 1/4 in. (47 x 38.7 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: E. Johnson/- 65
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Description/Remarks
National Gallery of Art website, accessed June 30, 2020: "During the mid-1860s, [Johnson] turned his attention to painting idealized views of women in various pursuits; his masterpiece among these is the beautiful Gathering Lilies. A solitary woman is shown bending down to pick the flower of a water lily from the surface of a tranquil pond with her right hand while holding other flowers in her left."
Provenance
Exhibitions
Allston Club, Boston, First Exhibition, 1866. (Exhibition catalogue: Allston Club 1866), no. 25, as Gathering Lilies, owner T. G. Appleton.
Frazier Gallery, New York, Eastman Johnson 1824–1906: Forerunner of Homer and Eakins, September–October 1937. (Hirschl 1937); (Frazier Gallery 1937a), no. 6, as Girl Picking Lilies.
Frazier Gallery, New York, Tom Sawyer, His Life and Times: An American Genre Show, April 20–May 20, 1938, no. 6, b/w illus., Pl. IX, as Girl Picking Water Lilies.
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906, January 18, 1939–February 26, 1940. (Exhibition catalogue: Baur 1940), no. 107, pl. IX, as Girl Picking Water Lilies.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Romantic Painting in America, November 17, 1943–February 6, 1944. (Exhibition catalogue: Soby and Miller 1943), no. 116, 71, as Girl Picking Water Lilies, lent by Mr. and Mrs. I. M. Cohen.
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition, March 28–May 14, 1972. (Exhibition catalogue: Hills 1972a), no. 47, color illus., cover, p. 59, as Woman Picking Waterlilies. Traveled to: The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, June 7–July 22, 1972; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, August 15–September 30, 1972; Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, October 20–December 3, 1972.
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, Eastman Johnson: Painting America, October 29, 1999–February 6, 2000. (Exhibition catalogue: Carbone and Hills 1999), no. 33, as Gathering Lilies. Traveled to: San Diego Museum of Fine Arts, San Diego, February 25–May 21, 2000; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, June 8–September 10, 2000.
References
First Exhibition. Boston: Printed by A. Mudge, 1866. Exhibition catalogue (1866 Allston Club), no. 25, as Gathering Lilies.
Frazier Gallery. Eastman Johnson: 1824–1906: Forerunner of Homer and Eakins. New York: Frazier Gallery, 1937. Exhibition catalogue (1937 Frazier Gallery), p. 4, no. 6, as Girl Picking Lilies.
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), pp. 40, 64, no. 107, as Girl Picking Water Lilies.
Keck, Sheldon. "A Use of Infra-Red Photography in the Study of Technique." Technical Studies in the Field of the Fine Arts 9, no. 3 (1941), p. 146, fig. 2, illus., as Girl Picking Water Lilies.
Soby, James Thrall, and Dorothy C. Miller. Romantic Painting in America. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1943. Exhibition catalogue (1943 Museum of Modern Art), pp. 71, 137, no. 116, illus., as Girl Picking Water Lilies.
Hills, Patricia. Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1972. Exhibition catalogue (1972 Whitney Museum), front cover and p. 59, no. 47, illus., as Woman Picking Waterlilies.
Carbone, Teresa A., and Patricia Hills. Eastman Johnson: Painting America. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum of Art, in association with Rizzoli International Publications, 1999. Exhibition catalogue (1999 Brooklyn Museum), p. 65, no. 33, as Gathering Lilies.
Hills Examination/Opinion
Examination date(s): 1971-05
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Record last updated June 2, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Gathering Lilies, 1865 (Hills no. 14.0.1)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=166 (accessed on October 6, 2024).