⊠13.1 Maine Rustic/Farm, 1860s—Figures in Barns
In the nineteenth century, attitudes towards work changed, especially in the northern states of America. Although some artists made fun of “country bumpkins,” in general, farm work and farmers began to take on greater prestige and admiration. During the 1860s, Johnson returned to his birthplace in Maine to make studies of maple sugar production and also to seek out subjects of a rural life far removed from slavery. Barn interiors and home interiors show the families of farmers husking corn, winnowing grain, of taking a smoke. Exteriors show farmers at harvest time, loggers cutting trees or simply relaxing. In choosing scenes of rural white America Johnson was following in the tradition of Francis William Edmonds, George H. Durrie, Tompkins H. Matteson, and William Sidney Mount—a tradition popularized by the prints of Currier and Ives. —PH
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Hills no. 13.1.2
Corn Shucking “Down East”
Alternate titles: possibly Down East; possibly Husking
c.1861
Oil
[dimensions unknown]
loading
Exhibitions
Young Men's Association, Troy, New York, February 1, 1861, no. 50, as
Corn Shucking “Down East”, owner Young Men's Association
.
Young Men's Association, Buffalo, New York, December 24, 1861, no. 153, [possibly, as
Husking]
.
Young Men's Association, Troy, New York, 1862, no. 1, [possibly, as
Down East, owner Young Men's Association]
.
References
Douglass, Julie M. "Lifetime Exhibition History." In
Eastman Johnson: Painting America,
by Teresa A. Carbone and Patricia Hills.
Brooklyn, NY:
Brooklyn Museum of Art, in association with Rizzoli International Publications,
1999.
Exhibition catalogue, p. 260
.
Record last updated July 4, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Corn Shucking “Down East”, c.1861 (Hills no. 13.1.2)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=1690 (accessed on April 24, 2024).