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Photo: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
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13.6 Maple Sugar Camps, 1860s—In the Woods
The making of maple sugar was a traditional industry for Maine people, as it still is today. Johnson specifically traveled to Maine, his birthplace, in the early spring of the early 1860s to study and watch farmers as they tapped the trees, gathered sap, and then set up camps to boil the sap down to thick, sweet maple syrup. As scholar Brian Allen has pointed out, during the Civil War years, maple syrup was a patriotic alternative to the sugar cane sugar of Southern plantations [See Allen 2004]. Allen quotes the Philadelphia physician and abolitionist Benjamin Rush, who said in 1792: “I cannot help contemplating a maple sugar tree without a species of veneration, for I behold in it a happy means of rendering commerce and slavery of African brethren in sugar islands as unnecessary” [See Allen 2004, p. 47].
The camps became hubs of dancing, flirting, and jocular humor, and included children mingling with adults. Although Johnson worked on making sketches for years, he never completed a finished version of the “larger & more pretenscious [sic] sugaring picture” that he wrote to patron John Coyle he had planned to make. —PH
Hills no. 13.6.9
Baur no. 45 / 1907 Sale no. 71
On Their Way to the Camp
National Gallery of Art title: On Their Way to Camp
Alternate titles: Going to the Camp; On the Way to Camp
1873
Locale: Near Fryeburg, Maine
Oil on board
19 1/4 x 29 5/8 in. (48.9 x 75.2 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: E. Johnson/1873
1907 Estate Sale 
No. 71: "Two sturdy, half-grown boys are hauling a sled with its sap barrel, on their way to gather the liquid from the trees in the maple grove. A small child, perched astride of the barrel, steadies himself by holding to the wooden funnel, hugely enjoying his ride. On either side of the group, which is in full sunlight, are two great maple trees, each with two spigots from which the sap is dripping into birch bark receptacles, and in the middle distance a fire is seen blazing near a small shelter, half concealed by the underbrush and partly buried in the snow."
"Signed at the lower right, E. Johnson, 1873.
Height, 19 inches; length, 30 inches."
[Annotation: “100.00 / Cogswell”]
"Signed at the lower right, E. Johnson, 1873.
Height, 19 inches; length, 30 inches."
[Annotation: “100.00 / Cogswell”]
Provenance
Eastman Johnson estate/Mrs. Eastman Johnson, New York, 1906 (by bequest)
[The artist's estate sale, American Art Association, New York, February 26–27, 1907, no. 71 (as On Their Way to the Camp)]
William Browne Cogswell, Syracuse, New York, husband of the artist's niece, Mary Naomi Johnson Cogswell (daughter of the artist's brother Reuben), February 26, 1907 (by purchase)
Cora Browning Cogswell, his wife, 1921 (by bequest)
Florence Pearl and Elizabeth C. Browning, Syracuse, New York, 1936 until at least 1940 (by bequest)
Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Newhouse, by 1972
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, September 1991 (as On the Way to Camp)]
Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr., Los Angeles, January 1992–2008
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2008 (by gift and purchase)
Exhibitions
1907a Century Association
Century Association, New York, Memorial Exhibition of Eastman Johnson, February 9–13, 1907, as Going to the Camp.1939 Brooklyn Museum
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. 45, as On Their Way to the Camp.1944a John Levy Galleries
John Levy Galleries, New York, America in the 19th Century: Its People, Pleasures, and Pursuits, May 16–June 9, 1944. (John Levy Galleries 1944), no. 6, as On the Way to Camp.1972 Whitney Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition, March 28–May 14, 1972. (Exhibition catalogue: Hills 1972a), no. 75, b/w illus., p. 68, as On Their Way to the Camp. 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, 1972.1973 Parrish Art Museum
Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York, Art from Southampton Collections, August 4–September 2, 1973.1992 National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., [Loan on display with permanent collection], 1991–92.References
AAA 1907b
Catalogue of Finished Pictures, Studies, and Drawings by the Late Eastman Johnson, N.A. New York: American Art Association, February 1907. Sale catalogue, n.p., no. 71, as On Their Way to the Camp.American Art News 1907b
"Eastman Johnson Sale." American Art News 5, no. 20 (March 2, 1907), as On Their Way to the Camp.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), no. 45, as On Their Way to the Camp.John Levy Galleries 1944
America in the 19th Century: Its People, Pleasures, and Pursuits. New York: John Levy Galleries, 1944. Exhibition catalogue (1944a John Levy Galleries), n.p., no. 6, as On the Way to Camp.Hills 1972a
Hills, Patricia. Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1972. Exhibition catalogue (1972 Whitney Museum), 68, no. 75 illus., as On Their Way to the Camp.Allen 2004a
Allen, Brian T. Sugaring Off: The Maple Sugar Paintings of Eastman Johnson. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, in association with the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, 2004. Exhibition catalogue (2004 Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute), pp. 48–49, fig. 26.Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 1970-11-18; 1971-08-05
Examination notes: 1970-11-18: Light from left on boy's side of face. Also on side of face of left boy who wears brown pants, navy shirt and cream-colored suspenders. Right boy—turquoise pants, tan vest and red shirt. Fire in background—soft grays and browns. Boy has turquoise cap. Left side: Birch trees similar to Whittredge. Touches of dark green U.L.
1971-08 Note: fire and shed in background. Very white snow and dark green moss on the tree at right. Little boy—turquoise cap and greenish brown jacket. Deft strokes in front. Atmospheric—figures behind, just touches suggest whole figures. Tree trunk, unmechanical. Blue shadow along snow. Blue-grey.
1971-08 Note: fire and shed in background. Very white snow and dark green moss on the tree at right. Little boy—turquoise cap and greenish brown jacket. Deft strokes in front. Atmospheric—figures behind, just touches suggest whole figures. Tree trunk, unmechanical. Blue shadow along snow. Blue-grey.
Keywords
- Subject matter:
- Barrels »
- Maple sugar »
- Sleds »
Record last updated July 28, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "On Their Way to the Camp, 1873 (Hills no. 13.6.9)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=200 (accessed on April 26, 2024).