Eastman Johnson married Elizabeth Williams Buckley of Troy, New York, in Troy in June 1869. In July, he painted three pictures in the tourist destination of Murray Bay (now known as La Malbaie), Quebec, Canada, suggesting that the newlyweds had traveled northwest for their honeymoon. It is significant, and indicative of Johnson's interests, that the paintings represent First Nations Peoples and their homes, rather than the people or landscapes of the resort area. —AM
Hills, 2021: There is no evidence that Johnson himself would have called the work “The Old Squaw,” as it is listed in the 1907 Estate Sale. Like the representations in the other Murray Bay pictures, this work is likely a respectful image of an older woman, and hence the revised title.
Although John I. H. Baur owned and annotated a copy of the catalogue of Johnson's 1907 Estate Sale, he did not include this work in his own 1940 catalogue listing; he must have obtained it after publication.
"Signed at the lower left, E. J., Murray Bay, July, 1869.
Height, 10 ½ inches; width, 7 ½ inches.
[Annotation: “32.50”]"
- Subject matter: