Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Amon Carter Museum of American Art
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18.0 Mother and Child
The mother and child theme in art not only has references to Christian art but also to the realities of caregiving by women. Johnson seems to have been particularly drawn to the theme as the result of his wife’s caring for their daughter, Ethel. —PH
Hills no. 18.0.11
Mother's Darling
Amon Carter Museum of American Art title: Bo-Peep
Alternate titles: possibly Bo Peep; The Peep
1872
Oil on composition board mounted to panel
22 1/8 x 26 1/2 in. (56.2 x 67.3 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: E. Johnson/1872
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Description / Remarks
Hills, 2021: The child covers her mother’s face with a handerchief in the well-known child’s play called “Peek-a-Boo.” The models are likely Johnson’s wife, Elizabeth, and daughter, Ethel, who would have been two years old in 1872. The prie-dieu (prayer bench) to the right was a piece of furniture Johnson brought back from Europe in 1855 and that features in many other of Johnson’s domestic scenes.
Frank Leslie's Historical Register of the United States Centennial Exposition, 1876: "Eastman Johnson's 'Bo-peep' (462), painted in 1872, is one of the very best of this artist's small works. It represents a young mother amusing her child by means of the game indicated in the title. The two lounge upon a sofa in a graceful and natural pose, the furniture in the apartment is carefully and exactly painted, and the tone of the work and the management of light and shade are highly artistic. It is an admirable specimen of genre painting."
Markings
Verso: 3-211-065
Provenance
Exhibitions
Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Buffalo, New York, 1873. (Buffalo Fine Arts Academy 1873), no. 121, as Mother's Darling, owner H. A. Richmond.
National Academy of Design, New York, Forty-ninth Annual Exhibition, April 9–June 6, 1874. (NAD 1874), no. 371, [possibly, as Bo Peep].
United States Centennial Commission, Philadelphia, Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, May 10–November 1876, no. 462, as Bo-Peep, owner H. Richmond.
Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Between Friends: Selections from the Collections of the Amon Carter Museum and the Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, July 17–September 12, 1982.
References
Catalogue of Works of Art on Exhibition at the Gallery of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. Buffalo, NY: Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1873. Exhibition catalogue (1873 Buffalo Fine Arts Academy), no. 121 (not illus.), as Mother's Darling.
New York: National Academy of Design, 1874. Exhibition catalogue (1874 NAD), p. 25, no. 371 [possibly, as Bo Peep].
"Composition Pictures at the Academy." Appletons' Journal 11, no. 269 (May 16, 1874), p. 636 [possibly, as Bo-Peep]: "Among the most pleasing and charmingly graceful pictures in the Exhibition are two or three small paintings, by Eastman Johnson. One, called 'Bo-Peep,' is a most graceful and spirited painting of a child, who has bound a handkerchief round her mother's eyes, the child full of life and laughter, and the mother so sweet and tender as to recall one's pleasantest impressions of such situations and such a relation. Eastman Johnson, more than any artist in New York, has the happy talent to render familiar scenes with elegance of style."
Official Catalogue of the International Exhibition of 1876. Part II: Art Gallery, Annexes, and Outdoor Works of Art. Department IV: Art. Cambridge, MA: John R. Nagle & Company, 1876. Exhibition catalogue, p. 30, no. 462, as Bo-Peep, owner H. Richmond.
G. A. R. "The Art of America: Its Exhibits at Philadelphia." New York Times, June 13, 1876, p. 1: "Eastman Johnson has in this room a charming picture of a young mother playing bo-peep with her little boy; but I prefer to pass it by that I may criticize his 'Prisoner' in Memorial Hall, which I believe to be the greatest picture he has ever painted."
Norton, Frank H. Frank Leslie's Historical Register of the United States Centennial Exposition, 1876. New York: Frank Leslie's Publishing House, 1877, p. 202 (as Bo-peep): "Eastman Johnson's 'Bo-peep' (462), painted in 1872, is one of the very best of this artist's small works. It represents a young mother amusing her child by means of the game indicated in the title. The two lounge upon a sofa in a graceful and natural pose, the furniture in the apartment is carefully and exactly painted, and the tone of the work and the management of light and shade are highly artistic. It is an admirable specimen of genre painting."
Waters, Clara Erskine Clement, and Laurence Hutton. Artists of the Nineteenth Century and Their Works. Vol. II. Boston: Houghton, Osgood, & Co., 1879, p. 12, as Bo-Peep, property of H. Richmond.
Waters, Clara Erskine Clement, and Laurence Hutton. Artists of the Nineteenth Century and Their Works. Vol. II. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1884, p. 12, as Bo-Peep.
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Charcoal Drawings by Eastman Johnson. New York: Kennedy Galleries, 1920. Exhibition catalogue (1920 Kennedy Galleries), p. 13, addendum “Paintings by Eastman Johnson" [possibly, as Bo-Peep].
Nuckols, Carol. "Carter Museum Adds 'The Peep' to Collection." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 1980, illus., as The Peep.
"Recent Painting Accessions Highlight Permanent Collection Exhibition." Amon Carter Museum Newsletter (November/December 1981).
Amon Carter Museum: An Introduction. Fort Worth, TX: Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, 1982, p. 39 illus.
Ayres, Linda, et al. American Paintings: Selections from the Amon Carter Museum. Fort Worth, TX: Amon Carter Museum, 1986, pp. 44–45 illus.
Pisano, Ronald J. Idle Hours: Americans at Leisure, 1865–1914. New York: New York Graphic Society Book, 1988, pp. 67, 78 illus.
Docherty, Linda J. The Open Book and the American Woman. The lconography of the Book. American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1991, no. 3 illus.
Langer, Cassandra. Mother & Child in Art. New York: Crescent Books, 1992, pp. 72–73 illus.
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. 261, as Mother's Darling.
Simon, David L. "Eastman Johnson's Lunchtime." Colby Quarterly 39, no. 4 (December 2003), pp. 404, 408 illus., as Bo-Peep.
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Record last updated September 6, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Mother's Darling, 1872 (Hills no. 18.0.11)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=229 (accessed on April 26, 2024).