As Johnson got to know his nieces and also his daughter Ethel during their teen-aged years, he realized that they were not just genteel creatures who read books, but also smart young adults who read newspapers. Of all American artists, Johnson is perhaps the only artist (besides women artists such as Lily Martin Spencer and Mary Cassatt) who shows women reading newspapers. —PH
Hills 2021: Although called Young Girl Reading, the description in the 1907 Estate Sale catalogue suggests an adolescent. Bretelles were a feature of women's dresses, and thus more likely to be worn by an adolescent than a child.
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 right, E.J.
Height, 11 ½ inches; width, 6 inches"
[No notations]
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