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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
Catalogue Entry
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Photo: Richard P. Goodbody
Overall
Photo: Patricia Hills
Detail
Photo: Patricia Hills
Detail
Photo: Patricia Hills
Detail
Photo: Patricia Hills
Inscription
Photo: Patricia Hills
Verso
Photo: Patricia Hills
⊠
21.1 Girls Indoors
Johnson’s daughter, Ethel, was born in May 1870, and it is not surprising that Johnson would use her (but not exclusively) as a model for the many pictures of young girls in interiors—playing with dolls, warming their hands by a stove, reading, sleeping. Such pictures often include the same furniture, such as the prie dieu (church prayer bench or kneeler) seen in Family Cares and The Tea Party. Because they were genre paintings, not portraits, Johnson freely renders the facial features. Thus, it is not surprising that for paintings done circa 1873, the bodily types of the girls look like three-year-olds; whereas those done circa 1878, look more like eight-years-olds. —PH
Hills no. 21.1.3
Warming Her Hands
Alternate titles: possibly Getting Warm; possibly Warming Hands; Girl Warming Hands
1862
Oil on canvas
12 x 9 1/8 in. (30.5 x 23.2 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: E. Johnson. / .62; upper right, on calendar: 1861
Markings
Label on verso: Godel & Co. Fine Art
Inscribed on frame, twice, in pencil: #101
Inscribed on frame, twice, in pencil: #101
Provenance
Possibly Robert Morrison Olyphant, New York, by 1867 or 1876
[R. Somerville, auctioneer, December 18–19, 1877, Chickering Hall, Mr. Robert M. Olyphant's Collection of Paintings by American Artists, no. 140 (as Warming her Hands, 10 x 12)]
Possibly E. G. Tillotson, December 18, 1877 (by purchase)
Private collection, California
[Christie's, September 26, 1991, lot 17 (as Warming Her Hands)]
Private collection, September 26, 1991–2006 (by purchase)
[Christie's, November 30, 2006, Sale 1731, lot 100 (as Warming Her Hands)]
Godel & Co., Inc., New York, 2006–2012
The Newark Museum of Art, New Jersey, June 2012 (by purchase)
Exhibitions
1862 NAD
National Academy of Design, New York, April 14–June 23, 1862. (NAD 1862), no. 281, as Warming Her Hands.1876c Century Association
Century Association, New York, May 6, 1876, no. 21, [possibly, as Warming Hands].1876 NAD and Met
National Academy of Design and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The New York Centennial Loan Exhibition, June 23–November 10, 1876, no. 243, [possibly, as Warming Her Hands, From the Collection of Mr. R. M. Olyphant].References
NAD 1862
New York: National Academy of Design, 1862. Exhibition catalogue (1862 NAD), no. 281, as Warming Her Hands.Tuckerman 1867
Tuckerman, Henry T. Book of the American Artists: American Artist Life. New York: G. P. Putnam & Son, 1867, p. 625 [possibly, as Getting Warm, owner R. M. Olyphant, Esq, N. Y.]Somerville Art Gallery 1877
Somerville Art Gallery. Catalogue of Robert M. Olyphant's Collection of Paintings by American Artists. New York: Somerville Art Gallery, 1877. Sale catalogue, p. 10 [possibly, as Warming her hands].Hills 1972a
Hills, Patricia. Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1972. Exhibition catalogue (1972 Whitney Museum), pp. 40, 82, 83, as Warming Her Hands.Carbone and Hills 1999
Carbone, Teresa A., and Patricia Hills. Eastman Johnson: Painting America. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum of Art, in association with Rizzoli International Publications, 1999. Exhibition catalogue (1999 Brooklyn Museum), p. 54, fig. 35, as Warming Her Hands.Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 1991-08-02 (Christie's East); 2006-08-31; 2019-02-20
Examination notes: 1991-08-02: Back of board: typical light grey slate color. Highlights on studs of table. Transparency is reddish. #101 in pencil on frame in two places.
2006-08-31: Older girl, perhaps 10—mauve brown skirt with apron. Black [or dark green] cap with multicolor trim and lining. Knitted head scarf. Stove with paw feet. Pan under stove and short poker. Highlights on upholstery tacks on foot stool and on shelf.
2019-02-20: Signature LL: E. Johnson./ .62. UR. Note calendar is for 1861. Landscape painting UR. Figure stands upright. Face very delicate with tiny strokes. Dark jacket with coral and turquoise trim. Scarf around head is green turquoise and black. Stool (or part of a chair with a rush seat) and footstool at right. Basket on ledge with highlights on studs.
Back: Relined. Godel label.
2006-08-31: Older girl, perhaps 10—mauve brown skirt with apron. Black [or dark green] cap with multicolor trim and lining. Knitted head scarf. Stove with paw feet. Pan under stove and short poker. Highlights on upholstery tacks on foot stool and on shelf.
2019-02-20: Signature LL: E. Johnson./ .62. UR. Note calendar is for 1861. Landscape painting UR. Figure stands upright. Face very delicate with tiny strokes. Dark jacket with coral and turquoise trim. Scarf around head is green turquoise and black. Stool (or part of a chair with a rush seat) and footstool at right. Basket on ledge with highlights on studs.
Back: Relined. Godel label.
Keywords
- Subject matter:
- Stoves »
Record last updated October 21, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Warming Her Hands, 1862 (Hills no. 21.1.3)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=287 (accessed on May 2, 2024).