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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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© 2013 Christie’s Images Limited
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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. 21.1.31
Girl by the Stove
Alternate titles: possibly The Red Hot Stove; Study for "Ice Skater/Child Warming Hands in Studio"; Young Woman Near a Stove
c.1879
Oil on board
13 1/4 x 11 5/8 in. (33.7 x 29.5 cm) (irreg.)
Initialed lower right: E.J.
Markings
Label on verso: Berry-Hill, "Girl by the Stove" (C-7735)
Provenance
By descent in the family of the artist, until 1977
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1977–1982]
Private collection, 1982 (by purchase)
[Berry-Hill Galleries, New York, until 1985]
Warner Collection, by 1989
Westervelt Company, by 2011
Christie's, May 18, 2011, Property from The Westervelt Company, formerly The Gulf States Paper Corporation, lot 31 (as Study for "Ice Skater/Child Warming Hands in Studio"); did not sell
[Christie's, September 25, 2013, Sale 2729, Important American Furniture, Folk Art, Silver, Paintings and Prints including Masterworks from the Westervelt Company, lot 203 (as Study for "Ice Skater/Child Warming Hands in Studio")]
Present whereabouts unknown
Exhibitions
1907a Century Association
Century Association, New York, Memorial Exhibition of Eastman Johnson, February 9–13, 1907, [possibly, as The Red Hot Stove].1974 Union League Club of New York
The Union League Club of New York, New York, Eastman Johnson Retrospective, June 6–July 5, 1974, no. 17.1978 Hirschl & Adler
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, American Genre Painting in the Victorian Era: Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, and their Contemporaries, April 8–May 6, 1978. (Exhibition catalogue: Hirschl & Adler Galleries 1978), no. 45, p. 42, as Girl by the Stove.1989 South Bend Art Center
South Bend Art Center, South Bend, Indiana, American Masterpieces from the Warner Collection, December 9, 1989–February 4, 1990.2006 Westervelt Warner Museum of American Art
Westervelt Warner Museum of American Art, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Drawn from Life: American Genre Paintings from the Birmingham Museum of Art and the Westervelt Warner Museum of American Art, October 29, 2006–January 3, 2007.References
Tuckerman 1967
Tuckerman, Henry T. Book of the American Artists: American Artist Life. New York: James F. Carr, 1967 (reprint), p. 468 [possibly, as Girl by the Stove].Hirschl & Adler Galleries 1978
American Genre Painting in the Victorian Era: Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, and their Contemporaries. New York: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1978. Exhibition catalogue (1978 Hirschl & Adler), p. 42, no. 45 illus.Douglass 1999
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. 266 [possibly, as The Red Hot Stove].Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 2011-04-13
Examination notes: Heavy outlining (graphite or paint) along leg, hands, profile of face, box. Pink ribbons on top of bonnet. Does not seem to be varnished.
Related work
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Keywords
- Subject matter:
- Stoves »
Record last updated October 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. "Girl by the Stove, c.1879 (Hills no. 21.1.31)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=291 (accessed on April 26, 2024).