Catalogue Entry
Johnson’s wife, Elizabeth, no doubt turned his attention to representations of women alone—either in interiors or outside. Such women are often lost in thought and suggest sentient beings with an inner life. In my interviews with descendants of Johnson’s siblings, she is presented as an independent woman. Johnson painted her portrait in which she assumes the posture of a woman who thinks on her own (also see theme 31.3). —PH
Hills, 2021: Although the 1907 Estate Sale Catalogue refers to the figure as a "young girl," it is more likely the same young woman as in A Day Dream.
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.
Height, 12 inches; length, 24 inches" [note: dimensions likely are reversed]
[Annotation: “130.00 / O. Burnet [sic], agent for John Mack (Albany) d.”]
- Subject matter
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