Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Courtesy the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
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25.1 Women Indoors
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 no. 25.1.14
A Day Dream
Alternate titles: Day Dreams; Interior—A Young Woman Looking Out the Window at the Snow
1877
Oil on paper board
24 x 12 in. (61 x 30.5 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: E. Johnson/-77
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Markings
Inscribed twice on verso: A Day Dream
Exhibitions
Chicago Inter-State Industrial Exposition, Chicago, 1877. (Exhibition catalogue: Chicago Inter-State 1877), no. 224, [likely, as A Day Dream].
Cleveland Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the Hospitals, Cleveland, November 1878, as A Day Dream.
Century Association, New York, Memorial Exhibition of Eastman Johnson, February 9–13, 1907, [possibly, as Day Dreams], as Day Dreams.
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition, March 28–May 14, 1972. (Exhibition catalogue: Hills 1972a), no. 92, color illus., p. 93, as Day Dreams. Traveled to: The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, June 7–July 22, 1972; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, August 15–September 30, 1972; Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, October 20–December 3, 1972.
References
"The Exposition; Oil Pictures in Gallery B." The Chicago Daily Tribune, September 23, 1877, p. 12, "The more prominent figure pieces of the room are…Eastman Johnson's figure of a young woman busily thinking [A Day Dream] and the stippled head of the Maid of Venice…"
Catalogue of the Paintings in the Art Gallery of the Inter-State Industrial Exposition of Chicago. Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co., 1877. Exhibition catalogue (1877 Chicago Inter-State), p. 11, no. 224 [possibly, as A Day Dream].
"Cleveland Loan Exhibition—The New York Pictures." New York Herald, November 3, 1878, p. 6, as A Day Dream.
Hills, Patricia. Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1972. Exhibition catalogue (1972 Whitney Museum), p. 93, no. 92 illus., as Day Dreams.
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. 199, no. 91, as A Day Dream.
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 Day Dreams].
Hills Examination/Opinion
Examination date(s): 1971-04-23
Examination notes: Excellent painting: see description of Day Dreams. Turquoise skirt. Grey jacket trimmed with red. Kelly green scarf at her throat. Sharp lines on window frame. Head tilted at an odd angle. Sewing basket on candle stick table. Blue gray white snow. Luminous brown shadows. Pure color where highlights are. Red trim, yellow bracelet.
Related work
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Keywords
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Record last updated July 29, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "A Day Dream, 1877 (Hills no. 25.1.14)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=329 (accessed on May 2, 2025).