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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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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. 25.1.7
Baur no. 144 / 1907 Sale no. 17
Watched Pot Never Boils
Alternate title: The Watched Pot Never Boils
c.1870–79
Oil on canvas
15 1/2 x 12 1/2 in. (39.4 x 31.8 cm)
Initialed lower right in black: E J
1907 Estate Sale 
No. 17: "A young country girl, dressed in spotted calico gown with a brown apron, is sitting in a kitchen chair, leaning against a whitewashed wooden partition near an ordinary cooking stove, on which is an iron tea-kettle. A few garments and utensils hang upon the wall, and the window near the stove is covered by an old-fashioned painted shade."
"Signed at the lower right, E. J.
Height, 14 ½ inches; width, 12 ½ inches"
[Annotation: “90.00”]
"Signed at the lower right, E. J.
Height, 14 ½ inches; width, 12 ½ inches"
[Annotation: “90.00”]
Provenance
Eastman Johnson estate/Mrs. Eastman Johnson, New York, 1906 (by bequest)
[The artist's estate sale, American Art Association, New York, February 26–27, 1907, no. 17 (as Watched Pot Never Boils)]
Thomas Hamlin Hubbard
Sibyl Emma Hubbard (Mrs. Herbert Seymour) Darlington, Philadelphia, his daughter, by 1940 until March 25, 1941 (by descent)
The Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, San Diego, March 25, 1941 until June 11, 1987 (by gift; deaccessioned)
Rifkin & Young Fine Arts, New York
[Butterfield & Butterfield, June 11, 1987, lot 2612 (as Watched Pot Never Boils)]
Institute for Management Studies, San Francisco, June 11, 1987
Gordon Peters, Reno, Nevada
Exhibitions
1937 Frazier Gallery
Frazier Gallery, New York, Eastman Johnson 1824–1906: Forerunner of Homer and Eakins, September–October 1937. (Hirschl 1937); (Frazier Gallery 1937a), no. 21.1939 Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906, January 18, 1939–February 26, 1940. (Exhibition catalogue: Baur 1940), no. 144, as Watched Pot Never Boils.1940 Douthitt Gallery
The Douthitt Gallery, New York, Eastman Johnson: The Keystone Artist, March 28–April 30, 1940. (Douthitt Gallery 1940), no. 12, as The Watched Pot Never Boils.References
AAA 1907b
Catalogue of Finished Pictures, Studies, and Drawings by the Late Eastman Johnson, N.A. New York: American Art Association, February 1907. Sale catalogue, n.p., no. 17, as Watched Pot Never Boils.Baur 1940
Baur, John I. H. An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 1940. Exhibition catalogue (1939 Brooklyn Museum), pp. 44, 66, no. 144, as Watched Pot Never Boils.Crosby 1944
Crosby, Everett U. Eastman Johnson at Nantucket: His Paintings and Sketches of Nantucket People and Scenes. Nantucket, MA, 1944, p. 20, 64, no. C.59, illus., as Watched Pot Never Boils.Eureka Humboldt Times 1966
Eureka Humboldt Times, May 8, 1966, p. 80, as The Watched Pot Never Boils.Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 1987-04-24
Examination notes: 1987-04-24 Childs Gallery: Face OK. New stretcher and wax lined. Face soft but good. Lips—slight graphite. Under microscope—over eye/abrasion. (New varnish to "a masking varnish.") Woman seated.
Keywords
- Subject matter:
- Stoves »
- Ownership status:
Record last updated June 29, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Watched Pot Never Boils, c.1870–79 (Hills no. 25.1.7)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=331 (accessed on May 2, 2024).