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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Richard P. Goodbody
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25.2 Women Outdoors
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. 25.2.3
Catching the Bee
1872
Locale: Likely Nantucket, Massachusetts
Oil on canvas (Masonite covers back of painting)
22 x 13 3/4 in. (55.9 x 34.9 cm)
Signed and dated lower left in brown paint: E. Johnson/1872
Description / Remarks
MacGibeny, 2021: In August 1872, Johnson's friend and fellow artist Jervis McEntee visited Johnson's studio in Nantucket, Massachusetts. On Monday, Aug. 26, he recorded in his diary an observation that likely pertains to this painting: “He has a good large studio and had one fine study which he had made up in the town; a grape arbor with hollyhocks.”
Newark Museum of Art object report, November 26, 2018: Woman stands in garden in profile. Rich greens in ground and in flowering vines at left and behind her.
Markings
Labels/Stamps: back of frame: u.l. printed and typed paper label "WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART / 945 Madiso Avenue / New York, N.Y. 10021 / Artist Eastman Johnson / Title CATCHING THE BEE / Date 1872 Catalogue No. 70 [red marker] / Lender The Newark Museum / Exhibition [stamp black ink} EASTMAN JOHNSON / MARCH 28 - MAY 14, 1972"; verso board: u.l. printed and typed paper label c. printed label " eagle [logo] / Eagle / Transfer / Corp. / 435 / Greenwich Street / New York / N.Y. 10013 / 212-966-4100 / Ref. No. / A-2349 / Item No. #13 Newark / 58.1"; u.r. printed label "TERRA MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART / 2600 Central Park. Evanston, IL 60201 / 312 328-3400 / ARTIST: Eastman Johnson / TITLE: CATCHING THE BEE, 1872 / MEDIUM: Oil on canvas 22 7/8" x 13 3/4" / LENDER: The Newark Museum / Newark, New Jersey / EXHIBITION: 'DOWN GARDEN PATHS' / December 13 - February 12, 1984 / CATALOGUE NO."; u.r. gum label "No. 69849 / FRAME"; ul.r. paper label MAM [logo] / This work exhibited at the MONTCLAIR ART MUSEUM / Montclair, New Jersey Ocober 1 - November 30, 1983 / DOWN GARDEN PATHS / The Floral Environment in American Art / (Title of Exhibition)"; l.l. printed label "BROOKLYN MUSUEM OF ART / 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York 11238-6052 / 718 638-5000 / Eastman Johnson: Painting America / Venues & Dates: Brooklyn Museum of Art: 10/29/99 - 2/6/00 / San Diego Museum of Art - 2/25 - 5/21/00 / Seattle Museum of Art - 6/8 - 9/10/00 / .58 / East Johnson (American, 1824-1906) / Catching the Bee / 1872 / oil on canvas / 22 x 13 3/4 inches / The Newark Museum, Purchase 1958 Wallace M. / Scudder Bequest Fund, 58.1 / TL1999.156.58"
Provenance
Miss Jones, by 1876
Edgar R. Arnold, Jamestown, Rhode Island
S. Morton Vose, by November 1957
[Vose Galleries, Boston, c. November 14, 1957]
The Newark Museum of Art, New Jersey, January 13, 1958 (by purchase)
Exhibitions
1873b NAD
National Academy of Design, New York, April 15–June 7, 1873. (Exhibition catalogue: NAD 1873), no. 191, as Catching the Bee.1875 Chicago Interstate Industrial Exposition
Chicago Interstate Industrial Exposition, Chicago, 1875, no. 209, as Catching the Bee.1876 United States Centennial Commission
United States Centennial Commission, Philadelphia, Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, May 10–November 1876, no. 143, as Catching the Bee, owner Miss Jones.1960 Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, March 10–June 10, 1960.1966 Michigan State University
Michigan State University, Michigan, Michigan, 19th Century American Painting, January 30–February 22, 1966.1969 Hirschl & Adler
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, The American Scene: A Survey of the Life and Landscape of the 19th Century, October 29–November 22, 1969. (Hirschl & Adler Galleries 1969), [possibly].1972 Whitney Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition, March 28–May 14, 1972. (Exhibition catalogue: Hills 1972a), no. 70, color illus., p. 62, as Catching the Bee. 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, 1972.1977 M. Knoedler & Co.
M. Knoedler & Co, New York, Aspects of a Collection: 18 and 19th Century American Paintings from the Newark Museum, April 6–30, 1977.1983 Montclair Art Museum
Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey, Down Garden Paths: The Floral Environment in American Art, September 1–October 30, 1983. Traveled to: Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, December 31, 1983–February 12, 1984; Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, March 2–May 27, 1984.1999 Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, Eastman Johnson: Painting America, October 29, 1999–February 6, 2000. (Exhibition catalogue: Carbone and Hills 1999), no. 90, color illus., p. 197, as Catching the Bee. Traveled to: San Diego Museum of Fine Arts, San Diego, February 25–May 21, 2000; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, June 8–September 10, 2000.References
McEntee 1872–74
McEntee, Jervis. Diary, Volume I, 1872 May 10–1874 November 20. 1872–74. Jervis McEntee papers, 1796, 1848–1905, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Monday, August 26, 1872, "I found Eastman very nicely situated in his home at Nantucket. The house and all its surroundings are very plain. All the furniture is what he has picked up there and he has no carpets and no useless furniture but it is very pleasant and cosy. He has a good large studio and had one fine study which he had made up in the town; a grape arbor with hollyhocks".NAD 1873
New York: National Academy of Design, 1873. Exhibition catalogue (1873b NAD), no. 191, as Catching the Bee.The Aldine 1873
"Art: Annual Exhibition of N. A. of Design." The Aldine 6 (June 1873), p. 127: "The South Room detains us longest. It contains the best figure pieces in the Exhibition, which are Eastman Johnson's 'Sulky Boy,' and 'Catching the Bee,' and 'The Yankee Pedlar,' by T. W. Wood…," as Catching the Bee.Centennial Exhibition 1876
Official Catalogue of the International Exhibition of 1876. Part II: Art Gallery, Annexes, and Outdoor Works of Art. Department IV: Art. Cambridge, MA: John R. Nagle & Company, 1876. Exhibition catalogue, p. 21, no. 143, as Catching the Bee, owner Miss Jones.Hills 1972a
Hills, Patricia. Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1972. Exhibition catalogue (1972 Whitney Museum), p. 62, no. 70, illus., as Catching the Bee.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. 197, illus. in color, as Catching the Bee.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, pp. 261, 262, as Catching the Bee.Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 1968?; 1971-06-23; 2019-02-20
Examination notes: 1971-06-23: Dark skirt; red purse. Cream-colored blouse. Delicate face. White and pink hollyhocks. Very nice. Green and yellow green—black in center. Graphite lines on sleeves.
2019-02-20: LL: E. Johnson [obscured by frame]. Face in shadow; delicate left foot pushed forward. Skirt—dark brown with black striations. Graphite line along edge of her right sleeve. Highlights on purse hardware. Underpainting not showing; instead filled in on left edge. Right edge can see underpainting. Masonite covers back of painting with labels.
2019-02-20: LL: E. Johnson [obscured by frame]. Face in shadow; delicate left foot pushed forward. Skirt—dark brown with black striations. Graphite line along edge of her right sleeve. Highlights on purse hardware. Underpainting not showing; instead filled in on left edge. Right edge can see underpainting. Masonite covers back of painting with labels.
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Record last updated December 7, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Catching the Bee, 1872 (Hills no. 25.2.3)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=344 (accessed on April 26, 2024).