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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Image courtesy of Luc Demers (Portland Museum of Art)
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13.7 Maine Haylofts, 1870s
In 1877, and possibly 1878, Johnson visited his sister Harriet May and her family in Kennebunkport, Maine. He found a delightful subject in the games the children played in the barn. For Johnson it was another opportunity to render darkened interiors, from which figures emerge, with sunlight shining through loft doors and playing off the partially illuminated figures and objects in the foreground. It is quite likely that many of the paintings were finished in his New York studio. —PH
Hills no. 13.7.8
Baur no. 135 / 1907 Sale no. 50
A Quiet Hour
Portland Museum of Art title: The Quiet Hour
c.1877–79
Locale: Kennebunkport, Maine
Oil on canvas
19 x 21 1/2 in. (48.3 x 54.6 cm)
Initialed lower right: E.J.
Description / Remarks
Baur 1940, p. 47, note for no. 112, In the Hayloft: "The scene is the same as that in [Baur] nos. 77, 102, 135 [this painting], pp. 47, 48. It is the barn at Kennebunkport, Maine, on a farm rented by the May family during the 1870's. Mrs. May was Harriet Johnson, a sister of the painter, and her three children with their friends were painted in this series during Johnson's visits to them in the summer."
1907 Estate Sale 
No. 50: "A little girl and her older sister, who have sought the seclusion of a barn to spend a quiet hour in the hay, are both of them asleep. The child has apparently been enjoying her picture book, and has fallen asleep in a sitting position, leaning against the mow, while her companion reclines at almost full length upon the hay-covered floor."
"Signed at the lower right, E. J.
Height, 19 inches; length, 21 ½ inches"
[Annotation: “50.00”]
"Signed at the lower right, E. J.
Height, 19 inches; length, 21 ½ inches"
[Annotation: “50.00”]
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. 50 (as A Quiet Hour)]
Thomas Hamlin Hubbard
Sibyl Emma Hubbard (Mrs. Herbert Seymour) Darlington, Philadelphia, his daughter, by 1940
Sibyl Darlington (Mrs. Jean Pierre) Bernard, her daughter, Annapolis, Maryland
Private collection (by descent)
[Menconi + Schoelkopf Fine Art, LLC, until 2013]
Portland Museum of Art, Maine, 2013 (by purchase)
Exhibitions
1907a Century Association
Century Association, New York, Memorial Exhibition of Eastman Johnson, February 9–13, 1907, [possibly, as A Quiet Hour].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. 20, as The Quiet Hour.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. 135, b/w illus., Pl. XX, as The Quiet Hour.1940 Douthitt Gallery
The Douthitt Gallery, New York, Eastman Johnson: The Keystone Artist, March 28–April 30, 1940. (Douthitt Gallery 1940), no. 17.1972 Whitney Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition, March 28–May 14, 1972. (Exhibition catalogue: Hills 1972a), no. 93, b/w illus., p. 84, as The Quiet Hour. 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
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. 50, as A Quiet Hour.Frazier Gallery 1937a
Frazier Gallery. Eastman Johnson: 1824–1906: Forerunner of Homer and Eakins. New York: Frazier Gallery, 1937. Exhibition catalogue (1937 Frazier Gallery), p. 6, no. 20, as The Quiet Hour.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. 47, 66, no. 135, as The Quiet Hour.Hills 1972a
Hills, Patricia. Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1972. Exhibition catalogue (1972 Whitney Museum), p. 84, as The Quiet Hour.Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 1971-06-26
Examination notes: Relined canvas. They do seem asleep. Greenish-yellow straw. Turquoise and green touches. Yellow books.
Keywords
- Subject matter:
Record last updated August 1, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "A Quiet Hour, c.1877–79 (Hills no. 13.7.8)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=366 (accessed on May 3, 2024).