Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Courtesy of Peter Jacobs
Frame
Photo: Courtesy of Peter Jacobs
Verso
Photo: Montclair Art Museum
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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. 13.7.4
Children in the Barn
Montclair Art Museum title: The Barn Swallows
Alternate titles: possibly Jumping in the Barn; Children in the Hayloft; In the Hayloft; Sketch for "In the Hayloft"; The Barn Swallows (The Hayloft)
c.1877–79
Locale: Kennebunkport, Maine
Oil on board
17 x 21 in. (43.2 x 53.3 cm)
Initialed lower left: E.J.
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Markings
Inscribed verso, in pencil, in Johnson's hand: Children in the Barn/EJ
Exhibitions
Century Association, New York, Memorial Exhibition of Eastman Johnson, February 9–13, 1907, [possibly, as Jumping in the Barn].
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, Retrospective of a Gallery–Twenty Years, November 7–December 1, 1973.
References
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Charcoal Drawings by Eastman Johnson. New York: Kennedy Galleries, 1920. Exhibition catalogue (1920 Kennedy Galleries), p. 12, addendum “Paintings by Eastman Johnson" [possibly, as Barn Swallows].
The American Painting Collection of the Montclair Art Museum. Montclair, NJ: Montclair Art Museum, 1961.
Kushner, Marilyn S., and Matthew Baigell. Three Hundred Years of American Painting: The Montclair Art Museum Collection. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1989, p. 156 illus., as Sketch for "In the Hayloft".
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 1971-06-23
Examination notes: Greenish hay. Sienna brown luminous shadows. Very free and sketchy. Thicker impasto where highlights are. Good. Setting almost exactly like the San Diego painting.
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Record last updated July 28, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Children in the Barn, c.1877–79 (Hills no. 13.7.4)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=369 (accessed on April 26, 2024).