Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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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. 13.7.9
1907 Sale no. 86
Hide and Seek in the Barn
c.1877–79
Locale: Kennebunkport, Maine
Oil
14 x 8 in. (35.6 x 20.3 cm)
Initialed lower left: E. J.
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Description/Remarks
Hills, 2022: Although John I. H. Baur owned and annotated a copy of the catalogue of Johnson's 1907 Estate Sale, he did not include this work in his own 1940 catalogue listing; he must have obtained it after publication.
1907 Estate Sale 
No. 86: "A little girl, playing the favorite children’s game, is just squeezing past a heavy barn door into the interior to hide from her companions. The figure is in a luminous shadow, with a strong effect of sunlight on the head, the waist and the extended foot and ankle."
"Signed at the lower left, E. J.
Height, 14 inches; width, 8 inches."
[Annotation: “32.50”]
"Signed at the lower left, E. J.
Height, 14 inches; width, 8 inches."
[Annotation: “32.50”]
References
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. 86, as Hide and Seek in the Barn.
Record last updated April 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. "Hide and Seek in the Barn, c.1877–79 (Hills no. 13.7.9)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=371 (accessed on May 1, 2025).