Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Courtesy the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
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26.1 Nantucket Genre—Indoors
In June 1869 Johnson married Elizabeth Buckley of Troy, New York, and the following summer he and his wife and their baby, Ethel, went to Nantucket, Massachusetts for the season. Johnson responded enthusiastically to Nantucket, which seemed to be filled with characters and activities that appealed to him, and the couple returned to the island each summer. Beside painting genre scenes of men, women, and children both indoors and outside, Johnson launched a major theme—the cranberry harvest—a time in the fall when the whole community turned out to pick the wild cranberries ripening in the bogs of Nantucket. Johnson made at least eighteen studies before crafting his major painting, The Cranberry Harvest, which was exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1880. —PH
Hills no. 26.1.11
The Conch Shell
de Young Museum - Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco title: What the Shell Says (What the Sea Says)
Alternate titles: possibly What the Shells Say; Ce que disent les coquillages; Girl with Grandfather; What Is the Shell Saying?; What the Sea Says; What the Shell Says
1875
Locale: Nantucket, Massachusetts
Oil on paperboard
21 7/8 x 16 3/4 in. (55.6 x 42.5 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: E. Johnson/1875
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Provenance
Private collection, New York, 1961–1965 (by purchase)
Exhibitions
Century Association, New York, December [4], 1875, no. 15, as The Conch Shell.
Artists' Fund Society, Kurtz Gallery, New York, Sixteenth Annual Exhibition, 1876, as What the Shell Says, likely owner Eastman Johnson.
United States Centennial Commission, Philadelphia, Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, May 10–November 1876, no. 72, as What the Sea Says, owner B. Field.
Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1878. (Exposition Universelle 1878), no. 70, as Ce que disent les coquillages, owner B. Field.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Loan Collection of Paintings and Sculpture in the West Galleries and the Grand Hall, May–October 1881, no. 116, as What Is the Shell Saying?
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Loan Collection of Paintings and Sculpture, November 1881–April 1882, no. 41, as What Is the Shell Saying?
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Loan Collection of Paintings and Sculpture, May–October 1882, no. 120, as What Is the Shell Saying?
M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, Eastman Johnson: Seven Paintings by the Highly Regarded Nineteenth-Century American Artist, December 1979–January 1980. (M. H. de Young Memorial Museum 1979).
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, Eastman Johnson: Painting America, October 29, 1999–February 6, 2000. (Exhibition catalogue: Carbone and Hills 1999), no. 41, color illus., p. 81, as What the Shell Says. 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
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. 19, no. 72, as What the Sea Says, owner B. Field.
Wickersham, J. P., ed. "Centennial Buildings: The Art Gallery: Memorial Hall and Art Annex." The Pennsylvania School Journal 25, no. 2 (August 1876), p. 76: "In the same free style [as Johnson's The Prisoner of State] is 'What the Sea Says' (249d) by the same artist; a pretty child holding a shell to the ear of a delighted grandfather," as What the Sea Says.
Catalogue Officiel. Tome I. Paris: Exposition Universelle Internationale, 1878. Exhibition catalogue (1878 Exposition Universelle), no. 70, as Ce que disent les coquillages.
Walker, Francis A., ed. United States Centennial Commission, International Exhibition, 1876, Reports and Awards. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1880, 7:88, no. 415.
"Two Art Exhibitions: The Metropolitan Loan—New and Notable Pictures." American Art Journal 35, no. 3 (May 14, 1881), p. 47.
Loan Collection of Paintings and Sculpture in the West Galleries and the Grand Hall (November, 1881 to April, 1882). New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1881. Exhibition catalogue, p. 6, no. 41, as What Is the Shell Saying? owner Benjamin H. Field.
Loan Collection of Paintings and Sculpture, in the West Galleries and the Grand Hall. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1882. Exhibition catalogue, p. 14, no. 120, as What Is the Shell Saying? owner Benjamin H. Field, New York.
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Charcoal Drawings by Eastman Johnson. New York: Kennedy Galleries, 1920. Exhibition catalogue (1920 Kennedy Galleries), p. 13, addendum “Paintings by Eastman Johnson" [possibly, as What the Shells Say].
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. 81, no. 41.
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, 263, as What the Shell Says.
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 1971-04-23
Examination notes: Old man rather sketchy. His left eye very blurred. Sketchy hand and sleeve. Gray vest. Dull brownish pants. Little girl: gray dress trimmed in red. White collar. Fireplace finished at right. Luminous brown shadow. Overall: Gray-brownish picture with spots of white and red in the center.
Related work
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Manter, Nathan H.
Record last updated October 11, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "The Conch Shell, 1875 (Hills no. 26.1.11)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=397 (accessed on April 26, 2024).