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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
Patricia Hills, PhD, Founder and Director | Abigael MacGibeny, MA, Project Manager

Catalogue Entry

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Photo: Camerarts, Inc., New York
[ 26.7 Old Men Reading ]info
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26.7 Old Men Reading

In the mid-1870s, Johnson took up the subject of old men reading, sometimes seen outdoors but usually indoors. The large size of the books suggests that the men are reading the Bible. With their suggestion of time passing and the solace of faith, such works are a solemn contrast to the joie de vivre of works such as the Old Stage Coach, which depicts young children using the relics of the past as their playground. —PH

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Hills no. 26.7.1
1907 Sale no. 63
Dropping Off
Alternate titles: Napping Off; Study for Dropping Off; The Old Philosopher
c.1871
Locale: Possibly Nantucket, Massachusetts
Oil on panel
23 1/4 x 19 1/4 in. (59.1 x 48.9 cm)
Initialed lower right: EJ
Private collection, New York
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.

MacGibeny, 2021: Note that no signature is mentioned in the description of the painting in the catalogue of the 1907 sale of Johnson's estate, excerpted here. It is possible that the inscription was added later.

Eugene Benson, "'Dropping Off'—A Sketch by Eastman Johnson," Appleton's Journal, 1871: "But look with us, if you can, yet more at this remarkable sketch. We were told it should be called “Dropping Off.” Dropping off into the easy sleep of second childhood? or into the last long sleep that is next to each one of us? Dropping off! Poor old man, at the end of life, at the end of the seasons that come and go with the varied music, and perfume, and color, and splendor of life! At the end of sensation / the supreme fact of the supreme hour of life!"

1907 Estate Sale info
No. 63: "An old man, with a shock of gray hair, seated in a high-backed rocking-chair, his crooked walking-stick resting on his knee, has been reading the Bible, and is just dropping off to sleep, his head fallen upon his chest, and the book about to slip from his hands. The figure is lighted from a window on the left, and in the background is suggested a simple interior, with one or two pieces of furniture."
"Height, 23 inches; width, 19 inches"
[Annotation: “80.00”]
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. 63 (as Dropping Off)]
Robert Lang, New York, by 1944
Private collection, New York, by July 2015
Exhibitions
1907a Century Association
Century Association, New York, Memorial Exhibition of Eastman Johnson, February 9–13, 1907, [possibly, as Dropping Off].
1942 John Levy Galleries
John Levy Galleries, New York, Exhibition of Eastman Johnson, April 8–30, 1942. (John Levy Galleries 1942), no. 5, as Napping Off.
References
Benson 1871
Benson, Eugene. "'Dropping Off'—A Sketch by Eastman Johnson." Appleton's Journal (March 4, 1871), p. 255, as Dropping Off.
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. 63, as Dropping Off.
John Levy Galleries 1942
Exhibition of Eastman Johnson. New York: John Levy Galleries, 1942. Exhibition catalogue (1942 John Levy Galleries), n.p. (2), no. 5, as Napping Off, notes "title on back".
Crosby 1944
Crosby, Everett U. Eastman Johnson at Nantucket: His Paintings and Sketches of Nantucket People and Scenes. Nantucket, MA, 1944, p. 19, no. C.55, as Dropping Off.
Related work
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Keywords
Record last updated November 16, 2023. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Dropping Off, c.1871 (Hills no. 26.7.1)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=440 (accessed on April 25, 2024).