Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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26.6 Nantucket Portraits and Types
Like many artists in the nineteenth century, Johnson often did paintings of “types” that are actually identifiable portraits. For example, the painting John F. Sylvia shows a Nantucket miller in his barn looking up from his account books to look out the window. Called at one time The Falling Market, the subject suggests a man perhaps assessing his position in the economy in the early years of the 1870s when a recession gripped the nation. —PH
Hills no. 26.6.3
1907 Sale no. 118
Jim Collins
1907 Sale title: Jim Collins, Wrecker
Alternate title: Jim Collins, Wrecker, Nantucket
c.1873–80
Locale: Nantucket, Massachusetts
Oil
22 x 20 in. (55.9 x 50.8 cm)
Signed lower left: E. Johnson
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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. 118: "The head and shoulders of a sturdy old citizen of Nantucket, life-size, in three-quarters view to the right, his head somewhat raised and inclined upon the right shoulder, and his eyes slightly lowered. He is smooth shaven, and a mass of dark hair, apparently wind-tossed, falls low upon his right temple. He wears a brown coat over a blue shirt, and a red necktie under a soft white collar. The background is a broken tone of luminous gray."
"Signed at the lower left, E. Johnson.
Height, 22 inches; width, 20 inches."
[Annotation: “80.00”]
"Signed at the lower left, E. Johnson.
Height, 22 inches; width, 20 inches."
[Annotation: “80.00”]
Exhibitions
Century Association, New York, Memorial Exhibition of Eastman Johnson, February 9–13, 1907, as Jim Collins, Wrecker.
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. 118, as Jim Collins, Wrecker.
Crosby, Everett U. Eastman Johnson at Nantucket: His Paintings and Sketches of Nantucket People and Scenes. Nantucket, MA, 1944, p. 17, no. C.43, as Jim Collins, Wrecker, Nantucket.
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, p. 266, as Jim Wrecker Collins [sic].
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Collins, Jim
Biography:
Jim Collins (life dates unknown).
Keywords
- Portrait pose
: - Subject matter
:
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. "Jim Collins, c.1873–80 (Hills no. 26.6.3)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=453 (accessed on May 1, 2025).