enlarge
Photo: Reproduced by permission
⊠31.1 U.S. Portraits, Men
When Johnson returned to the United States, he not only painted genre paintings but he also continued to paint portraits, which gave him a steady income. After 1880 Johnson turned to portraiture almost exclusively. During the 1880s and 1890s he painted businessmen, lawyers, university presidents, and three U.S. presidents from life. At times he also painted their wives and children.
He was also commissioned to paint posthumous portraits, often from photographs. These portraits by and large do not have the sparkle and active brushwork of those done from life. It seems that the demand for portraits of business and civic leaders (and members of exclusive men’s clubs) was so high that portrait painters would often make copies of each other’s paintings to satisfy the market for such images. In many instances, it has been difficult to render opinions for such paintings. —PH
View all works in this theme »
Hills no. 31.1.6
Baur no. 151
Chester Alan Arthur
Alternate titles: possibly Chester A. Arthur; Portrait of Chester A. Arthur
1887
Oil on canvas
56 x 40 in. (142.2 x 101.6 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: E. Johnson 1887 [Dated, according to private collection; Hills did not see date upon examination]
Private collection, New York
loading
Provenance
Private collection, New York, by 2021
Exhibitions
The Union League Club of New York, New York, December 8, 1887, no. 40, as
Portrait of Chester A. Arthur.
References
Walton, William. "Eastman Johnson, Painter." Scribner's Magazine (September 1906), p. 273
.
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Charcoal Drawings by Eastman Johnson. New York:
Kennedy Galleries,
1920.
Exhibition catalogue (1920 Kennedy Galleries), p. 11, addendum "Paintings by Eastman Johnson" [possibly, as
Chester A. Arthur]
.
Baur, John I. H. An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906. Brooklyn, NY:
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences,
1940.
Exhibition catalogue (1939 Brooklyn Museum), p. 66, no. 151, as
Chester Alan Arthur, owner The Union League Club of New York.
Hills Examination/Opinion
Examination date(s): 1971; 2020-02-19
Examination notes: 1971: Standing 3/4 view. Holds eyeglasses in right hand. Not interesting; fattish face—vacant look.
2020-02-19: Difficult to see the painting. LL. “E. Johnson” seen with aid of flashlight. Could not discern the date. Face painted in the ruddy style (small patches of paint distributed over the face) of Johnson.
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Arthur, Chester Alan
Biography: Chester Alan Arthur (1829–1886). Twenty-first president of the United States (1881–1885).
White, Terry James. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, 1967–.
Related work
loading
Keywords
- Portrait pose:
- Occupations:
- Posthumous:
- Subject matter:
Record last updated April 20, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Chester Alan Arthur, 1887 (Hills no. 31.1.6)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=500 (accessed on December 2, 2024).