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Photo: Courtesy of New York State Museum, Albany, New York
Detail
Photo: Patricia Hills
Detail
Photo: Patricia Hills
⊠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
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Hills no. 31.1.13
Baur no. 154
George Bliss
c.1896
Oil on canvas
50 3/4 x 40 1/2 in. (128.9 x 102.9 cm)
No inscription visible
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Markings
Plate on frame: George Bliss/Member of the Chamber of Commerce 1863–1896/Presented by his Son/George T. Bliss/1897
References
Catalogue of Portraits in the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York. New York:
New York Chamber of Commerce,
1924, p. 53, no. 169
.
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. 154, as
George Bliss.
Hills Examination/Opinion
Examination date(s): 2018-06-25
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Bliss, George
Biography: Colonel George Bliss (1816–1896). Dry goods businessman and Wall Street banker.
Catalogue of Portraits in the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York. New York: New York Chamber of Commerce, 1924.
Record last updated July 29, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "George Bliss, c.1896 (Hills no. 31.1.13)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=506 (accessed on December 2, 2024).
