Johnson, like other artists, painted himself when not engaged in other projects. In these portraits we see the chronological progression of his physiognomy, especially his facial hair. Sometimes we see the inner man, and at other times we see the man in his environment. The self-portrait he presented to the National Academy of Design when he was inducted in 1859 is the grandest; but the most flamboyant is his self-portrait of 1899, in which he is dressed in the costume he wore at the Twelfth Night celebration at the Century Association. —PH
MacGibeny, 2021: John I. H. Baur stated in An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906, 1940, that this painting was "the earliest located self portrait in oil. It was done for the National Academy of Design about 1859, the year [Johnson] was made an Associate." Now we understand it to be Johnson's earliest located self-portrait made in the United States. In 2020, an earlier Johnson self-portrait in oil, painted in The Hague and dated 1853, came to auction from a private collection and was sold at Sotheby's.
National Academician Database, accessed November 26, 2019: "This may be the earliest of at least nine self-portraits by Johnson which are extant. Versions in other public collections include those at the Brooklyn (New York) Museum; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Century Association, New York; the Detroit (Michigan) Institute of Arts; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Although acceptance of the portrait as Johnson's Associate qualifying work escaped record in minutes, it surely was received within the year following his election, as he was eligible for elevation to Academician by the next annual meeting. Johnson was thirty-five years of age in 1859, which is commensurate with his appearance in this portrait; it is likely it was executed in 1859–60, specifically in response to his election to the Academy."
Somewhat thinly painted, especially background, which is very thinly brushed.
Pencil lines along lips, side of face, edge of moustache, edges of nostrils. Highlights along edge of nose, on cheek, and on forehead. Eyes in shadow, not even a highlight on the pupils; ear is barely defined. (Johnson’s generally paid little attention to the details of ears, unlike many of his colleagues.) In the America Now exhibition, on view at the New Britain Museum of American Art during December 2019, good comparisons could be made with the portraits by Leutze of Whittredge and Eakins’s self portrait.
Jonathan Eastman Johnson (1824–1906). American portrait and genre painter. Son of Philip Carrigan Johnson and Mary Kimball Chandler Johnson; brother of Reuben, Judith, Mary, Philip, Sarah, Harriet, and Eleanor. Married Elizabeth Williams Buckley (m. 1869); father of Ethel (1870–1931).
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