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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: National Academy of Design, New York
Self-Portrait, 1859–60 (Hills no. 32.0.5). Frame
Frame
Photo: Patricia Hills
Self-Portrait, 1859–60 (Hills no. 32.0.5). Detail
Detail
Photo: Patricia Hills
32.0 Self-Portraits

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

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Hills no. 32.0.5
Baur no. 203
Self-Portrait
Alternate titles: possibly Eastman Johnson; Self Portrait
1859–60
Oil on canvas
30 3/8 x 25 in. (77.2 x 63.5 cm)
Description / Remarks

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."

Provenance
National Academy of Design, New York, 1859 or 1860
Exhibitions
1939 Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906, January 18, 1939–February 26, 1940. (Exhibition catalogue: Baur 1940), no. 203, b/w illus., frontispiece, as Self Portrait.
1972 Whitney Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition, March 28–May 14, 1972. (Exhibition catalogue: Hills 1972a), no. 25, frontispiece, as Self-Portrait. Traveled to: The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, June 7–July 22, 1972; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, August 15–September 30, 1972; Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, October 20–December 3, 1972.
References
NAD 1911
Catalogue of the Permanent Collection: National Academy of Design, 1826-1910. New York: National Academy of Design, 1911, no. 332.
Kennedy Galleries 1920
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Charcoal Drawings by Eastman Johnson. New York: Kennedy Galleries, 1920. Exhibition catalogue (1920 Kennedy Galleries), 11, addendum "Paintings by Eastman Johnson" [possibly, as Eastman Johnson].
Baur 1940
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), pp. 53, 69, no. 203, as Self Portrait.
Burroughs 1940
Burroughs, Clyde. "Three Paintings by American Artists." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts of the City of Detroit 20, no. 1 (October 1940), pp. 3–5.
Devere 1940
Devere, Howard. "New York Exhibition Reviews." Magazine of Art (Washington, DC) 33, no. 1 (January 1940), p. 39, illus., as Self-Portrait.
Ames 1969/1970
Ames, Kenneth. "Eastman Johnson: The Failure of a Successful Artist." Art Journal 29, no. 2 (Winter 1969/1970), pp. 174–83, illus. p. 175.
Hills 1972a
Hills, Patricia. Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1972. Exhibition catalogue (1972 Whitney Museum), no. 25, frontispiece illus., as Self-Portrait.
Dearinger 2004
Dearinger, David Bernard, ed. Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design. Vol. I, 1826–1925. New York and Manchester, VT: Hudson Hills Press, 2004, pp. 323–24, as Self-Portrait.
McCarthy and Thompson 2019
McCarthy, Jeremiah William, and Diana Thompson. For America: Paintings from the National Academy of Design. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2019, p. 72, illus., as Self-Portrait.
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 2019-12-07
Examination notes: An excellent rendering of the artist at the age of about 35, when he was breaking into the New York art world. Typical portrait. Dark curly hair and longish beard confined to the chin with a full moustache.

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.
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Johnson, Jonathan Eastman
Biography:

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).  

Johnson, Jonathan Eastman
Keywords
Record last updated April 6, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Self-Portrait, 1859–60 (Hills no. 32.0.5)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=688 (accessed on March 28, 2024).