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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: Courtesy of Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc.
[ 31.3 U.S. Portraits, Women ]info
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31.3 U.S. Portraits, Women

Johnson’s paintings of women are often his best portraits, exhibiting a range of techniques and emphasizing their intelligent faces even when enwrapped in sumptuous fabrics, such as we see in Edwina Booth. —PH

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Hills no. 31.3.17
Ethel Eastman Johnson Conkling
Alternate titles: possibly Mrs. Conkling; Ethel Eastman Johnson Conkling with Fan; Portrait of Ethel Eastman Johnson Conkling; Portrait of Ethel Eastman Johnson Conkling, daughter of the artist, with fan
c.1895
Oil on canvas
46 x 24 1/2 in. (116.8 x 62.2 cm)
Private collection
Provenance
Private collection, by 1977 (by descent in the family of the artist)
Private collection, by 1999 (by descent)
Private collection
Exhibitions
1979a Hirschl & Adler
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, Recent Acquisitions of American Art 1769–1938, March 3–31, 1979, no. 31.
References
Kennedy Galleries 1920
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 Mrs. Conkling].
Hirschl & Adler Galleries 1979
Recent Acquisitions of American Art, 1769–1938. New York: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1979, n.p., p. 31, illus.
Carbone and Hills 1999
Carbone, Teresa A., and Patricia Hills. Eastman Johnson: Painting America. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum of Art, in association with Rizzoli International Publications, 1999. Exhibition catalogue (1999 Brooklyn Museum), p. 112, no. 66, as Ethel Eastman Johnson Conkling with Fan (not in exhibition).
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination notes: Carbone 1998-06-11, London: (no meas., too high; no. sig. visible) c. 1890s? Completely Romantic in conception. Fabulously free background—oil washes; rather moody in expression. Upper register—grey clouds/stormy effect. Lower left—blue-green washes. EJ obviously striving for some more calculated traditional effect for background. Rt.—browns. Figure—strong, expressive presence. Face—somewhat Hunt-like. Very strong profile—solidly formed but sense of soft focus—not brushy at all. Rt cheek in strong shadow—face framed dramatically by black hat; sash-ties down around face and knotted on her chest. Lower figure—brown dress very broadly described—evocative, liquid descrip. throughout. Lower figure—boldly loose descrip.—hand, fan—almost Degas-like. Broad, free brown outline.
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Conkling, Ethel Eastman Johnson
Biography:

Ethel Eastman Johnson Conkling (1870–1931). Daughter of Johnson. Married Alfred Ronalds Conkling (m. 1896); after Conkling died, married William H. Holden (m. 1922) and settled abroad. Mother of three daughters, only one of whom had her own children. Ethel was Johnson’s frequent model in his genre scenes of children. 

Conkling, Ethel Eastman Johnson (Mrs. Alfred Ronald Conkling, later Mrs. William H. Holden)
Keywords
Record last updated August 27, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Ethel Eastman Johnson Conkling, c.1895 (Hills no. 31.3.17)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=724 (accessed on April 30, 2024).