Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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© 1993 Christie’s Images Limited
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09.3 Black Children and Adolescents
During the 1860s Johnson painted Black men, women, and children that bestow on them dignity, intelligence, and grace. Many in his family, including his sister Harriet May and her husband Reverend Joseph May were ardent abolitionists. To Johnson, Blacks were not subjects to be ridiculed or satirized. —PH
Hills no. 9.3.7
The Young Sweep
Alternate titles: possibly Chimney-sweep; possibly The Sweep; Barefoot Black Boy; Chimney Sweep; The Chimney Sweep
1863
Oil on paper board
12 3/16 x 9 3/8 in. (31 x 23.8 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: E. Johnson/1863
Private collection
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Description/Remarks
Hills opinion letter, 1992: "The subject is a barefoot black boy, about eight or ten years old, who leans against a side of a house and a latched door. His clothes and cap are dark colored; he holds a heavy blanket or overcoat over his left arm which is tucked behind his body. His right arm is crossed across his breast in front. His legs are crossed at the ankles. His expression is one of guarded openness."
Labels
Verso: Goupil/Fifth Ave & Twenty-Second St. B.V.C. 1449N
Provenance
[Possibly Samuel P. Avery, New York, March 14–15, 1877, Association Hall (Y.M.C.A.), The Private Collection of Fine Oil Paintings, &c. by American and Foreign Artists, the Property of Mr. Silas C. Evans, no. 51 (as The Young Sweep), sold to J. A. Harper]
Private collection, May 26, 1993 until at least 1999
Exhibitions
U.S. Sanitary Commission, New York, Art Exhibition at the Metropolitan Fair in Aid of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, April 4–23, 1864. (Exhibition catalogue: U.S. Sanitary Commission 1864), no. 213, [possibly, as The Young Sweep].
National Academy of Design, New York, Loan Exhibition in Aid of the Society of Decorative Art, 1877–78. (Exhibition catalogue: NAD 1877d), no. 175, [possibly, as The Sweep], lent by Mr. J. Abner Harper.
National Academy of Design, New York, The Private Collection of Fine Oil Paintings, &c. by American and Foreign Artists, the Property of Mr. Silas C. Evans, March 7–14, 1877. (Exhibition catalogue: NAD 1877a), no. 51, [possibly, as The Young Sweep].
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, Eastman Johnson: Painting America, October 29, 1999–February 6, 2000. (Exhibition catalogue: Carbone and Hills 1999), no. 77, as The Young Sweep. Traveled to: San Diego Museum of Fine Arts, San Diego, February 25–May 21, 2000; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, June 8–September 10, 2000.
Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, American ABC: Childhood in 19th Century America, February 1–May 7, 2006. (Exhibition catalogue: Perry 2006), as The Young Sweep. Traveled to: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., July 4–September 17, 2006; Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine, November 1, 2006–January 7, 2007.
References
Catalogue of the Art Exhibition at the Metropolitan Fair, in Aid of the U.S. Sanitary Commission. New York: U.S. Sanitary Commission, 1864. Exhibition catalogue (1864b U.S. Sanitary Commission), p. 14, no. 213 [possibly, as The Young Sweep].
A Record of the Metropolitan Fair in Aid of the United States Sanitary Commission, Held at New York, in April, 1864; With Photographs. New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1867, p. 190 [possibly, as The Young Sweep].
Tuckerman, Henry T. Book of the American Artists: American Artist Life. New York: G. P. Putnam & Son, 1867, p. 630 [possibly, as Chimney-sweep, owner J. Harrison, Esq.]
Catalogue of the Private Collection of Fine Oil Paintings—By American and Foreign Artists, the Property of Mr. Silas C. Evans. New York: Samuel P. Avery, March 14–15, 1877. Sale catalogue, p. 11, no. 51 [possibly, as The Young Sweep].
Society of Decorative Arts. Catalogue of the Loan Exhibition in Aid of the Society of Decorative Art: Consisting of Gems of the Modern, Foreign and American Schools of Painting and Rare Examples of Various Art Industries. New York: National Academy of Design, 1877. Exhibition catalogue (1877c NAD), p. 15, no. 175 [possibly, as The Sweep], lent by Mr. J. Abner Harper.
"Review of J. Abner Harper Sale." Harper’s Monthly 60 (May 1880), p. 938 [possibly]: "This piquant and interesting collection had no picture more attractive as a piece of pure sentiment than a negro boy—a sweep—by Eastman Johnson. The innocence, the characteristic beauty, the unconscious pathos, arrested the eye and mind first, and then the excellence of the execution. Finish without “niggling,” breadth, firmness, purity of tone, depth of color, an effortless and harmonious blending as in a beautiful melody—these were all obvious, and through them all shown the human tenderness which makes the whole world kin. It was not a conceit, it was a picture."
Catalogue of Paintings in Oil and Water Colors, the Private Collection of Mr. J. Abner Harper. New York: Leavitt Art Galleries, March 12–13, 1880. Sale catalogue, n.p., no. 92 [possibly, as The Sweep].
"American Art Chronicle." The American Art Review 1, no. 6 (April 1880), p. 269 [possibly, as The Sweep].
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. 142, no. 77, as The Young Sweep.
Perry, Claire. Young America: Childhood in 19th-Century Art and Culture. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006. Exhibition catalogue (2006 Cantor Center for Visual Arts), fig. 92.
Hills Examination/Opinion
Examination date(s): 1992-10-09
Examination notes: Legs crossed—folds over coat. Leans against wall. Touch of light blue on latch. Face—stippled grey. Pencil around left of shoulder. Eyes look off to left. Perfect lips.
Related work
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Keywords
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Record last updated June 2, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "The Young Sweep, 1863 (Hills no. 9.3.7)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=81 (accessed on May 9, 2025).