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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: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Open Access
09.1 Black Men

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

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Hills no. 9.1.1
The Lord Is My Shepherd
c.1862–63
Oil on fiberboard
16 5/8 x 13 1/8 in. (42.2 x 33.3 cm)
Signed lower left: E. Johnson
Description / Remarks

Hills, 2021: The setting of this painting is similar to that of The New England Kitchen.

Markings
Plate on frame, in oil: The Lord is my Shepherd/1824—Eastman Johnson—1906; on frame, lower right, in pen and ink: 62.268/P.N.Y.
Labels
Verso upper left, stamped and in pencil: JHA/8205; verso, center in ink: R/2220; verso, center right in pencil: (0No6); verso, lower right in chalk: LAW 6532; on frame, verso, upper center, on label and printed in ink: Paintings by American Artists/William Macbeth/incorporated/11 East 11th Street/New York/The Lord is my Shepherd/Eastman Johnson; on frame, verso, upper right, in felt-tipped pen and ink: Cat. No. 62.268/Cultural History; on frame, verso, upper left, in pen and ink: 62.268; on frame, verso, upper left, in stamp and pencil: JUD/INC./P205; on frame, verso, upper right, on label printed and in ink: Hayes Storage Inc./Waterproof Warehouse/Expert packers of art/303-East 61st St./New York, N.Y./P3706-2
Provenance
Francis P. Garvan, by 1937
Estate of Francis P. Garvan, on consignment at Macbeth Galleries, 1950
Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, New York, until 1979
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, District of Columbia, 1979 (by gift)
Exhibitions
1999 Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, Eastman Johnson: Painting America, October 29, 1999–February 6, 2000. (Exhibition catalogue: Carbone and Hills 1999), no. 76, as The Lord Is My Shepherd. Traveled to: San Diego Museum of Fine Arts, San Diego, February 25–May 21, 2000; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, June 8–September 10, 2000.
2012 SAAM
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., The Civil War and American Art, November 16, 2012–April 28, 2013, as The Lord Is My Shepherd. Traveled to: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, May 21–September 2, 2013.
n.d. Macbeth Gallery
Macbeth Gallery, New York, Paintings by American Artists, dates unknown, as The Lord Is My Shepherd.
References
Blake 1983
Blake, Wendon. Creative Color for the Oil Painter. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1983.
International Auction Records 1984
International Auction Records. vol. XVIII. 1984, p. 1481.
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. 141, no. 76, as The Lord Is My Shepherd.
Slater 2014
Slater, Amanda Melanie. Conscience and Context in Eastman Johnson's The Lord Is My Shepherd. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, Department of Visual Arts, 2014.
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 1999
Related work
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Keywords
Record last updated July 28, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "The Lord Is My Shepherd, c.1862–63 (Hills no. 9.1.1)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=83 (accessed on April 18, 2024).