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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: St. Louis County Historical Society
[ 40.0 Literary/Historical Drawings ]info
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40.0 Literary/Historical Drawings

In addition to his scenes of everyday life and portraits of people, Johnson created images of historical events and figures from works of literature, drama, and music. For example, “Carry Me, and I’ll Drum You Through” was inspired by an incident from the Battle of Antietam, 1862, and Membership Vote at the Union League Club, May 11, 1876, recorded a contentious meeting in which he participated much later. His Marguerite, Cosette, and Minnehaha are personifications of fictional heroines from novels and poetry. His Boy Lincoln represents both the future United States president and the archetypical American youth who, with determination and hard work, could succeed. Johnson rendered several of these imaginative images as both paintings and drawings. These literary and historical works evince both his personal interest in those subjects and his awareness of their popularity with the broad public. —AM

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Hills no. 40.0.7
Baur no. 422
Minnehaha
Alternate titles: Hiawatha [incorrect]; Portrait of Hiawatha [incorrect]
c.1864
Pastel on paper
13 1/2 x 11 in. (34.3 x 27.9 cm)
Neither signed nor dated
St. Louis County Historical Society, Duluth, Minnesota, donated by the City of Duluth (62.181.9)
Description / Remarks

MacGibeny, 2022: This drawing has the same composition as Johnson's Sitting Ojibwe Woman of 1857 and Indian Girl of 1864. Like Indian Girl, made years after Johnson depicted Ojibwe people from life in Minnesota Territory, this drawing likely was inspired by the figure of Minnehaha in the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, "The Song of Hiawatha," 1855.

Provenance
Eastman Johnson estate/Mrs. Eastman Johnson, New York, 1906 (by bequest)
Richard Teller Crane, 1908 or 1909 (by purchase)
Presented by Richard Teller Crane to the City of Duluth, Minnesota, 1909
St. Louis County Historical Society, Duluth, Minnesota, February 1929 (by donation)
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. 23, color illus., p. 42, as Hiawatha [incorrect]. Traveled to: San Diego Museum of Fine Arts, San Diego, February 25–May 21, 2000; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, June 8–September 10, 2000.
References
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), p. 80, no. 422, as Hiawatha [incorrect].
SLCHS 1961
St. Louis County Historical Society. Eastman Johnson Collection: Paintings of Chippewa Indians. Duluth, MN: St. Louis County Historical Society, 1961, p. 1, no. 9, as Hiawatha [incorrect].
Coen 1976
Coen, Rena Neumann. Painting and Sculpture in Minnesota, 1820–1914. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1976, n.p., Pl. 12, as Portrait of Hiawatha [incorrect].
Johnston 1983a
Johnston, Patricia Condon. Eastman Johnson's Lake Superior Indians. Afton, MN: Johnston Publishing, 1983, p. 57, illus., as Hiawatha [incorrect].
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. 42, no. 23, as Hiawatha [incorrect].
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): June 1970
Examination notes: Beautiful - woman seated on ground. Blue dress and red straps; red and white border. Blue sky U.L. Green grass and ferns; subject looks down; light from left. (Hills considered this first in terms of quality of drawings.)
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Keywords
Record last updated March 25, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Minnehaha, c.1864 (Hills no. 40.0.7)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=857 (accessed on May 3, 2024).