Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
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39.1 U.S. Figure & Landscape Sketches
When he returned to the United States in 1856, Johnson continued to make graphite pencil sketches in notebooks. Those that have survived time generally relate to paintings he did later, such as the many sketches of Nantucket characters or for paintings he was contemplating doing in the future. —PH
Hills no. 39.1.9
Baur no. 401
Seated Man
Alternate titles: Colored Boy; Negro Youth
1863
Graphite on paper
8 1/2 x 9 3/4 in. (21.6 x 24.8 cm)
Initialed and dated lower center: E.J./1863.; lower right: E.J.
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Description / Remarks
National Gallery of Art website for the exhibition American Masters from Bingham to Eakins: The John Wilmerding Collection, 2005, accessed January 21, 2021: "Skillfully drawn and expertly shaded, the figure shares the page with a brief outline of a window casement and a sketch of a woman wearing a feathered hat and a snood (hairnet). Seated in what may be a captain's chair, the young man engages the viewer directly."
Provenance
John Wilmerding, 1970 (by purchase)
Exhibitions
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. 401, as Colored Boy.
Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, Eastman Johnson: Oil Paintings and Drawings, October 9–November 12, 1944. (Exhibition catalogue: Philadelphia Art Alliance 1944).
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition, March 28–May 14, 1972. (Exhibition catalogue: Hills 1972a), no. 43, b/w illus., p. 39, as Negro Youth. 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.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., American Masters from Bingham to Eakins: The John Wilmerding Collection, May 9, 2004–February 6, 2005, no. 19, as Seated Man.
References
Catalogue of the Collection. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1937, p. 31.
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. 34–35, 79, no. 401, as Colored Boy.
Hills, Patricia. Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1972. Exhibition catalogue (1972 Whitney Museum), p. 39, no. 43, illus.
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): Work was in 1972 Whitney exhibition and seen frequently by Hills; 2015-11-04
Examination notes: November 4, 2015: Outline, light crosshatching. Probably used to paint a figure. Definite lips – articulated.
Keywords
- Portrait pose:
- Ownership status:
Record last updated February 1, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Seated Man, 1863 (Hills no. 39.1.9)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=864 (accessed on April 20, 2024).