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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Hallmark Cards
Verso of frame
Photo: Hallmark Cards
Verso label
Photo: Hallmark Cards
Cover of Hallmark Christmas card, 1952
Photo: Courtesy of the Hallmark Archives, Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO
Inside of Hallmark Christmas card (personalized), 1952
Photo: Courtesy of the Hallmark Archives, Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO
⊠
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. 9.3.3
Baur no. 101
The Freedom Ring
Alternate title: possibly Albino Girl
c.1860
Oil on paper board
18 1/4 x 22 5/16 in. (46.4 x 56.7 cm)
Signed lower left: E. Johnson
Description / Remarks
MacGibeny, 2021: The subject is Rose Ward. According to the November 8, 1887 American Art Galleries sale catalogue description for the related drawing The Ring of Freedom, "She was rechristened Rose Ward, after Miss Terry and Henry Ward Beecher."
This image was reproduced on a Hallmark greeting card for Christmas, 1952.
The card included the following message:
Christmas Greetings and Best Wishes for the New Year
Mr. and Mrs. Edward Stedman
(Personalized sample)
(Text Courtesy of the Hallmark Archives, Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, Missouri)
A discussion of this painting can be found in Patricia Hills, "Painting Race: Eastman Johnson's Pictures of Slaves, Ex-Slaves, and Freedmen" (1999). See Text References for more information.
American Art Association sale catalogue, 1914: "In the picture a small, bewildered girl is seated on a small rug on the floor, near an open chest which stands against the wall, and looks wistfully and pensively at a ring so large that it has been placed on the first finger of her right hand. She has a mass of brown hair and wears a dark striped skirt and waist and a bright red sacque or cape."
Baur 1940, p. 39: "According to an account in the New York Times, 'It is the picture of 'Little Pinky,' the slave child of a white father whom Henry Ward Beecher sold into freedom in his church one February day in 1860. This was to keep the child, a pretty girl, from being sold by her owner into the South. It was an emotional scene, tears fell fast from the eyes of the members of the congregation as they gave their money, and Mr. Beecher, taking a valuable ring from the contributions in the basket, Rose Terry Cooke's gift to the cause, he placed it on the child's finger, saying: 'With this ring I do thee wed to freedom.' Later he had Eastman Johnson make a picture of the child sitting on the floor before an open chest gazing at the ring."
Labels
Verso: Brooklyn Museum of Art exhibition label for Eastman Johnson: Painting America, 1999–2000
Provenance
Henry Ward Beecher, c. 1860 (by commission)
Thomas Hitchcock, Esq., by 1914
[American Art Association, New York, March 17–20, 1914, no. 181 (as The Freedom Ring)]
J. F. Crowley, March 19, 1914 (by purchase)
William Macbeth, Inc., New York, by 1940
Wildenstein and Company, New York, by 1948
Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, Missouri, December 1951 (by purchase)
Exhibitions
1860 NAD
National Academy of Design, New York, April 14–June 16, 1860. (NAD 1860), no. 449, as The Freedom Ring, owned by Eastman Johnson.1864a U.S. Sanitary Commission
U.S. Sanitary Commission, Brooklyn, New York, Art Exhibition of the Brooklyn and Long Island Fair in aid of the United States Sanitary Commission, February 22, 1864, no. 167, [possibly, as Albino Girl, owner H. W. Beecher].1939 Brooklyn Museum
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. 101, as The Freedom Ring.1939 Macbeth Gallery
Macbeth Gallery, New York, Americana, November 1–30, 1939. (Macbeth Gallery 1939); (Macbeth Gallery 1976), no. 15, as The Freedom Ring.1942 John Levy Galleries
John Levy Galleries, New York, Exhibition of Eastman Johnson, April 8–30, 1942. (John Levy Galleries 1942), no. 21, as The Freedom Ring.1948 Wildenstein & Co.
Wildenstein & Co, New York, Eastman Johnson, Summer 1948. (Wildenstein 1948), no. 1, as The Freedom Ring.1949 Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art
Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art, Los Angeles, Winslow Homer 1836–1910, Eastman Johnson 1824–1906, February 4, 1949–May 7, 1950. (Exhibition catalogue: LACMA 1949), no. 11, as The Freedom Ring. Traveled to: Denver Art Museum, Denver, 1949; Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego, 1949 (Fine Arts Society of San Diego 1949); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1949 (Fine Arts Society of San Diego 1949); Oklahoma Arts Center, Oklahoma City, 1949 (Fine Arts Society of San Diego 1949); Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, 1949 (Fine Arts Society of San Diego 1949); Takoma Art League, Takoma, Washington, 1949 (Fine Arts Society of San Diego 1949); Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, 1949 (Fine Arts Society of San Diego 1949).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. 71, 132, as The Freedom Ring. 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
NAD 1860
New York: National Academy of Design, 1860. Exhibition catalogue (1860 NAD), no. 449, as The Freedom Ring.Brooklyn and Long Island Fair 1864
Brooklyn and Long Island Fair in Aid of the United States Sanitary Commission. History of the Brooklyn and Long Island Fair, February 22, 1864. "The Union," Steam Presses, 1864, p. 60, no. 161 [possibly, as Albino Girl], owner H. W. Beecher.AAG 1887
Catalogue of the Bric-a-Brac, Rare Oriental Rugs, Oil Paintings, Furniture, Fine Curtains, Large Collection of Fine Old Engravings and Etchings, and the Valuable Library Belonging to the Estate of the Late Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. New York: American Art Galleries, November 8, 1887. Sale catalogue, p. 29, no. 460 (for the related drawing, The Ring of Freedom).Walton 1906
Walton, William. "Eastman Johnson, Painter." Scribner's Magazine 40 (September 1906), pp. 272–73, "In 1860 a runaway slave girl was sold at auction in Plymouth Church by Henry Ward Beecher, to obtain funds to purchase her freedom, and was brought by Mr. Beecher to Mr. Johnson for her portrait, a photograph of which, representing her in rapt admiration of a ring given by a lady as a contribution to the fund, is still in Mrs. Johnson's possession."AAA 1914
Illustrated Catalogue of the Valuable Paintings by Foreign and American Masters (Thomas Hitchcock & Others Sale). New York: American Art Association, March 1914. Sale catalogue, n.p., no. 181, illus.New York Times 1914b
"'FREEDOM RING,' BY JOHNSON, FOR $750: Picture of 'Little Pinky,' Slave Child, Whom Henry Ward Beecher Sold Into Freedom." New York Times, March 20, 1914, p. 8, as The Freedom Ring.Macbeth Gallery 1939
Americana. New York: Macbeth Gallery, 1939. Exhibition catalogue (1939 Macbeth Gallery), n.p., no. 15, as The Freedom Ring.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), pp. 39, 64, no. 101, as The Freedom Ring.John Levy Galleries 1942
Exhibition of Eastman Johnson. New York: John Levy Galleries, 1942. Exhibition catalogue (1942 John Levy Galleries), n.p. (3), no. 21, as The Freedom Ring.New York Sun 1948
New York Sun, June 25, 1948.Wildenstein 1948
Eastman Johnson. New York: Wildenstein, 1948. Exhibition catalogue (1948 Wildenstein & Co.), n.p., no. 1, as The Freedom Ring.Fine Arts Society of San Diego 1949
Winslow Homer 1836–1910; Eastman Johnson 1824–1906. San Diego, CA: Fine Arts Society of San Diego, 1949. Exhibition catalogue (1949 Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art), n.p., no. 11, as The Freedom Ring.Bugner, Devisse, and Vercoutter 1989
Bugner, Ladislas, Jean Devisse, and Jean Vercoutter. The Image of the Black in Western Art 4: From the American Revolution to World War I, Part 1. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989, pp. 219–20, fig. 136, as The Freedom Ring.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. 132, no. 71, as The Freedom Ring.Hills 1999b
Hills, Patricia. "Painting Race: Eastman Johnson's Pictures of Slaves, Ex-Slaves, and Freedmen." In Eastman Johnson: Painting America, by Teresa A. Carbone and Patricia Hills. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum of Art, in association with Rizzoli International Publications, 1999. Exhibition catalogue, p. 133, as The Freedom Ring.Shaw 2006
Shaw, Gwendolyn DuBois. Portraits of a People: Picturing African Americans in the Nineteenth Century. Andover, MA: Addison Gallery of American Art, 2006. Exhibition catalogue (2006 Addison Gallery of American Art), pp. 152–53, illus., as The Freedom Ring.Wierich 2012
Wierich, Jochen. Grand Themes: Emanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware, and American History Painting. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012, pp. 142–43, fig. 39, as The Freedom Ring.Decker 2013
Decker, Francis K., assisted by Lois Rosebrooks. Brooklyn's Plymouth Church in the Civil War Era: A Ministry of Freedom. Charleston: The History Press, 2013, p. 94 illus.Woods 2016
Woods, Naurice Frank, Jr. "Pink and the Fancy Gal: White Slavery, the Abolitionists’ Crusade, and the Painter’s Canvas." Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 15, no. 3 (Autumn 2016), illus., as The Freedom Ring.Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 1992-05-05; 1996-11
Examination notes: 1992-05-05: Coral red jacket. Dress red and green horizontal stripes. Surface has a blush. [?] (Different rates of drying?) Sits on a rug. Open chest on the left. Condition: 3 paint loss (from punctures?) Bad repair at lower end of jacket, also on undershirt. Green cloth over upholstered stool at right.
1996-11: Scumbled background. Signature seems OK; floor boards OK. Highlights on stool. Pencil or graphite on nose, eyes, mouth, strands of hair. Soft hair—pale brown highlights—not nappy. Green cloth on stool. Chest behind with red and white cloth. Coral pink jacket. Dress has red and black stripes; skirt is grey-green and red.
But middle tones all filled in. [Not Johnson’s usual method.]
Three spots of paint loss.
1996-11: Scumbled background. Signature seems OK; floor boards OK. Highlights on stool. Pencil or graphite on nose, eyes, mouth, strands of hair. Soft hair—pale brown highlights—not nappy. Green cloth on stool. Chest behind with red and white cloth. Coral pink jacket. Dress has red and black stripes; skirt is grey-green and red.
But middle tones all filled in. [Not Johnson’s usual method.]
Three spots of paint loss.
Related work
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Ward, Rose
Keywords
- Portrait pose:
- Subject matter:
Record last updated January 9, 2023. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "The Freedom Ring, c.1860 (Hills no. 9.3.3)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=89 (accessed on April 26, 2024).