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, 2022: John I. H. Baur was incorrect when he assigned this drawing to the maple sugar series.
MFA Boston, M. & M. Karolik Collection of American Water Colors & Drawings, 1800–1875, Volume 1, 1962, p. 206: "At left two men, seen from behind, carrying basket; upper right two old men in hats, bust length; lower right little girl in hat, facing [sic]. The figures at left are definitely studies for the painting of 1876, 'Corn Husking at Nantucket,' [Husking Bee, Island of Nantucket] Chicago Art Institute (ill. Baur, Eastman Johnson, pl. XXXII), a variant of which is in the Metropolitan Museum, N. Y."
Baur 1940, p. 81: "Possibly a study for the maple sugar series. There are also slighter sketches of two men and a small girl."
- Subject matter:
- Top hats »