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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: Detroit Institute of Arts
Study for
Frame
Photo: Detroit Institute of Arts
[ 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. 40.0.12
Baur no. 396
Study for "The Boy Lincoln Reading"
Alternate titles: Lincoln as a Boy; The Boy Lincoln; The Boy Lincoln Reading
c.1867
Charcoal, white chalk, and gouache on brown paper
14 7/8 x 12 3/4 in. (37.8 x 32.4 cm)
Initialed lower right: E. J.
Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of John S. Newberry (47.364)
Provenance
Eastman Johnson estate/Mrs. Eastman Johnson, New York, 1906 (by bequest)
Harry MacNeill Bland, New York, c. 1915 until at least 1940 (by purchase from Mrs. Johnson)
John S. Newberry
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, 1947 (by gift)
Exhibitions
1939 Bland Gallery
Bland Gallery, New York, Abe Lincoln of Illinois, 1939.
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. 396, b/w illus., Pl. VII, as The Boy Lincoln.
1972 Whitney Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition, March 28–May 14, 1972. (Exhibition catalogue: Hills 1972a), no. 56, as The Boy Lincoln Reading. 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.
References
Bolton 1923
Bolton, Theodore. Early American Portrait Draughtsmen in Crayon. New York: F. F. Sherman, 1923, p. 40, no. 21.
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. 35, 78, no. 396, as The Boy Lincoln.
Hills 1972a
Hills, Patricia. Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1972. Exhibition catalogue (1972 Whitney Museum), p. 70, as The Boy Lincoln Reading.
Detroit Free Press 1978
"Family Art Game." Detroit Free Press (Detroit), June 4, 1978, p. 11, illus.
Hall 1985
Hall, D. "Discovery." Harvard Magazine 87, no 4 (March/April 1985), pp. 64A-64H, illus.
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Lincoln, Abraham
Biography:

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). Sixteenth president of the United States, 1861–1865.

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Lincoln, Abraham
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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. "Study for "The Boy Lincoln Reading", c.1867 (Hills no. 40.0.12)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=897 (accessed on May 19, 2024).