Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Detroit Institute of Arts, courtesy of Dan Granoff
Overall
Photo: Patricia Hills
Detail
Photo: Patricia Hills
Detail
Photo: Patricia Hills
Detail
Photo: Patricia Hills
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09.4 Black Groups
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.
Note that paintings of Black women and their babies have been placed within the Mother and Child theme. Negro Life at the South and its variations have been placed in a separate category because of its historic significance as Johnson’s chef-d’oeuvre. —PH
Hills no. 9.4.4
Baur no. 76
Babe with Maid
Alternate titles: Mammy & Child; Negro with Child
1862
Oil on canvas
14 3/4 x 12 1/4 in. (37.5 x 31.1 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: E. Johnson / – 62
This catalogue raisonné strives to reproduce the available historical information, as it was written in the period, while acknowledging that readers today may find many of these terms objectionable or racist. Please see the Racist Language/Negative Stereotypes Statement »
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Exhibitions
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, [On short-term loan], July 2019–December 2020.
References
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. 63, no. 76, as Babe with Maid.
Hills Examination/Opinion
Examination date(s): 2017-10-13
Examination notes: Note the keys indicating the woman ‘s status in the household. Focus entirely on the dignity of the woman. Hard to tell if it is a bed or crib in the background.
Related work
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Keywords
- Subject matter:
Record last updated August 31, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Babe with Maid, 1862 (Hills no. 9.4.4)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=91 (accessed on September 8, 2024).