⊠43.3 U.S. Early Portrait Drawings, Women
Johnson's earliest recorded portrait drawings of women are dated 1845: his portrait of Dolley Madison that indicates the setting and one of his older sister Judith which shows head and neck only. Unlike the portraits of men, his portraits of women are softer in light-dark chiaroscuro and do not exhibit the muscular structure of the face as do those of men. Johnson consolidated his draughtsman’s talents during his sojourn in Boston, where he painted Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his circle. He took about three days to complete a charcoal portrait. The style of the time was to present portraits in oval frames.
See Technical Information on Johnson's Practices for a discussion of charcoal, black chalk, crayon, and pastel. —PH
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Hills no. 43.3.21
Baur no. 348
Miss Ward
1848
Charcoal and chalk on wove paper
13 1/4 x 11 1/4 in. (33.7 x 28.6 cm)
Initialed, dated, and inscribed lower left: E.J. Miss Ward/Boston 1848
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Exhibitions
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, Heads, November 7–December 7, 1980.
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, Heads II: Heads: An Exhibit which Explores Some of the Many Ways the Human Head…, September 18–October 25, 1981.
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, Eastman Johnson, September 5–October 15, 1995.
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, Identity and Intention: Two Centuries of American Portraiture, September 4–December 30, 2001.
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, Drawings by American Artists, dates unknown.
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. 76, no. 348, as
Miss Ward.
Hills Examination/Opinion
Examination date(s): October 28, 1970
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Ward, Miss
Biography: Miss Ward (life dates unknown).
Record last updated March 28, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Miss Ward, 1848 (Hills no. 43.3.21)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=929 (accessed on May 1, 2025).
