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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: Patricia Hills
[ 43.4 U.S. Early Portrait Drawings, Women, Unidentified ]info
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43.4 U.S. Early Portrait Drawings, Women, Unidentified

The women in these portraits have not yet been identified by name. However, the drawings are known or believed to have been done in the United States, before Johnson went to Europe to learn to paint in late 1849, based on evidence including their inscriptions and the appearance of the sitters and style of the drawings when images are available. Further research may enable the sitters to be identified. —AM

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Hills no. 43.4.7
Baur no. 373
Head of a Woman
Alternate titles: Pastel Woman's Head; Portrait of a Girl; Portrait of a Woman
1847
Locale: Boston, Massachusetts
Pastel on paper mounted on heavy mat board
21 3/4 x 17 1/4 in. (55.2 x 43.8 cm) (oval)
Signed and dated lower right: E. Johnson/1847
Present whereabouts unknown
Description / Remarks

Kende Galleries sale catalogue, January 7, 1943: "Bust-length portrait enclosed in an oval. The girl has long dark hair parted in the center, large brown eyes and a small mouth. Dark background."

Provenance
William Browne Cogswell, Syracuse, New York, husband of the artist's niece, Mary Naomi Johnson Cogswell (daughter of the artist's brother Reuben)
Cora Browning Cogswell, his wife, 1921 (by bequest)
Florence Pearl and Elizabeth C. Browning, Syracuse, New York, 1936 (by bequest)
Kende Galleries, New York, January 7, 1943, Paintings: American, English and European Schools from the Collection of the Late Leon Hirsch, Property of Mrs. Frederic J. Merrick, and from other sources, lot 3 (as Portrait of a Girl); did not sell
Hillard Shar, Shar/Sisto, New York
Marilyn Smith, New York, by April 1981
Ken Ratner, by July 1994
[Christie's, September 22, 1994, lot 16 (as Portrait of a Woman)]
Private collection, September 22, 1994 (by purchase)
Present whereabouts unknown
References
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), p. 77, no. 373, as Head of a Woman.
Kende Galleries 1943
Paintings: American, English and European Schools from the Collection of the Late Leon Hirsch, Property of Mrs. Frederic J. Merrick, and from Other Sources. New York: Kende Galleries, January 7, 1943. Sale catalogue, p. 5, no. 3, as Portrait of a Girl, "Signed at lower right, E. JOHNSON 1847. Canvas: 21 x 17 inches" ["Canvas" is incorrect.]
Christie's 1994
American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture. New York: Christie's, September 22, 1994. Sale catalogue, illus. [Image is reversed.]
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): April 8, 1981; June 28, 1994
Examination notes: 1981: Very lightly colored. Short strokes along nose. Grey-green eyes. Soft shadow under nose; soft shadow under chin.

1994: Eyes: yellow-brown - highlights on iris. Sheet laid down on board. Repair 2" on lower right. Cast shadows - under hair at right. To left of nose, under chin. Eyebrows - rounded strokes over eye socket area. Note part in middle - greyed pastel. Greenish tones in background and on dress. Throat part of chest - natural cream paper left untouched. Note red tones in shadowed areas of hair at left - also at right. Note dress area - ridged texture - long stroke. Block letters for signature.
Hills opinion letter: July 13, 1994 view »
Keywords
Record last updated February 23, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Head of a Woman, 1847 (Hills no. 43.4.7)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=960 (accessed on April 29, 2024).