Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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45.1 U.S. Later Portrait Drawings, Men
When Johnson returned from Europe late in 1855 and moved in with his family in Washington, D.C., he began receiving portrait commissions. Like those done earlier, Johnson generally used charcoal (named in some records as black chalk) with touches of white and created a strong chiaroscuro for his sitters. Gradually he moved away from the strong chiaroscuro style he had been using, and his later portraits tend to be sketchier (as was the taste in art at the time) but no less professional. He used pastel to bring in color in some of these portraits. —PH
Hills no. 45.1.11
Baur no. 307
James Cochrane Dobbin
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy title: Study for James Cochran [sic] Dobbin, Secretary of the Navy
Alternate titles: James Cochran [sic] Dobbin; Secretary Dobbin; Secretary Dobbins [sic]; Secretary James Cochrane Dobbin
1856
Locale: Washington, D.C.
Charcoal and chalk on wove paper
29 3/8 x 21 1/2 in. (74.6 x 54.6 cm)
Initialed lower left: E.J.; inscribed lower left: Secretary Dobbins [sic] Navy; dated lower center: 1856
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Provenance
Exhibitions
Kennedy Galleries, New York, Charcoal Drawings of Eminent Americans by Eastman Johnson, June 1920. (Exhibition catalogue: Kennedy Galleries 1920), no. 11, as James Cochrane Dobbin.
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, The Works, November 7, 1969–February 22, 1970.
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition, March 28–May 14, 1972. (Exhibition catalogue: Hills 1972a), no. 14, b/w illus., p. 21, as Secretary Dobbin. 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.
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, The Düsseldorf Academy and the Americans: An Exhibition of Drawings and Watercolors, September 23–October 28, 1973. Traveled to: Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, January 7–February 11, 1973; National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., April 27–July 28, 1973.
American Federation of Arts, New York, American Master Drawings and Watercolors: Works on Paper from Colonial Times to the Present, September 1, 1976–April 17, 1977.
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., American Portrait Drawings, May 1–August 3, 1980. (Sadik and Pfister 1980).
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Masterworks of American Art from the Addison Gallery Collection, October 6–31, 1981.
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, Ideas and Notations: Masterworks on Paper from the Addison Collection, April 10–August 2, 1992.
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, Faces of the Addison: Portraits from the Collection, April 23–July 31, 1994.
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, Eastman Johnson, September 5–October 15, 1995.
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, 65 Years, Addison Gallery of American Art, April 13–July 31, 1996.
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, On Paper: Masterworks from the Addison Collection, February 1–April 6, 2003.
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, Mix and Match: A Conversation between Paintings and Works on Paper, January 23–April 8, 2007.
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, Eye on the Collection: Views and Viewpoints, January 19–March 23, 2008.
References
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Charcoal Drawings by Eastman Johnson. New York: Kennedy Galleries, 1920. Exhibition catalogue (1920 Kennedy Galleries), p. 5, no. 11, as James Cochrane Dobbin.
Bolton, Theodore. Early American Portrait Draughtsmen in Crayon. New York: F. F. Sherman, 1923, p. 39, no. 5.
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. 74, no. 307, as Secretary Dobbins [sic].
Hills, Patricia. Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1972. Exhibition catalogue (1972 Whitney Museum), p. 21, no. 14, illus., as Secretary Dobbin.
Marks, Arthur S. "Eastman Johnson's Portrait of James Cochran Dobbin." Southeastern College Art Conference Review (Little Rock, AR) 10, no. 3 (1983), fig. 1, illus., as Secretary Dobbin.
Hills Examination/Opinion
Examination date(s): October 28, 1970
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Dobbin, James Cochrane
Biography:
James Cochrane Dobbin (1814–1857). Politician and lawyer. Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina, 1845–1847. Later appointed by President Franklin Pierce as the Secretary of the Navy, 1853–1857, a department of government where Johnson’s father worked.
White, Terry James. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, 1967–.
Related work
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Dobbin, James Cochrane
Keywords
- Portrait pose
: - Occupations
:
Record last updated July 29, 2023. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "James Cochrane Dobbin, 1856 (Hills no. 45.1.11)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=971 (accessed on May 1, 2025).