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Detail
Photo: Patricia Hills
Inscription
Photo: Patricia Hills
⊠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
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Hills no. 45.1.21
Seth Low
Green-Wood Historic Fund title: Portrait of Seth Low
Alternate title: possibly Hon. Seth Low
1890
Charcoal and white crayon on blue-gray paper laid down on linen
Sheet: 18 1/4 x 12 1/8 in. (46.4 x 30.8 cm)
Initialed and dated lower right: E.J./1890
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References
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Charcoal Drawings by Eastman Johnson. New York:
Kennedy Galleries,
1920.
Exhibition catalogue (1920 Kennedy Galleries), p. 11, addendum "Paintings by Eastman Johnson" [possibly, as
Hon. Seth Low]
.
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): November 4, 1970; September 19, 2019
Examination notes: 2019: Lots of criss-cross strokes.Lacy, but not squiggly. Firm outline on chin. Nice highlights on eyes, nose, chin. Stump used in hair. Excellent portrait in charcoal and white chalk/crayon. Firm outline on chin; nice highlights on eyes, nose, chin. Stump used within hair to give highlights. Lacy criss-cross strokes over face.
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Low, Seth
Biography: Seth Low (1850–1916). Educator and political leader. Twice mayor of Brooklyn. President of Columbia College, 1890–1901, where he started the university library. Delegate to the Hague Peace Conference, 1899, and mayor of New York City, 1902–1903.
White, Terry James. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, 1967–.
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Record last updated March 15, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Seth Low, 1890 (Hills no. 45.1.21)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=982 (accessed on March 28, 2024).