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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: Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
[ 39.2 U.S. Drawing Studies for Genre Paintings & Finished Drawings ]info
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39.2 U.S. Drawing Studies for Genre Paintings & Finished Drawings

This theme presents the larger studies Johnson did for finished drawings and paintings; some of the figures are done in graphite pencil, while others are done in charcoal. Sheldon Keck, a conservator who examined many Johnson drawings and paintings, wrote the following in “A Use of Infra-Red Photography in the Study of Technique,” Technical Studies in the Field of the Fine Arts, 1941:

Johnson's procedure, as thus reconstructed, seems to have been to prepare carefully in advance of his painting a drawing of the whole or of important parts. In this he determined as well the modelling and chiaroscuro to be used in his painting. He next traced the drawing and transferred the outline to the picture priming. He diligently followed this outline in his application of paint. The drawing of the "Girl with Glass" of which a painted version appears in "The New Bonnet" illustrates this conclusion. The measurements of the drawn and painted figures coincide and the infra-red photograph reveals the guide lines in the painting.

—PH

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Hills no. 39.2.5
Baur no. 446
Captain Charles Myrick (Study for Embers)
Philadelphia Museum of Art title: Captain Charles Myrick
Alternate title: Captain Myrick
c.1879
Graphite on light brown heavy wove paper
10 1/2 x 7 in. (26.7 x 17.8 cm) (sight)
Initialed lower right in graphite: E.J.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. John Wintersteen, 1959 (1959-101-1)
Description / Remarks

Baur AAA Notebook #1, c. 1938–1941, p. 79: "Old man (prob. Capt. Myrick) with beard seated leaning on stick ag.[against] mouth. Sword & telescope hang on wall."

Provenance
Abraham Heebner Wintersteen, the artist's nephew-in-law (husband of Lucretia May, daughter of the artist's sister Harriet), by 1940
John S. Wintersteen, Philadelphia, his son, by January 19, 1945
Bernice Marilla McIlhenny Wintersteen, his wife, until 1959
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 1959 (by gift)
Exhibitions
1939 Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906, January 18, 1939–February 26, 1940. (Exhibition catalogue: Baur 1940).
1944 Philadelphia Art Alliance
Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, Eastman Johnson: Oil Paintings and Drawings, October 9–November 12, 1944. (Exhibition catalogue: Philadelphia Art Alliance 1944), no. 5.
1972 Whitney Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition, March 28–May 14, 1972. (Exhibition catalogue: Hills 1972a), no. 100, b/w illus., p. 110, as Captain Charles Myrick (Study for Embers), did not travel. 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.
References
Baur 1938–41a
Baur, John I. H. Notebook #1. 1938–41. John I. H. Baur papers, 1946–1979, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, p. 79, as Sketch for Embers.
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), pp. 35, 81, no. 446, as Captain Myrick.
Crosby 1944
Crosby, Everett U. Eastman Johnson at Nantucket: His Paintings and Sketches of Nantucket People and Scenes. Nantucket, MA, 1944, p. 15, C.27, as Captain Myrick.
Philadelphia Art Alliance 1944
Eastman Johnson: Oil Paintings and Drawings. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Art Alliance, 1944. Exhibition catalogue (1944 Philadelphia Art Alliance), n.p., no. 5, lent by A. H. Wintersteen.
Art News 1946
"The Passing Shows." Art News 44, no. 18 (1946), p. 25, illus. Erroneously used to illustrate Knoedler & Co, Inc. exhibition Paintings and Drawings by Eastman Johnson, January 7–26, 1946, in which the drawing was not included.
Hills 1972a
Hills, Patricia. Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1972. Exhibition catalogue (1972 Whitney Museum), p. 110, no. 100, illus., as Captain Charles Myrick (Study for Embers).
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): March 29, 1971
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Myrick, Charles C.
Biography:

Charles C. Myrick (1797–1883). Captain of the Nantucket coastal trading ship Abel Hoyt, 1854.

Related work
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Myrick, Charles
Keywords
Record last updated March 24, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Captain Charles Myrick (Study for Embers), c.1879 (Hills no. 39.2.5)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=987 (accessed on May 5, 2024).