Eastman Johnson
1824
–1906
BirthplaceLovell, Maine, United States of America
Death placeNew York, New York, United States of America
BiographyBorn in Maine to a large family, Eastman Johnson served an apprenticeship in a lithograph publishing shop in Boston as a young man. He returned to Maine in 1842 to establish a practice in portrait drawing, but soon moved to Washington, D.C., shortly followed by his family when his father was appointed to a government clerkship. His father’s connections enabled Johnson to make the most of the opportunities for portrait commissions in the nation’s capital, and he drew likenesses of members of Congress and the Supreme Court. In 1846, Johnson went to Boston to make portraits of that city’s literary and intellectual leaders. Three years later, he departed for further study in Europe.
Johnson studied oil painting for two years in Düsseldorf, Germany, considered in the mid-nineteenth century the best training ground for a figure painter. He later settled in The Hague, in the Netherlands, where he studied the works of seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish masters and worked on portrait commissions. A short stay in Paris, where Johnson studied under the French portrait master Thomas Couture (1815–1879), was cut short by the death of his mother, and he returned home in 1855 after six years abroad.
Johnson began to paint genre works amid his portrait commissions. He spent some time in the Lake Superior region of Wisconsin, where he drew and painted native Ojibwe. He briefly established a portrait studio in Cincinnati. In 1858, he settled permanently in New York City, and he soon became prominent in the art world. His reputation was secured by his painting Old Kentucky Home–Life in the South (1859, The New-York Historical Society), the first of several sympathetic portrayals of enslaved Black people in Washington D.C. The painting shows the artist's awareness of the politics of urban slavery. In 1860, Johnson was elected a full member of the prestigious National Academy of Design.
During the American Civil War, Johnson followed Union troops on three campaigns, producing several images based on his experiences. During the 1860s, he also returned to his Maine birthplace to make scenes of maple sugaring, followed in the 1870s with images of cranberry picking on the island of Nantucket in Massachusetts, where he summered following his marriage in 1869. In the 1880s, Johnson gradually abandoned genre painting and returned to portraiture; his well-crafted likenesses of society’s notables were a critical and financial success. He revisited Europe in 1885, 1891, and 1897.
Johnson studied oil painting for two years in Düsseldorf, Germany, considered in the mid-nineteenth century the best training ground for a figure painter. He later settled in The Hague, in the Netherlands, where he studied the works of seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish masters and worked on portrait commissions. A short stay in Paris, where Johnson studied under the French portrait master Thomas Couture (1815–1879), was cut short by the death of his mother, and he returned home in 1855 after six years abroad.
Johnson began to paint genre works amid his portrait commissions. He spent some time in the Lake Superior region of Wisconsin, where he drew and painted native Ojibwe. He briefly established a portrait studio in Cincinnati. In 1858, he settled permanently in New York City, and he soon became prominent in the art world. His reputation was secured by his painting Old Kentucky Home–Life in the South (1859, The New-York Historical Society), the first of several sympathetic portrayals of enslaved Black people in Washington D.C. The painting shows the artist's awareness of the politics of urban slavery. In 1860, Johnson was elected a full member of the prestigious National Academy of Design.
During the American Civil War, Johnson followed Union troops on three campaigns, producing several images based on his experiences. During the 1860s, he also returned to his Maine birthplace to make scenes of maple sugaring, followed in the 1870s with images of cranberry picking on the island of Nantucket in Massachusetts, where he summered following his marriage in 1869. In the 1880s, Johnson gradually abandoned genre painting and returned to portraiture; his well-crafted likenesses of society’s notables were a critical and financial success. He revisited Europe in 1885, 1891, and 1897.