On Their Way to Camp

1873

Eastman Johnson

Associated Names
Eastman Johnson

Painter, American, 1824 - 1906

This painting depicts a snowy forest scene with a path running through tall, leafless trees. On the path in the center of the painting, two men are pulling a sled loaded with barrels towards the right, while a small child sits on the barrels, holding a wooden bucket. The men wear long pants, vests, and hats in shades of blue, brown, black, red, and tan, while the child wears brown pants and a green jacket with a white scarf and a blue hat. All three people have light skin and brown hair. The forest around them is dense, made up of mostly brown trees and branches with a hint of pale gray sky in the background. Behind the people, in the trees, there also appears to be a small wooden structure with a faint orange fire.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Eastman Johnson is known for his genre scenes, or paintings of everyday life. Here, he depicted an early step in the process of making maple syrup, an activity he knew well from growing up in Maine.

Two boys tow a sled carrying a barrel used to gather sap. A younger boy rides on top, holding a wooden bucket. Each large maple tree around them has two spigots that point downward into birch bark baskets. If you look closely at the spout at the bottom right, you can see the sap dripping. The technique of collecting maple sap and the baskets were developed by Indigenous peoples in the northern United States and Canada.

At the camp in the background, figures tend to a fire where they’ll boil sap to concentrate its sugars into maple syrup.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery M68

Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Miss F. Pearl Browning and Miss Elizabeth Browning, in 1940.[1] Mr. and Mrs. Clyde M. Newhouse, New York, from at least 1972 to at least 1977; Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr., Los Angeles, from at least 2004; acquired 2008 by gift and purchase by NGA.
[1] "The Misses F. Pearl and Elizabeth Browning" lent the painting, as well as several others, to the exhibition of the artist's work at the Brooklyn Museum in 1940.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1940

  • An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824-1906, Brooklyn Museum, 1940, no. 45.

1944

  • America in the 19th Century: Its People - Pleasures - And Pursuits, John Levy Galleries, New York, 1944, no. 6, repro.

1972

  • Eastman Johnson, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Detroit Institute of Arts; Cincinnati Art Museum; Milwaukee Art Center, 1972, no. 75, repro.

1973

  • Art from Southampton Collections, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York, 1973.

1991

  • Loan to display with permanent collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991-1992.

Bibliography

2004

  • Allen, Brian T. Sugaring Off: Maple Sugar Paintings of Eastman Johnson. Exh. cat. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown; The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino. Williamstown, 2004: 48-49, fig. 26.

Inscriptions

lower right: E. Johnson 1873

Wikidata ID

Q20188766

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