Joshua Johnson

Johnston, Joshua

American, born c. 1763, active 1796 - 1824

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African American painter

Explore Selected Works

Joshua Johnson, Adelina Morton, c. 1810, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1980.61.4

Adelina Morton

Joshua Johnson · c. 1810 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1980.61.4

Three pale-skinned, blue-eyed children wearing green suits stand in a row facing us in this horizontal portrait painting. They all have round faces and full, pink cheeks. The tallest child is to the right, and he has shoulder-length cinnamon-brown hair. The other two come up to his shoulder and have blond hair. The tallest puts one arm on the far shoulder of the middle child, and the two smaller children hold hands. Each wears a pine-green, one-piece outfit with pewter-gray buttons, a wide, ivory-white collar lined with ruffles, and black, shin-high boots. The boy on our left holds a branch of dark red cherries. The middle child holds a pink rose, and the tallest a basket filled with pink roses. A black dog holding a gray and mauve-pink bird in its mouth stands in profile facing our left in the lower right corner of the canvas. The room around them has a tan-colored floor and gray walls. The room opens onto an alcove to our right with a rectangular window. A slender tree is along the left edge of the opening and a few pale, pink-tinged gray mountains line the bottom edge. Clear blue sky fills the rest of the window.
Joshua Johnson, The Westwood Children, c. 1807, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1959.11.1

The Westwood Children

Joshua Johnson · c. 1807 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1959.11.1

A woman and two children wear nearly matching white dresses in this vertical portrait. All three have pale skin, and they look out at us. Their floor length, short-sleeved, scoop-necked dresses are made with what looks like light, tulle-like fabric gathered just below the bust. The woman sits to our left on a dark sofa. The back of the couch curves up over her shoulders and down to our right, and off the painting. The top edge of the sofa has nail-head trim, and the wall behind it is elephant gray. The woman’s curling brown hair is pulled back behind a white headband. She has gray eyes, and her pink lips are closed. She holds a sprig of strawberries with her right hand, which rests in her lap. Her left arm, on our right, wraps around the younger child, who stands on the sofa at the center of the composition. The child has blond hair and light brown eyes, and wears a delicate, coral bead necklace. To our right, the older child stands in front of the couch. Her black hair is brushed back from her face except for bangs sweeping across her forehead. She has dark brown eyes and wears a gold-colored necklace. The older girl holds a basket of strawberries with her left hand, and rests her other hand on the pointed end of a parasol, which is tucked behind her body to our left.
Joshua Johnson, Grace Allison McCurdy (Mrs. Hugh McCurdy) and Her Daughters, Mary Jane and Letitia Grace, c. 1806, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase through the gifts of William Wilson Corcoran, Elizabeth Donner Norment, Francis Biddle, Erich Cohn, Hardinge Scholle and the William A. Clark Fund), 2014.136.146

Grace Allison McCurdy (Mrs. Hugh McCurdy) and Her Daughters, Mary Jane and Letitia Grace

Joshua Johnson · c. 1806 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.136.146

Joshua Johnson, Mr. Baylor, c. 1805, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1978.80.8

Mr. Baylor

Joshua Johnson · c. 1805 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1978.80.8

Joshua Johnson, Sarah Ogden Gustin, c. 1805, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1971.83.7

Sarah Ogden Gustin

Joshua Johnson · c. 1805 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1971.83.7

Joshua Johnson, Family Group, c. 1800, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1980.61.3

Family Group

Joshua Johnson · c. 1800 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1980.61.3

Bibliography

1939

  • Pleasants, J. Hall. "An Early Baltimore Negro Portrait Painter: Joshua Johnson." Walpole Society Notebook (1939): 37-48.

1942

  • Pleasants, J. Hall. "Joshua Johnson, the First American Negro Portrait Painter." Maryland Historical Magazine 38 (1942): 121-149.

1972

  • Bearden, Romare, and Harry Henderson. Six Black Masters of American Art. New York, 1972: 6-19.

1981

  • Rumford 1981, 132-133.

1983

  • Perry, Mary Lynn. "Joshua Johnson: His Historical Context and His Art." M.A. thesis, George Washington University, 1983.

1985

  • Hartigan, Lynda Roscoe. Sharing Traditions: Five Black Artists in America. Exh. cat. National Museum of American Art, traveling exhibition. Washington, 1985.

1987

  • Weekley, Carolyn, et al. Joshua Johnson: Freeman and Early American Portrait Painter. Exh. cat. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Williamsburg; Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore. Williamsburg and Baltimore, 1987.

1992

  • Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 225-226.

1996

  • Bryan, Jennifer, and Robert Torchia. "The Mysterious Portraitist Joshua Johnson." Archives of American Art Journal 36, no. 2 (1996): 2-7.