Lady on a Red Sofa
Artist
Joshua Johnson(American, c. 1765–after 1825)American, c. 1765–after 1825
CultureAmerican
Titles
- Lady on a Red Sofa
Date1820–1825
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsCanvas: 30 5/16 × 25 3/8 in. (77 × 64.5 cm)
Frame (outer): 36 1/4 × 31 7/16 × 2 9/16 in. (92 × 79.8 × 6.5 cm)
Frame (outer): 36 1/4 × 31 7/16 × 2 9/16 in. (92 × 79.8 × 6.5 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Long Endowment for American Art
Object number2026.5
Current Location
The Audrey Jones Beck Building
107 Kilroy Gallery
On view
Explore Further
Department
American ArtObject Type
Exhibition HistoryExhibition of Portraits by Joshua Johnston (1948)
- The Peale Museum, Baltimore (January 11 – February 8, 1948)
Nineteenth-Century Folk Painting: Our Spirited National Heritage (1973-1974)
- William Benton Museum of Art, Storrs, CT (April 23 – June 3, 1973)
- New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, NY (July 1 – September 5, 1973)
- Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, Williamsburg, VA (October 1 – December 1, 1974)
Two Centuries of Black American Art (1976-1977)
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art (September 30 – November 21, 1976)
- High Museum of Art, Atlanta (January 8 – February 20, 1977)
- Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (March 30 – May 15, 1977)
- Brooklyn Museum (June 25 – August 21, 1977)
Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue from the Collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and Camille O. and William H. Cosby Jr (2014-2016)
- National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution (November 9, 2014 – January 24, 2016)
Published References Cotter, Holland. “Art Review: Continents in Conversation.” New York Times, November 6, 2014. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/arts/design/bill-cosbys-art-collection-joins-african-art-at-smithsonian.html. color illus. Driskell, David C. The Other Side of Color: African American Art in the Collection of Camille O. and William H. Cosby Jr. Rohnert Park, CA: Pomegranate Communications, Inc., 2001, pl. 3, pp. 12-13, 14 color illus., 187, 209. Driskell, David C. Two Centuries of Black American Art. Los Angeles and New York: LACMA and Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1976, no. 19, pp. 30, 33-36, 82 color illus., 118-19. Kennicott, Philip. “’Conversations’: Museum’s African art outshines Cosby’s African American Art.” Washington Post, November 9, 2014. https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/museums/conversations-museums-african-art-outshines-cosbys-african-american-art/2014/11/09/89b2b1f6-682c-11e4-b053-65cea7903f2e_story.html. Knight, Christopher. “Critic’s Notebook: Bill Cosby art collection: How the National Museum of African Art shot itself in the foot.” Los Angeles Times, November 6, 2015. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-ca-cm-bill-cosby-museum-african-notebook-20151108-column.html. Kreamer, Christine Mullen and Adrienne L. Childs, eds. Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue from the Collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and Camille O. and William H. Cosby Jr. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, 2014, pl. 28 color illus., figs. 27, 56 color illus., pp. 28, 71. Pleasants, J. Hall. Exhibition of Portraits by Joshua Johnston. Baltimore: The Peale Museum, 1948, no. 5. Reif, Rita. “ANTIQUES: New Attention for Early Black Artist.” New York Times, February 7, 1988, Section 2, p. 38. Robinson, Louie. "Two Centuries of Black American Art." Ebony, vol. XXXII, no. 4 (February 1977): p. 33 color illus. Rovetti, Paul F. "The Tillou Collection of Nineteenth Century American Folk Painting." American Art Review vol. I, no. 5 (July-October 1974): p. 105-06 color illus. Tillou, Peter H. Nineteenth-Century Folk Painting: Our Spirited National Heritage, Works of Art from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Tillou. Storrs, CT: University of Connecticut Foundation and the William Benton Museum of Art, 1973, pl. 13 color illus., no. 46, p. 175. Weekly, Carolyn J. and Stiles Tuttle Colwill, Joshua Johnson: Freeman and Early American Portrait Painter. Williamsburg, VA and Baltimore: The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center and the Maryland Historical Society, 1987, no. 83, pp. 98, 165, illus. bw. Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
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Verso: Paper labels adhered to back stretcher: Blue label adhered to top left of stretcher: TILLOU / M045804; Auction house white label adhered to center left stretcher: N12049 LOT205 2026/01/24
Catalogue raisonnéN/A
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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