Eastman Johnson
Southern Courtship

Public Domain

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Artist Eastman Johnson (American, 1824–1906)American, 1824–1906

CultureAmerican

Titles

Southern Courtship

Date1859

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsCanvas: 20 × 15 7/8 in. (50.8 × 40.3 cm)
Frame: 26 1/2 × 22 3/8 × 4 in. (67.3 × 56.8 × 10.2 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Agnes Cullen Arnold Endowment

Object number2007.1174

Current Location

The Audrey Jones Beck Building

108 Hevrdejs Gallery

On view

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Department

American Art

Object Type

PAINTING

ProvenanceWildenstein and Company, New York, 1948; Sidney Levison, until 1967; Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1967; Ambassador and Mrs. J. William Middendorf II, Greenwich Connecticut, 1967 until at least 1972, by purchase; Private Collection, Rhode Island, until 2007; Vose Galleries, Boston, by June 27, 2007 and until August 24, 2007; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, August 24, 2007 by purchase

Exhibition HistoryWildenstein & Co., New York, Eastman Johnson, Summer 1948, No. 2

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Winslow Homer 1836-1910, Eastman Johnson 1824-1906, no. 1, as "Southern Courtship, Study for My Old Kentucky Home." Traveled to: Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego, 1949, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1949, Oklahoma Arts Center, Oklahoma City, 1949.

Hyde Museum, Glen Falls, N.Y., 1955.

Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, American Paintings and Historical Prints from the Middendorf Collection, July 9- Sept. 24, 1967, no. 28. Traveled to: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Oct. 4-Nov. 26 1967.

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York: Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition, March 28-May 14, 1972, no. 24, b/w illus., p. 31 as "Southern Courtship." Traveled to: The Detroit Insititute of Arts, Detroit, June 7-July 22, 1972, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Aug. 15-Sept. 30, 1972, Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, Oct. 20-Dec. 3, 1972.

The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, African Image: Representations of the Black throughout History, Feb. 17-March 30, 1980 (no. 45).

“Defining a Nation: Paintings of Nineteenth-Century America,” Vose Galleries, Boston, October 22–December 15, 2007.

"American Made: 250 Years of American Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 7, 2012–January 2, 2013.

"Art Across America," National Museum of Korea, Seoul, Korea, February 4–May 19, 2013; Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon, Korea, June 17–September 1, 2013.

"America: Painting a Nation," Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, November 8, 2013–February 9, 2014.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Signed and dated LR: "E. Johnson \ 1859"

Printed labels on verso - (photocopies in Accession file)

"WILDENSTEIN & CO., Inc. / NINETEEN EAST SIXTY-FOURTH STREET / NEW YORK 21 / BUENOS AIRES / LONDON / NEW YORK / PARIS / EASTMAN JOHNSON - "My Old Kentucky Home" / Signed and dated 1859 - ... / Cited by Carlyle Burrows in the New York Herald / Tribune, June 6, 1948. / Exhibited: 1948, New York, Wildenstein & Co. / 1949 Los Angeles County Museum / 1955 Hyde Museum, Glen Falls, N. Y. / Larger version, in the permanent collection of / the New York Public Library, is regarded as / Johnson's most famous painting."

"VOSE / GALLERIES OF BOSTON ;/ ...34882 / Eastman Johnson (1824-1906) / Southern Courtship / ... / Signed Lower Right / 1859"

"WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART / ... New York ... / Artist Eastman Johnson / Title SOUTHERN COURTSHIP / ... / Lender Ambassador & Mrs. J. William Middendorf II / Exhibition Eastman Johnson / March 28 - May 14, 1977"

"WAG / AFRICA / 1980.45"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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