Southern Courtship
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)
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
Explore Further
Department
American ArtObject Type
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.
Published References --Catalogue of an Exhibition of Charcoal Drawings by Eastman Johnson, New York: Kennedy Galleries, 1920. Exhibition catalogue, p. 12, addendum "Paintings by Eastman Johnson [possibly as "The Country Courtship"] --Eastman Johnson. New York: Wildenstein, 1948. Exhibition catalogue, no. 2, as "Southern Courtship." --Winslow Homer 1836-1910; Eastman Johnson 1824-1906, San Diego, CA: Fine Arts Society of San Diego, 1949. Exhibition catalogue, no. 1, as "Southern Courtship, Study for My Old Kentucky Home." --American Paintings & Historical Prints from the Middendorf Collection, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1967, no. 28, p. 42-43 illus, no. 28, p. 43. --Defining a Nation: Paintings of Nineteenth Century America, Boston: Vose Galleries, 2007, p. 9 Burrows, Carlyle, New York Herald Tribune, June 6, 1948 Douglas Britt, "Loaned pieces keep MFAH new," Houston Chronicle, 29 March 2009, Zest section. Hills, Patricia, "Painting Race: Eastman Johnson's Pictures of Slaves, Ex-Slaves, and Freedmen," in Eastman Johnson: Painting America, by Teresa A. Carbone and Patricia Hills, Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, 1999. Exhibition catalogue, p. 128 Marzio, Peter C., American Art and Philanthropy: Twenty Years of Collecting at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX: Museum of Fine Arts, 2010, p. 36 or 37. 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"
"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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