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Article: Eastman Johnson's portrait of aging New England.
- Article from:
- The Magazine Antiques
- Article date:
- November 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Brant Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In recent decades cultural historians have probed deeply into the complex meanings of New England for post-Civil War generations of Americans.(1) The artist Eastman Johnson is included regularly in such studies because his roots were in rural Maine and he held fast to a New England identity even after a successful stay in Europe and residence in New York City over the course of nearly fifty years.
As a critic commented in a review of a memorial exhibition of Johnson's work a year after his death: "Maine or Nantucket, the painter all his life remained an unmistakable 'Down Easter,' in his outward way and modes of speech, as well as in his ways of thinking and in ...