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Joshua Johnson

Sarah Ogden Gustin, c. 1805

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 63

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 71.1 x 57.2 cm (28 x 22 1/2 in.)

framed: 83.2 x 69.8 x 8.8 cm (32 3/4 x 27 1/2 x 3 7/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch

Accession Number

1971.83.7

Artists / Makers

Joshua Johnson (artist) American, born c. 1763, active 1796 - 1824

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

lower left on top right-hand page of book: JOSHU[A]JOHNSON; and below: JJ (in monogram)

Provenance

Recorded as from Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. Descended in the family of the sitter, probably to her sister-in-law, Delilah Gustin Hunter; probably to her son, William Hunter, Sr.; to his daughter, Emily Frances Hunter (Mrs. George Cross); to her daughter, Mrs. Daisy (Cross) Somers; to her cousin, Katherine Mahon Hunter;[1] by whom sold in 1961 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; gift to NGA, 1971.

[1] According to Jessie Hunter, the wife of William Hunter, a descendant of Katherine (Katy) Mahon Hunter, Daisy Somers was cleaning out her attic and had decided only to keep the frame of the portrait. She had already placed the canvas with a pile of things to be burned. Katy Hunter rescued the portrait and brought it home with her. (Undated curator's notes from conversation with Jessie Hunter, in NGA curatorial file.

Associated Names

Garbisch, Edgar William, Mr. and Mrs.
Gustin family, Sarah Ogden
Hunter, Delilah Gustin
Hunter, Emily Frances
Hunter, Katherine Mahon
Hunter, Sr., William
Somers, Daisy, Mrs.

Exhibition History

1975: Jacob Frymire--American Limner, traveling exhibition, 1975-1976, no. 37, (cat. by Linda Crocker Simmons). First venue: Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington.

1981: Charles Peale Polk (1767-1822), A Limner and His Likenesses, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Williamsburg; Dayton Art Institute; Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga; Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, Massachusetts, 1981-1982, no. x.171.

1983: [Loan to display with new acquisition by Joshua Johnson], Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1983-1984.

1985: American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, traveling exh. by the International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, 1985-1987, no. 40, color repro., detail p. 24. First venue: Museum of American Folk Art, New York.

1985: Sharing Traditions, Five Black Artists in Nineteenth-Century America, National Museum of American Art, Washington, circulated by SITES, 1985-1988, figs. 1 and 2 (shown only in Washington, 1985).

1987: Joshua Johnson: Freeman and Early American Portrait Painter, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore; Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Williamsburg, 1987-1988, no. 4, color repro. (not shown at two Whitney Museum venues, NY and Stamford, CT).

1988: La Nascita di Una Nazione: Pittori americani dalla National Gallery of Art di Washington 1730-1880, Palazzo Pepoli Campogrande, Bologna; Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna di Ca'Pesaro, Venice, 1988-1989, no. 40, repro.

Bibliography

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 185, repro.

1981: Rumford, Beatrix T., ed. American Folk Portraits: Paintings and Drawings from the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center. Boston, 1981: 132-133.

1985: Harrington, Lynda Roscoe. Sharing Traditions: Five Black Artists in Nineteenth-Century America. Exh. cat. National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC, 1985: 40-41, fig. 1-2, cat. 2, 44, 46, 49, note 6.

1987: Weekley, Carolyn. "Joshua Johnson." Antiques 132 (September): color pl. 1.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 214, repro.

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: 230-232, color repro. 231.

2021: Fulco, Daniel. "Joshua Johnson: Pioneer of American Portraiture." Joshua Johnson: Portraitist of Early American Baltimore. Hagerstown, MD, 2021: 22, 98, fig. 21.