Adelina Morton

c. 1810

Joshua Johnson

Associated Names
Joshua Johnson

Artist, American, born c. 1763, active 1796 - 1824

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 63

Artwork overview

More About this Artwork

This painting looks like a family portrait with five people: two seated adults and three children. The person on the far left is a seated woman with dark hair styled up and short, curling bangs, wearing a gray dress with puffed sleeves and lace details at the neckline. She holds a folded piece of paper in her lap and has one arm around the girl next to her. On her right stand two young girls with curly reddish-brown hair tied back, both dressed in white dresses with puffed sleeves and lace around the necklines. The girl to the left holds a pink flower, while the other holds a small pink bud. On their right is a seated man with short reddish-brown hair, wearing a dark jacket over a yellow vest and a white cravat and green trousers, holding a small book partially open. Standing to the right, partially behind the man, is a young boy dressed in a green coat with gold buttons over a pink vest and white shirt. All five of the people have pale skin. Behind the family is a black semi-circle, and around that is a gradient of brown, darker at the top and lighter towards the bottom.

Article:  Who Is Joshua Johnson? 7 Things to Know

The Maryland-based artist is one of America’s earliest-documented  professional Black portraitists.

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Given by the sitter's parents to Mrs. Morton's sister, Prudence Caton Thompson; to her daughter, Florence Hammersley, Baltimore; to her cousin, Mrs. Charles Albert Read [née Lucie Buckleam]. (Sale, Adam A. Weschler and Son, Washington, 19-21 May, 1972); to (Henry Coger as agent for) Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; by bequest to NGA, 1980.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1988

  • Sharing Traditions: Five Black Artists in Nineteenth-Century America, traveling exhibition organized by SITES, 1985-1988, not in cat. (shown only at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1988).

1993

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, 1993-1994.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, Savannah, Georgia, 1993.

1994

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Louisiana Arts and Science Center, Baton Rouge, 1994-1995.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Heckscher Museum, Huntington, New York, 1994.

1995

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), St. John's Museum of Art, Wilmington, North Carolina, 1995-1996.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), McKissick Museum, Columbia, South Carolina, 1995.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Boise Art Museum, Idaho, 1995.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Pensacola Museum of Art, Florida, 1995.

1996

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainseville, 1996-1997.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1996.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California, 1996.

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Maier Museum of Art, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Lynchburg, Virginia, 1996.

1997

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, 1997.

1998

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut, 1998.

2010

  • American Naive Paintings from the Garbisch Collection at the National Gallery of Art, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, Virginia, 2010, no cat.

Bibliography

1983

  • Perry, Mary Lynn. "Joshua Johnson: His Historical Context and His Art." M.A. thesis. George Washington University, Washington, 1983: iii, 94, 96, 126, 128-131, 152, 212-213.

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: 234-235, repro. 234.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 215, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20182631

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