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Eastman Johnson and Maine

Location

Space

Dates

Maine native Eastman Johnson was one of the most significant painters of the nineteenth century and was instrumental in the development of genre painting in the United States. He established his reputation in New York with art that depicted everyday life. At the height of his career in the 1860s and 1870s, he often turned to his home state for subject matter, creating works that portrayed various aspects of rural experience.

An oil painting by Eastman Johnson depicting a boy in outdoors with tall thin trees in the distance and periphery while stumps and logs and wood chips are in the foreground.

Selected Works

Eastman Johnson

An oil on canvas painting by Eastman Johnson depicting an outside party with people dancing and talking sitting on maple logs.

Eastman Johnson

An oil painting by Eastman Johnson depicting a man inside a rustic room taking the niblets off of corn cobs while a small boy plays at his feet.

Eastman Johnson

Oil on canvas painting of seven children sitting on a wooden beam in a barn.

Eastman Johnson

An oil on canvas painting by Eastman Johnson of a people working and resting in a barn during the fall surrounding by discarded corn husks.

Installation Views

  • Museum gallery with dark and light green walls displaying framed paintings.
  • Museum gallery with dark and light green walls displaying framed paintings.
  • Museum gallery with light green wall displaying four framed paintings and a sculptural bust.

Installation view of Eastman Johnson and Maine, Davis Gallery, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine, 2024. Photo: Ashely L. Conti

Installation view of Eastman Johnson and Maine, Davis Gallery, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine, 2024. Photo: Ashely L. Conti

Installation view of Eastman Johnson and Maine, Davis Gallery, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine, 2024. Photo: Ashely L. Conti