William H. Johnson
Title: Lofoten, Norway-Midnight Sun, c. 1937-38,
Artist: William H. Johnson (American 1901-1970)
Medium: Tempera on paper
Permanent Collection: Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Harmon Foundation. 1967.59.59.
Image Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art
World on Paper
Philadelphia Museum of Art
May 19 - August 12, 2007
“William H. Johnson’s legacy of paintings, prints and drawings reveals a
sophisticated, avant-garde artist whose work combined the subtleties of his
hero, Henry Ossawa Tanner, with European-inspired modernism and African
American folk art,” said Anne d’Harnoncourt, Director of the Philadelphia Museum
of Art. “We are delighted that the exhibition affords the chance to display the
rare and spectacular group of prints by William H. Johnson that recently entered
the Museum’s permanent collection in context with the wonderful prints, drawings
and watercolors from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.”
William H. Johnson was a native of Florence, South Carolina. He was born in 1901 and
grew up in poverty. At the young age of 17 he moved to New York City at the time
of the beginning of what would be known as the Harlem Renaissance. He worked at a series
of jobs, saving enough to enable him to enroll at the
prestigious National Academy of Design.
Title: Jon Fisherman II, c. 1930-1938
Artist: William H. Johnson (American 1901-1970)
Medium: Hand-colored Woodcut.
Permanent Collection: Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Harmon Foundation.
Image Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art
The noted painter Charles Hawthorne was impressed with Johnson's talent and he raised funds to send Johnson abroad to study.
William H. Johnson studed in France during the late 1920s learning about modernism. He married Danish artist Holcha Krake. The couple spent most of the 1930s in
Scandinavia, where Johnson’s interest in folk art had a marked impact on his
work. They returned to the USA in 1938. At this point the artist studied
African American culture and traditions.
Title: Willie and Holcha, c. 1935,
Artist: William H. Johnson (American 1901-1970)
Medium: Hand-colored Woodcut
Dimensions: 13 ¾ x 17 inches
Permanent Collection: Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of the Harmon Foundation.
Image Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art
William H. Johnson is best known for his lively paintings of the African American experience in the rural South and urban North. The
arists was an accomplished printmaker and watercolorist. William H. Johnson’s World on Paper examines, for the first time, his
achievements as a graphic artist. Delicate watercolor drawings, bold block
prints, and colorful screen prints reveal him as an inventive modernist.
William H. Johnsons' World on Paper
Philadelphia Museum of Art:
May 19 - August 12, 2007
Montgomery Museum of Art:
September 15 - November 18, 2007
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