Lot Essay
Eastman Johnson painted the Truant in the late 1870s, his most productive years as a genre painter. Nearly two decades earlier in 1859 he had astonished the critics with his Life in the South (The New-York Historical Society, New York), which established his early reputation as an artist of remarkable skill and refinement. Like his friend and fellow genre painter Winslow Homer, during the 1870s Johnson explored subject matter that celebrated idyllic life in rural America, painting images that revealed old-fashioned farm life in its golden day. The Truant exemplifies this type of painting, as it combines careful observation of subject matter with a warm, encompassing light source that gives the painting an inviting and ageless sensibility.
In 1871 Johnson acquired property on Nantucket Island, a place filled with the type of simple, rural people that inspired his art. He may have painted The Truant on the island, as the young boy--whose pockets are bulging with ripe apples fresh from the orchard--is typical of the individuals that he favored while painting there. The finely drawn figure and the careful observation of light seen in The Truant recall Johnson's training in the Hague and Dsseldorf. At the same time the warm, rich tones of the palette evoke his brief stay in the studio of Thomas Couture in Paris. In The Truant Johnson combines sound academic technique learned in Europe with uniquely American subject matter to create a genre painting with enduring American appeal.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonn of the artist's work being compiled by Dr. Patricia Hills.
In 1871 Johnson acquired property on Nantucket Island, a place filled with the type of simple, rural people that inspired his art. He may have painted The Truant on the island, as the young boy--whose pockets are bulging with ripe apples fresh from the orchard--is typical of the individuals that he favored while painting there. The finely drawn figure and the careful observation of light seen in The Truant recall Johnson's training in the Hague and Dsseldorf. At the same time the warm, rich tones of the palette evoke his brief stay in the studio of Thomas Couture in Paris. In The Truant Johnson combines sound academic technique learned in Europe with uniquely American subject matter to create a genre painting with enduring American appeal.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonn of the artist's work being compiled by Dr. Patricia Hills.