Luba Fineson
In October, I visited a New
York gallery and was surprised to see a one-woman show by a watercolorist of
whom I had never heard. Her work is in a realistic style reminiscent of the
period in which these works were painted (late 1870s – 1907). The subjects -
domestic scenes, landscapes of home and neighboring states, portraits of
friends and family - are graceful and appealing. I was impressed by the number
of works displayed in the gallery and the feminist perspective of the
biographical notes by the unsigned gallery curator. When I asked to speak to
the curator, I was surprised to meet a man. He explained the gallery was
promoting Annie S. Johnson’s reputation because it had bought a collection of
150 her works, which it hoped to sell as her name became better known.
Despite appearances, women
artists still encounter discrimination. Equal numbers of women artists may be
exhibited in local venues, but the art museums still favor men, from the
classics to modern. Male artists dominate the academic curriculum and art
survey texts. Women artists were the dominant pioneers of impressionism in
Russia in the 1920s. Can we name any of them? Feminists search the attics and
archives for the works of women artists but still fight the incoming tide in
trying to bring them to public appreciation. Therefore, we must nurture women
artists ourselves. We must be aware when we are selecting art, whether it be
visual or performing, that we have an opportunity to make a choice for women
and make a difference for women’s equality.
Below is a condensed version
of the gallery notes.
19th Century
Watercolors by Annie S. Johnson of New Haven
Annie Sarah Johnson’s life (1853-1937) rarely extended
outside the limits of her hometown of New Haven, CT, or even beyond the
confines of her parent’s house. That her story begins and ends in the same
place is indicative of the female experience in the elite society of Victorian
America. Annie and her sister Mary Louise lived long, comfortable and, by all
appearances, fulfilling lives. The Johnson sisters never married, instead
remaining devoted to their parents and later to each other. Annie was the
eldest daughter of Samuel Johnson, a prominent real estate developer whose
business success entitled his daughters to a live of leisure - one filled with
the promise of literary and artistic pursuits, but at the same time limited to
the domestic tedium of sewing, baking, gardening and social calls.
Either by her own design or
by social forces beyond her control, Johnson’s artistic gift and aspirations
remained focused inward, the province of her immediate family. Such was the
predicament of most women artists during the19th century.
However, the subtext of Johnson’s
life proved decidedly different. She benefited from a progressive
upbringing marked by her
antiestablishment Universalist parents – in particular her mother, Lucy, an
outspoken suffragette and noted poet. Johnson was a teacher of mathematics, history,
civil government and astronomy at her alma matter. But her finest and perhaps
most cherished talent was an artistic one, and few American women of her era
pursued their passion more vigorously. Johnson’s coming-of-age happened to
coincide with the emergence of the Yale School of Fine Arts, the earliest art
school associated with an American college and the first to award and actual
degree in the discipline. More importantly, though, the program was among the
first to admit women, and Johnson wasted little time becoming one of its
earliest students. The pioneering program offered her and other women
invaluable instruction as well as unprecedented access to life models. Johnson
took full advantage of this opportunity, enrolling at the school form 1877 to
1885 and then again from 1901 to 1909. Other important outlets for Annie’s
artistic vigor were the New Haven Sketch Club and the newly-formed New Haven
Paint and Clay Club.
As with other women artists
of the era, the subjects of Johnson’s work reflect the limited extent of her
sphere – largely domestic, involving friends, neighbors and servants. Dating
from the late 1870s to 1907, they are sensitive, highly personal portrayals,
offering a glimpse of a privileged but insular world. Whether young or old, blood
relatives or incidental acquaintances, the artist’s connection to each of her
sitters is readily apparent. Except for those executed at the Yale studio, the
works are penetrating and familiar glimpses of the faces that in some way
touched the Johnson household. Her outdoor work represents a refreshing
alternative to that world, painted during family trips to Vermont and her
parent’s home state of New Hampshire, or while on nearby coastal excursions with the Sketch Club. Johnson’s
pictures reveal a mastery of the difficult watercolor medium thanks to her
innate ability and to 17 years of professional training. Distinguished by their
charm and spontaneity, these light, deftly-executed portraits, genre scenes and
landscapes fit squarely into the grand tradition of American watercolor
painting.
