Edmonia Lewis and Joshua Johnson are associated with the artistic movement of Neoclassicism. Neoclassicism is a movement that began around the middle of the 18th century, and its development was motivated by the rediscovery of Greek and Roman antiquity. Works of art from this movement are often defined by their emphasis on classicism and serious depiction of heroic and noble subject matter. Neoclassical works usually represent scenes from antiquity, but the subjects of Neoclassical artworks range from mythological figures to heroes of the past, to major contemporary historic events. Many of these characteristics are present in Edmonia Lewis’ sculptures and the stylistic qualities of Neoclassicism may also have influenced Joshua Johnson’s series of portrait paintings.

Edmonia Lewis

The artist Edmonia Lewis was born in Greenbush, New York in 1844 and was of dual African American and Native American heritage.[1] Orphaned before she was five years old, Lewis lived with her mother’s community until she was twelve.[2] Her early artistic career and training at Oberlin College, located in Ohio, ended abruptly when she was incorrectly accused of poisoning two of her white roommates and began facing violent harassment. She later moved to Boston and met the sculptor Edward Brackett under whose tutelage she began studying sculpture. It was in Boston that Lewis first began producing medallion portraits of well-known abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison, Charles Sumner, and Wendell Phillips, portraits which would allow her to attain a new level of financial independence.[3] Her portrait busts financed her to embark on a Grand Tour of Europe, where she felt able to “obtain the opportunities for art culture and to find a social atmosphere where I was not constantly reminded of my color.”[4]

Edmonia Lewis became the first professional African American sculptor in part due to resources from financial patronage and the opportunities she attained through relocation to Europe. As mentioned, with finances obtained early in her career she was able to relocate to Europe for further artistic training and finally settled in Rome. Continuing to produce portrait busts of both abolitionists and patrons in Rome allowed her to continue to grow as an African American sculptor and make a profit. Patrons in Rome additionally financed a range of resources and materials that allowed her to continue producing works in a Neoclassical style. Edmonia Lewis is most well-known for sculptures that depicted African American themes and subjects influenced by her devout Catholicism. She also created artwork that depicted prominent historic figures from antiquity, such as Cleopatra. Lewis worked with a range of materials including stone, clay, and marble, using marble as her medium of choice the most frequently. Rome itself provided her with many more opportunities and a social atmosphere where she felt more comfortable, although she was not entirely free from racial discrimination. Many who encountered her monumental works were highly skeptical that they could have been produced by a woman artist of color until they visited her studio.

In Rome, Lewis had access to Ancient Greek and Roman sculptures as well as works from the Italian Renaissance. Four hundred years after Michelangelo produced a monumental sculpture of Moses, Edmonia Lewis replicated his statue. The original sculpture of Moses by Michelangelo was finalized near the year 1515 and stands in the tomb of Pope Julius II in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. In her Moses (After Michangelo) (Fig. 1), Lewis portrays a marble sculpture of a seated figure of Moses, a biblical figure. He is shown sitting, holding stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments from God. Moses is also shown as a strong, older man with a beard and look of concentration. The figure is classically inspired, with Moses almost portrayed in the image of Zeus. He is clothed in a robe, but Lewis still emphasizes his muscular frame, studying the technique of Michelangelo’s marble carving closely. Lewis’ sculpture has received much recognition and is currently displayed at Smithsonian American Art Museum. While being classical in style, this artwork portrays a key topic within the Christian religion, specifically Moses and the Old Testament.

It is said that Lewis created her version Moses perhaps due to a commission or because his story served as a source of inspiration. Tourists who visited Italy during the 19th century often commissioned artists to make copies of famous sculptures, and one of them may have commissioned Edmonia Lewis to copy Michelangelo's Moses at half the scale of the original to celebrate his 400th birthday. However, it is also possible that since Lewis was African American, the figure of Moses, who led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, may have held special meaning for her. Moses exemplified the desire for freedom felt by many African Americans during the nineteenth century.

Edmonia Lewis has many other notable works that all emphasize her preference for the Neoclassical artistic style. Some of these sculptures include Hagar (1875), Poor Cupid (1876), and Death of Cleopatra (1876) (Fig. 2). Cleopatra, the legendary female Pharoah of Egypt, is portrayed at the moment of her death by Edmonia Lewis in the sculpture below. The 1876 carved, marble sculpture has astonished the world through the depiction of Cleopatra in her final moment, wearing her royal attire, in majestic repose on a throne following her fatal snake bite. Lewis was notorious for including fine details in her artwork and achieving an excellent handling of drapery. The work was first exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876, where it was largely met with critical acclaim, although some critics found the realism of the death ghastly. Following this exhibition The Death of Cleopatra was presumed lost for some time, but it has finally settled in a permanent location at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Joshua Johnson

Much less information is known about the biography of artist Joshua Johnson, who was born in Baltimore, Maryland around 1763. Johnson’s identity as an artist was first established by J. Hall Pleasants, in an article published in 1939 that sought to document his oeuvre and provide attribution to Johnson for several works.[5] Historians have determined that in the late eighteenth century, a wealthy patron noticed Johnson’s ability to paint and commissioned him to continue to paint whatever was requested, this primarily being portraiture. Johnson is now better known for his portrait paintings of prominent Maryland residents. Many of the portraits, though not all, that are attributed to Johnson are drawn in the same stiff manner, with the faces of the sitters in three quarter view and their gazes straightforward. The backgrounds are usually plain, although some include a tiled floor and an open casement with landscape beyond a curtain.[6] There is speculation that Johnson was largely self-taught. Like Lewis, Joshua Johnson therefore similarly had the necessary resource of patrons to help him to excel in the realm of fine arts and become an African American portrait painter. His natural artistic talent and determination to become a portrait painter in many ways enabled him to pursue an artistic career and access to increased resources.

In his Mrs. Abraham White, Jr. and Daughter Rose, Johnson produces an oil on canvas double portrait painting of a mother and child. The mother is seated on a Sheraton sofa, in front of a plain and austere dark grey background. This forms a common backdrop for many of Johnson’s family portraits, placing emphasis on the sitters. Standing at the mother’s left side, with upright posture, is a child of about two years of age, who grasps a pair of strawberry leaves and berries. The mother and child feature blue-gray eyes and light hair, with the mother presented in a high-waisted black dress that contrasts with the child’s white smock. Both dresses feature lace trims and indicate a certain level of wealth of the sitters. In her right hand the mother holds a half-opened book, while her left arm encircles and supports the toddler. The child is turned slightly to the left with her right-hand resting on her mother's shoulder.[7]

A series of portraits of children with strawberries by Johnson is also particularly interesting and revealing of his style. Strawberries as props were favored by the artist, and are featured prominently in the unusual work Little Girl in Pink with Goblet Filled with Strawberries (c. 1805). In this work the girl, who has been identified as Emma Van Name, holds a bright red strawberry in a half-raised right arm, a pose Johnson used in several other portraits, while her left arm reaches for a large goblet of strawberries.[8] Johnson often uses strawberries to achieve a red accent as a color device to add a dramatic effect. Strawberries held by children in his works may symbolize the vibrancy of youth. The plain grey background punctuated by a curtained window also features as a compositional device in his other works.

Joshua Johnson created a multitude of family portraits in a similar style. He has been consistently compared to trained European portrait artists, and as result his style has been described as more naïve and much less refined. While his paintings do exhibit characteristics of folk art, Johnson’s emphasis was also certainly on creating compositions that are linear, simple, and focused on details, exhibiting a very distinct style while still focusing on the individual likeness and personality of his sitters.[9] While the majority of Johnson’s portraits feature wealthy families from Maryland, he also completed portraits of prominent African Americans such as Daniel Coker. His portrait painting can now be found in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, Chrysler Museum, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore Museum of Art, and Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Edmonia Lewis’ and Joshua Johnson’s hard work, determination, natural talent and access to resources played a crucial role in their successful artistic careers. They did not let financial circumstances, family issues, racial issues, or any other obstacles hinder them from reaching their goals of becoming some of the first African American professional artists. The opportunity to move to a place that provided social and financial advantages had a major influence on Lewis’ success as an African American sculptor. As a portrait painter, Joshua Johnson also gained enough profit through patrons to achieve professional artist status.

Although African American artists still faced discrimination throughout the nineteenth century, the stories of these artists are not unique, and they paved the way for the generations that followed. As European countries were increasingly more accepting of African Americans, particularly following the First World War, African American artists began follow in Lewis’ footsteps to move from the United States and move to places that could provide opportunities to showcase their artistic talents. Increased patronage similarly provided many benefits including financial stability, networking, and exposure. These patrons were great resources for African American artists and African Americans themselves throughout history were too increasingly able to serve as very important patrons of the arts. Location and access to customers and patrons were resources that undoubtedly helped expand the growth of African American artists. This is evident in this examination of the significant careers of the 19th century artists Edmonia Lewis and Joshua Johnson.         

[1] While her dual heritage is often commented upon, her connection to an Afro-Indigenous identity and its impact on her artistic career is only more recently being discussed.

[2] Smithsonian American Art Museum. “Edmonia Lewis.” Smithsonian American Art Museum. Accessed November 11, 2021. https://americanart.si.edu/artist/edmonia-lewis-2914.

[3] Smithsonian American Art Museum. “Edmonia Lewis.” Smithsonian American Art Museum. Accessed November 11, 2021. https://americanart.si.edu/artist/edmonia-lewis-2914.

[4] Crystal Bridges Museum of African American Art. (2017, February 1). Black history Month: Edmonia Lewis. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Retrieved from https://staging-temp.crystalbridges.org/blog/black-history-month-edmonia-lewis/.

[5] “Joshua Johnson.” Smithsonian American Art Museum. Accessed November 11, 2021. https://americanart.si.edu/artist/joshua-johnson-2479.

[6] “Joshua Johnson.” Callaloo 39, no. 5 (2016): 1012–90. https://doi.org/10.1353/cal.2016.0141.

[7] Chrysler Museum of Art. “Mrs. Abraham White, Jr., and Daughter Rose.” Accessed November 12, 2021. https://chrysler.emuseum.com/objects/15369/mrs-abraham-white-jr-and-daughter-rose;ctx=d9db3e02-c887-48ac-add5-73742e6d9b71&idx=34.

[8] “Jonathan Boos Places Joshua Johnson Work into the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Collection.” Jonathan Boos, June 8, 2020. https://jonathanboos.com/little-girl-pink-joshua-johnson/.

[9] “Joshua Johnson.” Neoclassical Salon of Equality, October 24, 2016. https://lplsalon.wordpress.com/blog/joshua-johnson/.

References

Beech, Dave. 2015. Art and Value : Art’s Economic Exceptionalism in Classical, Neoclassical and Marxist Economics. Historical Materialism Book Series. Boston: Brill. https://search-ebscohost-com.ecnhts-proxy.jsums.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=986291&site=ehost-live

Bietoletti, Silvestra. Neoclassicism Et Romanticism: 1770-1840. New York: Sterling, 2009.

Chrysler Museum of Art.  Mrs. Abraham White, Jr., and Daughter Rose.” https://chrysler.emuseum.com/objects/15369/mrs-abraham-white-jr-and-daughter-rose;ctx=d9db3e02-c887-48ac-add5-73742e6d9b71&idx=34.

Crystal Bridges Museum of African American Art. (2017, February 1). Black history Month: Edmonia Lewis. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Retrieved from https://staging-temp.crystalbridges.org/blog/black-history-month-edmonia-lewis/.

Ehrlichman, Matt. “20 Quotes for Seizing the Opportunity.” Inc.com. Inc., June 20, 2015. https://www.inc.com/matt-ehrlichman/20-quotes-for-seizing-the-opportunity.html.

Henderson, Harry, and Albert Henderson. 2012. The Indomitable Spirit of Edmonia Lewis : A Narrative Biography. Milford, CT: Esquiline Hill Press. https://search-ebscohost-com.ecnhts-proxy.jsums.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=637489&site=ehost-live.

Li , Claudia. “The Death of Cleopatra [Edmonia Lewis].” Sartle, September 17, 2020. https://www.sartle.com/artwork/the-death-of-cleopatra-edmonia-lewis.

“Jonathan Boos Places Joshua Johnson Work into the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Collection.” Jonathan Boos, June 8, 2020. https://jonathanboos.com/little-girl-pink-joshua-johnson/.

“Joshua Johnson.” Callaloo 39, no. 5 (2016): 1012–90. https://doi.org/10.1353/cal.2016.0141.

“Joshua Johnson.” Neoclassical Salon of Equality, October 24, 2016. https://lplsalon.wordpress.com/blog/joshua-johnson/.

“Joshua Johnson.” Smithsonian American Art Museum. Accessed November 11, 2021. https://americanart.si.edu/artist/joshua-johnson-2479.

Palmer, Allison Lee 2011. Historical Dictionary of Neoclassical Art and Architecture. Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts. Lanham [Md.]: Scarecrow Press. https://search-ebscohost-com.ecnhts-proxy.jsums.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=358495&site=ehost-live.

Smithsonian American Art Museum. “Edmonia Lewis.” Smithsonian American Art Museum. Accessed November 11, 2021. https://americanart.si.edu/artist/edmonia-lewis-2914.

Citation: Saa, Anyéla. “African American Artists  in the Neoclassical Period:
A Study of Edmonia Lewis and Joshua Johnson.” Journal of Art & Theatre. vol. 1, no.1 (2022): 23-32.