Fiddling His Way
Artist
Eastman Johnson
(American, 1824-1906)
CultureAmerican
Date1866
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 24 1/4 x 36 1/2 in. (61.6 x 92.7 cm)
Overall, Frame: 32 1/8 x 44 1/8 in. (81.6 x 112.1 cm)
Overall, Frame: 32 1/8 x 44 1/8 in. (81.6 x 112.1 cm)
InscribedSigned and dated lower left: E. Johnson 1866
Credit LineBequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number89.60
Collections
On View
Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 213
Label TextEastman Johnson American, 1824–1906 Fiddling His Way, 1866 Oil on canvas Music fills this humble kitchen. The faces of its occupants show curiosity, admiration, joy, and contentment, confirming the beauty of the fiddle’s sounds. Painted immediately after the Civil War, Eastman Johnson’s Fiddling His Way explores the new freedoms and economic challenges facing emancipated African Americans. The fiddler, like Johnson, is an artist. The painter thus includes a moral lesson within this charming picture, instructing his fellow white Americans to respect the talents and humanity of all citizens. Bequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 89.60 ProvenanceRobert Leighton Stuart, New York, 1867. John Taylor Johnston, New York, by 1876. [Samuel P. Avery, New York, December 19, 20, and 22, 1876, Chickering Hall, The Collection of Paintings, Drawings, and Statuary, the Property of John Taylor Johnston, Esq., no. 184 (as The Wandering Fiddler)]. J. W. Garrett, Baltimore, Maryland, by 1880 (as Wandering Fiddler). Miss Mary E. Garrett, Baltimore, Maryland, until 1919. [American Art Galleries, New York, February 15-17, 1919, The Olyphant and Garrett Collections Sale, no. 75 (as A Plantation Melody)]. P. W. Rouss, February 17, 1919 (purchased). Sydney Levison. [Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1966]. Mortimer Spiller, Buffalo, New York, 1967 (purchased). Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, 1970-1974 (on loan to the Chrysler Museum, 1971). Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Norfolk, Virginia, 1974-1989. Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, 1989 (by bequest).Exhibition History"Forty-first Annual Exhibition of the National Academy of Design," New York, N.Y., 1866. (Exh. cat. no. 251) "Exposition Universelle," Paris, France, April - October, 1867. (Exh. cat. as "The Violin Player," no. 48) "First Winter Exhibition," National Academy of Design, New York, N.Y., November 16, 1867 - March 11, 1868. (Exh. cat. no. 651) "Centennial Exhibition," Memorial Hall, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pa., May 10 - November, 1876. (Listed as "The Wandering Fiddler") "Eastman Johnson," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, N.Y., March 22 - May 14, 1972; Detroit Institute of Arts, Mich., June 7 - July 22, 1973; Milwaukee Art Center, Wis., October 20 - December 3, 1972. (Exh. cat. no. 49) "Twice as Natural 19th Century American Genre Painting," Finch College Museum of Art, New York, N.Y., December 11, 1973 - January 20, 1974. (Exh. cat. no. 45) "The Painters' America, Rural and Urban Life, 1810-1910," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, N.Y., September 20 - November 10, 1974; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Tex., December 5, 1974 - January 19, 1975; The Oakland Museum, Calif., February 10 - March 30, 1975. (Exh. cat. no. 62) "Three Hundred Years of American Art," The Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. "Treasures from The Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville, Tenn., June 12 - September 5, 1977. "Masterpieces from New York Private Collections for the Benefit of the Chemotherapy Foundation," A.C.A. Galleries, 25 East 73rd St., New York, N.Y., September 26 - October 14, 1978. "The Art of Music: American Paintings & Musical Instruments 1770-1910," Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College, Clinton, N.Y., April 7 - June 3, 1984; Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, N.Y., July 19 - September 19, 1984; Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, N.C., October 1 - November 5, 1984; Lamont Gallery, The Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H., November 18 - December 16, 1984. (Exh. cat. fig. 31) "Hidden Treasures from The Chrysler Museum," The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., November 26, 1985 - January 5, 1986. "Facing History, the Black Image in American Art, 1710 - 1940," The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., January 13 - March 25, 1990; The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, N.Y., April 20 - June 25, 1990. (Exhib. cat. p. 56) "Eastman Johnson Painting America," Brooklyn Museum of Art, N.Y., October 29, 1999 - February 6, 2000; San Diego Museum of Art, Calif., February 25 - May 21, 2000; Seattle Art Museum, Wash., June 8 - September 10, 2000. "Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006. "Reopening of the Joan P. Brock Galleries," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., Opening in March of 2008. "American Treasures at the Willoughby-Baylor House," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, January 2 - December 1, 2013. Published References_New York Evening Post_ (February 16, 1865): 1. Hirschl and Adler Galleries, _Selections_ 8 (New York: Hirschl and Adler Galleries, 1966), no. 18, as "The Slave Fiddler". Patricia Hills, _Eastman Johnson_, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, N.Y., 1972, no. 49. Dennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975, 125. Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya, _Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._, exh. cat., Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville, Tenn., 1977, no. 5. Patricia Hills, _The Genre Painting of Eastman Johnson: The Sources and Development of His Style and Themes_ (New York: Garland Publishing, 1977), 63-64. "Spotlight: Fiddling His Way," _The Chrysler Museum Bulletin_ 12, no. 7 (July 1982). Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins and Leonard Simon, _The Portrayal of the Black Musician in American Art_, exh. cat., California Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles, Calif., 1987, 7, fig. 4. Guy C. McElroy with an essay by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., _Facing History: The Black Image In American Art 1710-1940_, exh. cat., Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1990, 56. Albert Boime, _The Art of Exclusion: Representing Blacks in the Nineteenth Century_ (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990), 116-119. Jefferson C. Harrison, _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_ (Norfolk: The Chrysler Museum, 1991), 119, plate 94. Christiana Payne, _Rustic Simplicity, Scenes of Cottage Life in Nineteenth-Century British Art_ (London: Lund Humphries Publishers in association with The University of Nottingham Arts Centre and Djanogly Art Gallery, 1998), 93-94, fig. 24. _The Glorious Quest_, Godel & Co. Fine Art, New York, 1998, 46. Teresa A. Carbone and Patricia Hills, _Eastman Johnson: Painting America_, exh. cat., Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, N.Y., 1999, 52, 66, 68, 121, 145-151, 169, 180, no. 78. Michael D. Harris, _Colored Pictures: Issues of Race and Visual Representation_ (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2003), 47-48. Brian T. Allen, _Sugaring Off: The Maple Sugar Paintings of Eastman Johnson_, exh. cat., Sterling and Francine Clark Institute, Williamstown, Mass., 2004, 45. _And Still We Rise: Our Journey Through African American History and Culture_, prod./dir. by Cathy Bruce, 10 min., Detroit, Mich., Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, 2004, videocassette. Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 82-83, no. 46. Mary Beth Norton, et. al., _A People and A Nation: A History of the United States: To 1877_, Volume One, Seventh Edition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006), 333. Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 63, fig. 65. Jane Dini, ed., _Dance: American Art, 1830-1960_ (Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts with Yale University Press, 2016) 42, fig. 7. Sarah Burns, "Genre and Still Life Painting," _Conversations with the Collection - A Terra Foundation Collection Handbook_, (Chicago: Terra Foundation of American Art, 2018), fig.3, pg. 84. Lacey Baradel, _Mobility and Identity in US Genre Painting: Painting at the Threshold_ (New York: Routledge, 2021) 31, fig. 1.8.
