Artist: Eastman Johnson Place/date of birth: Lovell, Maine 1824 Place/date of death: New York, New York 1906 Title: The Pension Claim Agent Date of completion: 1867 Materials: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 25 1/4 x 37 3/8 inches Collection: Mildred Anna Williams Collection Accession number: 1943.6 Introduction The Pension Claim Agent depicts the home of a disabled Civil War veteran (or his parents' house) during the visit of a government agent who is verifying the claim that the veteran needs government benefits. Discussion Over 600,000 soldiers died during the Civil War and many more were permanently wounded. Civil War veterans who fought on the side of the Union were eligible for a pension if severely disabled. Confederate veterans received nothing, and since they had fought on the losing side, suffered much harsher economic hardships. Contemporary viewers of Johnson's painting would have considered this the home of an impoverished family; the rough wooden floor and lack of space (one room as the kitchen, sitting room, and bedroom) were obvious signs of poverty. The chilly winter scene outside the window reinforces this dreary mood. The veteran's father sitting in his rocker and holding a cane seems no more capable of providing for the family than his wounded son. Looking Closely The veteran seems to be telling a war story (perhaps how he lost his leg) and is eliciting a range of responses from his listeners. The claim agent listens with rapt attention; he has lost some of the official demeanor one might expect in this situation. The veteran's mother is sitting quietly in the left corner, perhaps she is moved more by her son's suffering than by the tale of bravery he tells. In the right corner is the veteran's wife, seemingly more engaged in washing the dishes than listening to her husband. Hands are used as expressively as faces to show the actions and responses of the figures. The agent's hand holds his pen, as if he has stopped suddenly to listen. The soldier's free hand is pointing as though for emphasis. The mother's hands knit busily. His attention fixed on his son, the father's hand grasps a cane. The child does not seem to fully concentrate on her chore; while her hands continue to peel apples, her face is turned with interest towards her father and the stranger. Style The room is depicted with few sharp details; this encourages the viewer to focus more on the narrative or story than on the setting. While details of the household remain hazy (the hats on the wall, the wife in the background at work, the clothes on the rafters), those details that pertain to the story (the cane used to prop up the wounded soldier, the pen and paper in the agent's hand, and the trunk stuffed with documents) are carefully rendered. Artist Although Eastman Johnson began and ended his long career as a successful portraitist, during his middle years (about 1859 to the mid-1880s), he found great fame as a genre painter. Most often his works in this tradition evoked nostalgia for a disappearing way of life. However, in the mid-1860s, Johnson traveled several times to the front with the Union Army and recreated traumatic scenes of the Civil War. Among these Civil War scenes, perhaps the starkest is The Pension Claim Agent. During one period of his career Johnson specialized in group portraits such as The Brown Family (see slide #19), which bridge the gap between genre pictures and more conventional styles of portraiture. Links to American History Curriculum
SLIDE 17
THE PENSION CLAIM AGENT
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