Artist: Joshua Johnson Place/date of birth: Baltimore, Maryland 1763 Place/date of death: Baltimore, Maryland ca. 1830 Title: Letitia Grace McCurdy Date of completion: ca. 1800-1802 Materials: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 41 x 34 1/2 inches Collection: Acquired by public subscription on the occasion of the centennial of the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum with major contributions from the Fine Arts Museums Auxiliary, Bernard and Barbro Osher, the Thad Brown Memorial Fund, and the Volunteer Council of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Accession number: 1995.22 Introduction This painting of a young girl was created by Joshua Johnson, the first African-American portrait painter known to historians. This portrait represents Letitia Grace McCurdy, the daughter of Hugh and Grace McCurdy of Baltimore, Maryland. Born in 1797, Letitia was probably four or five years old when this portrait was made. Discussion Joshua Johnson is the first African-American artist we know of who appears to have been educated as a painter. There were many African-Americans in the United States who were trained as blacksmiths, glassblowers, and carpenters, among other trades. Some African-Americans taught themselves painting or continued African artistic traditions like sculpture. But in the American culture of the early eighteenth century, a portrait painter was perceived differently than other kinds of artists. Hiring someone to paint a portrait required that the artist spend a lot of time with the subject. It also called for trust on the part of the patron that the artist would present the subject on canvas in a way that was acceptable to that patron and the patron's peers. In the case of Joshua Johnson and his patrons, this suggests that there were individuals in Maryland (a slave state) who were willing to let a former slave participate, to some degree, in their culture. Johnson never fully participated in the social world of his patrons, but he was accepted enough to be able to convey certain details of their society on canvas. Some of the people who commissioned portraits from Joshua Johnson were aware of his race. This painting was passed down through several generations of Letitia's descendants along with a story that it was painted by an artist from the West Indies (the Caribbean). While the narrative may have become confused in the intervening years, the fact that Letitia told her children and their descendants that her portrait was painted by a man of African descent indicates how unusual it was. Looking Closely Letitia's dress -- a high-waisted frock fastened with a drawstring -- reflects French fashion from the period. After the French Revolution, French women began to wear simple, unadorned dresses to reflect the ideals of the classless society that the revolutionaries tried to establish. In America these kinds of dresses were more associated with fashion than politics. However, a similarly dressed young female, representing liberty, appears on American coins and public statuaries of the period and has a direct connection to the French political origins of egalitarian clothing. The tucked hem of Letitia's dress is heavy with fabric so it can be lengthened as "young liberty" grows. Letitia wears a necklace woven from hair that ends in a gold chain that may have included a nameplate. Hair jewelry was a common mourning custom in the United States until the early twentieth century. Often made by the person who would wear it, the jewelry was braided from the hair of a loved one who had died. Letitia's necklace may memorialize her father who died in 1805. Style Letitia, like Mary Turner Sargent, is posed in a fictitious architectural setting. The strange appearance of her dog (the tail, the rabbit ears, the human eyes) suggests that he too, is imaginary. Artist Joshua Johnson was the son of a slave mother and a Caucasian father named George Johnson. It is believed that shortly before his death, George Johnson purchased his son's freedom. Some Baltimore city directories (a pre-telephone version of the phone book) from the time during which Joshua Johnson worked, list him as a "free man of color;" others make no reference to his race. Free black people were relatively common in the northern United States during this period. While they certainly did not enjoy all of the privileges of Caucasian citizens, it seems that many, like Joshua Johnson, were able to practice a trade, work in business, or farm as tenant farmers. We do not know how Johnson learned to paint. In a newspaper advertisement of 1798, Johnson may have been alluding to the difficulties of a black man getting an artistic education when he wrote: As a self-taught genius, deriving from nature and industry his knowledge of the Art and having experienced many insufferable obstacles in the pursuit of his studies, it is highly gratifying to him to make assurances of his ability to execute all commands with an effect and style that give fascination. Links to American History Curriculum
SLIDE 8
LETITIA GRACE MCCURDY
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