Object Details
- Artist
- William H. Johnson, born Florence, SC 1901-died Central Islip, NY 1970
- Sitter
- Harriet Tubman
- Gallery Label
- In 1938, William H. Johnson and his wife, Holcha Krake, arrived in New York after fleeing a tumultuous Europe on the brink of war. His homecoming sparked the need to "paint his own people"--a sentiment influenced by Holcha, who, as a textile artist, understood the importance of tradition in contemporary culture.
- Harriet Tubman is part of Johnson's 1945 series, Fighters for Freedom, which depicted the heroic figures who led the fight for racial and individual equality. Tubman's likeness is taken from a popular woodcut first published in the 1922 book The Negro in Our Times by Carter G. Woodson. Standing at attention in Civil War-era dress and holding a shotgun at her side, Tubman appears stoic and resolute. Behind her, a path extends into the distance, interwoven with sketchily drawn railroad tracks that split the landscape in two. Beside the young, active Tubman is a bust-length portrait of the elderly woman draped in a lace shawl, perhaps the one given to her by Queen Victoria around 1897.
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation
- ca. 1945
- Object number
- 1967.59.1146
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- oil on paperboard
- Dimensions
- 28 7/8 x 23 3/8 in. (73.5 x 59.3 cm)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- On View
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1st Floor, South Wing
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Topic
- Ethnic\African-American
- Landscape\time\sunset
- History\United States\Black History
- Portrait female\double portrait
- Occupation\other\reformer
- Record ID
- saam_1967.59.1146
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk72f5288be-8071-4e94-9227-64679b202d68
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