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Biography
A M E R I C A N A R T I S T
Born: near Baltimore, MD, c.1765
Died: Baltimore, MD, c.1830
Joshua Johnson was America's first professionally active African-American artist. Fragmentary biographical records indicate that Johnson was a freeman and portraitist in Baltimore at least as early as 1796. He may have learned his trade by association with the family of Charles Willson Peale, to whom he may have been earlier indentured or enslaved, but then again he may not. He may have been an independent artist, the free son of a white man and a black slave. And he may have supplemented his portrait practice by decorating furniture.
May have been seems to be the key phrase with Johnson. We can only be certain in our uncertainty.
Johnson's 1798 claim to be "a self-taught genius," who "experienced many insuperable obstacles in the pursuit of his studies," may be read as testimony to his confidence and endurance in a society still contending with slavery and racial discrimination.
© Paul Page, Lenin Imports - 2008
Art Prints at Allposters.com
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