The Chimney Corner
Artist
Eastman Johnson
(American, 1824 - 1906)
Date1863
MediumOil on cardboard, with original frame
DimensionsFramed: 25 x 22 1/2in. (63.5 x 57.2cm)
Overall: 15 1/2 x 13 1/4in. (39.4 x 33.7cm)
Overall: 15 1/2 x 13 1/4in. (39.4 x 33.7cm)
ClassificationsPAINTINGS
Credit LineGift of Edmund G. Munson, Jr.
Terms
Object number64.116
Description On View
Not on viewCollections
CopyrightNo known copyright restrictions.
Label TextJohnson painted this work the same year President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation declared that "all persons held as slaves…shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." Because so many enslaved persons had been kept from learning to read, Johnson's image of a Black man receiving enlightenment from the book that rests on his lap was, in its time, a provocative image. In addition to emancipation and the right to vote, the outcome of the Civil War gave African-Americans access to public education for the first time. The light that shines on him from an unknown source suggests that his pursuit of wisdom is divinely inspired.
