Edward and Sarah Rutter
Joshua Johnson American
Johnson, born to an enslaved Black woman and a White man, is the first known African American artist to earn his living as a professional portraitist. He worked in Baltimore from about 1789 to 1825, painting likenesses of sea captains and shopkeepers as well as merchants and their families, most of whom were White. In this depiction of the children of Captain Joshua and Mary Pennington Rutter, Johnson revealed his affinity for strong colors and precise detail. These qualities later attracted early twentieth-century artists and collectors, who found in Johnson’s painting a directness of expression that informed their own aesthetic.
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