Gallery

David Johnson was mainly self-taught, but studied with Jasper Cropsey in 1850. In 1851 he was in New Hampshire painting, and he returned many times. He was a member of the National Academy of Design and the Artists Fund Society.

Johnson exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Association, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the National Academy of Design. He won medals at the Centennial Expo in Philadelphia in 1876 and the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association in Boston in 1878. Based in NYC, he made numerous sketching trips throughout New England, but never visited Europe.

Johnson was one of the last survivors of the Hudson River School of landscape painters. He died at home on January 30, 1908, and is buried at Green-Wood Cemetery, 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY.

Obituary from The New York Times
New York, NY / Monday, February 3, 1908 / Page 9 / David Johnson Dead. / Landscape Painter Was an Academician and Exposition Medal Winner.

David Johnson, the American landscape painter, died at his home in Walden, Orange County, N.Y., Thursday, from old age, in his eighty-first year. With the exception of one month’s study under Jasper F. Cropsey early in his career, David Johnson was a self-taught man.

He was one of the last survivors of the “Hudson River School” of American landscape painters, and was a leader in the revolt against the academic canons of the “Dusseldorf school,” which then largely dominated American art.

In 1861 Mr. Johnson was chosen an associate of the National Academy of Design, and an Academician in 1863. He was the winner of a medal at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 and at an exhibition of the Mechanics’ Institute in Boston, and was one of the founders of the Artists’ Fund Society.

In 1869 Mr. Johnson married Maria Louise West of New York.

Image of David Johnson

Signatures

Typical Verso Inscriptions

References
Independent research by the authors
Who Was Who in American Art