Husking Bee, Island of Nantucket
1876
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
69.6 × 138.2 cm (27 3/8 × 54 3/8 in.)
Classification
painting
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
81564
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Eastman Johnson painted this composition in 1876, 100 years after the founding of the United States. The centennial fostered a sense of nostalgia among some residents as industrialization and urban growth rapidly transformed the nation. Husking Bee, Island of Nantucket depicts a seasonal gathering on the rural Massachusetts island. Community members work together to shuck corn and ready the harvest, a traditional activity that was far removed from daily life for many in the late 19th century. Jo...
About the Artist
Eastman Johnson · 1824–1906
Eastman Johnson (1824–1906) was an American painter known as "the American Rembrandt" for his richly toned genre paintings and portraits that constitute one of the most important visual records of nineteenth-century American life. Born in Lovell, Maine, he trained in Düsseldorf, The Hague — where he studied the Dutch Old Masters extensively — and Paris before returning to the United States. Johns...