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FRANK TENNEY JOHNSON

1874-1939

CountryAlhambra, California, USA

BiographyFrank Tenney Johnson was born in 1874. Frank Tenney Johnson was among the most reflective, introspective artists ever to paint the West. His love for the vanishing West of the cowboy was perhaps engendered in him by the close proximity of his birthplace by Council Bluffs, IA, to the Overland Trail. Even as a young man Johnson senses that his career would have to be that of an artist of the Old West. At the age of fourteen he ran away from home to apprentice himself to the panoramic painter F. W. Heinie in Milwaukee. One year later he studied under the tutelage of the former Texas Ranger Richard Lorenz. He began his art career painting portraits and as a staff member of the Milwaukee newspaper. In 1902 he left for New York city to study at the famed Art Students League with Robert Henri, William Merrit Chase, Kenneth Hayes Miller, J. H. Twachtman, and F. Louis Mora. During that time he worked as a fashion and newspaper artist. His first professional work came to Johnson in the form of illustration commissions for Zane Grey novels and for Field and Stream and other pericodicals. In many ways, however, his first professional work came in the form of a 1904 trip to Colorado and the Southwest, a trip that Johnson was to make many times in his life. The trip seemed to bring into focus an impression of the Old West that would make Johnson famous. Johnson was an excellent draftsman. He used the best materials available to an artist. As did others, Johnson painted with brush, knife and fingers. Above all, Johnson painted scenes of the West that were tableau-like; he rendered romantic, poetic Western genre scenes that differed entirely from the stop-action, narrative works of his contemporaries, C.M. Russell and Frederic Remington. Johnson painted scenes that reflected his preference for non-violent subjects, scenes that showed the cowboy, the Indian or the Spanish settler in a pastoral context. Among these quiet, philosophical canvases two types stand out: his paintings of horses and his night scenes. In 1920 he followed his friend Clyde Forsyth to Alhambra, California where they shared a studio together. This studio became a meeting place for many of the leading Western artists of the day including C.M. Russell, Edward Borein, Norman Rockwell, and Dean Cornwell. Johnson's "moonlight" technique of painting Western scenes was nationally famous. Eventually, Johnson became a renowned artist with studios in Los Angeles; Cody Washington; and New York City. He was collected by major institutions including the National Gallery of art in Washington, D.C.; the Royal Palace in Copenhagenl and Fort Worth's Amon Carter Museum. In 1937 Johnson became an Academician of the National Academy of Design. At the peak of his career Johnson's life came to an unusually unfortunate end. In December, 1938, Johnson attended a party, where he gave a social kiss to his hostess. Within two weeks' time, both were dead of spinal meningitis. In Frank Tenney Johnson's death, the United States lost one of the most accomplished artists ever to love the Old West. Since his death his paintings have grown steadily in popularity and when one becomes available, it now commands a big price.

Information taken from the artists binder in The Print Study Room.
Entered by: Michael Clayton, Print Study Room Staff, 2/7/06

Person TypeIndividual