Elizabeth Grant Bankson Beatty (Mrs. James Beatty) and Her Daughter Susan

c. 1805

The first known Black painter to gain professional recognition in the United States, Joshua Johnson was celebrated for his portraits of white middle-class families. The son of a white man and an enslaved woman, Johnson was originally enslaved before becoming free when he came of age. Described as “self-taught” in a newspaper advertisement, he attracted local patrons among the city’s artisan and middle-class families.

Public domain · CC0
Free to download and reuse. Image courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago.

Artist

Joshua Johnson (American, c. 1763–after 1825)

Date

c. 1805

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

82.9 × 72.8 cm (32 5/8 × 28 5/8 in.)

Origin

Baltimore

Collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Credit

Purchased with funds provided by Robin and Timm R. Reynolds and Jill Burnside Zeno; Bulley and Andrews, Edna Graham, Love Galleries, Mary Swissler Oldberg, Ratcliffe Foundation, and Quinn E. Delaney funds; Walter Aitken, Dr. Julian Archie, Mr. and Mrs. Perry Herst, Jay W. McGreevy, Mr. and Mrs. John W. Puth, Stone Foundation, and Mr. and Mrs. Frederick G. Wacker, Jr. endowment funds; through prior acquisitions of the George F. Harding Collection and Ruth Helgeson