Family and Friends

Johnson painted Portrait of Fletcher while he was living in New York City and Peter Joe five years later while visiting his family in Florence, South Carolina. Besides their names, we have little information about the identity of these men.

Portrait of Fletcher, 1939 oil on burlap 92.0 x 74.0 cm (36 1/4 x 29 1/8 in.) Gift of the Harmon Foundation

Peter Joe, about 1944 oil on paperboard 72.7 x 61.0 cm (28 5/8 x 24 in.) Gift of the Harmon Foundation

Comparing these two portraits allows us to examine how Johnson's style of painting changed over time. Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. Write "Fletcher" at the top of one side and "Peter Joe" at the top of the other side. Study the two paintings and write down how Johnson used the following elements in each portrait: color, line, shape, and brushstrokes. How did he create a sense of space in each work? Which painting is more detailed? Compare the poses of these men and the way they are dressed. Do these observations suggest anything to you about the lives or thoughts of Fletcher and Peter Joe?