A young woman stands on a promontory, her sandy blonde hair streaming in the wind. The path before her ends, so she must either retrace her steps or try to find a different way forward. Johnson called this painting The Girl I Left Behind Me, invoking an Irish ballad that was popular with both the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. In doing so, the artist opens the possibility that this young girl is doing more than waiting for the return of her husband. Her wedding ring, glinting in the light, speaks of commitment to her union, but is Johnson referring to her personal life or to the nation? The split-rail fence below her divides the landscape, and the fog surrounding her suggests a world fraught with ambivalence. She appears to wait for a sign of what will come next. The Civil War defined America and forever changed American art. American artists of this era could not depict the conflict using the conventions of European history painting, which glamorized the hero on the battlefield. Instead, America's finest painters captured the transformative impact of the war. Through landscapes and genre paintings, these artists gave voice to the nation's highest ideals and deepest concerns — illustrating a time that has been described as the second American Revolution. Catalogues suggest this painting was owned by the artist and not for sale. It was still in Johnson’s possession along with several other ambitious important works when he died in 1906.
"The Girl I Left Behind Me" by Eastman Johnson (American) - Oil on canvas / c. 1872 - Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington D.C.) #womeninart #art #oilpainting #smithsonian #fineart #americanart #womensart #SmithsonianAmericanArtMuseum #SAAM #CivilWarArt #EastmanJohnson #AmericanArtist
