A landscape painter based in New York City and associated with the second generation of Hudson River School painters, David Johnson was noted for his ability to delineate accurate rock formations and foliage. He was especially influenced by the work of Hudson River painters Jasper Francis Cropsey, John Casilear, and John Frederick Kensett. He also painted an occasional still life.
Johnson was born and raised in New York City, but little else is known about his early life. He studied briefly with Cropsey but said that his best teacher was nature, which he utilized in his paintings from his frequent trips to the Hudson River Valley, especially the areas around West Point and Fort Putnam.
Johnson painted his first nature studies in 1849, and that year first received public acclaim for his work exhibited at the National Academy of Design and the American Art Union. In 1860, he was elected a full Academician.
Primarily Johnson painted in the Northeast, doing views of the Catskills, Adirondacks, Lake George, the Hudson River and the White Mountains, where he worked in the early 1850s with a colony of artists around North Conway. His early landscapes tend to be panoramas, rock studies, or forest interiors. In the middle of his career, he adopted a more luminist style and did tranquil marine scenes such as flowing rivers, and his later work showed Tonalist influence of the French Barbizon School with pastoral subjects. It is written that this period in his career was not much distinguished and that "Influenced by the barbizon style, his work became monotonous and less articulate." (Michael David Zellman, 300 Years of American Art)
In the 1880s, Johnson’s reputation began to diminish, and by the time he died his work was virtually unappreciated. Many years later, it was re-discovered by scholars who appreciated his great skills of naturalist documentation.
Find original David Johnson paintings on 1stDibs.
(Biography provided by Saratoga Fine Art)
Oil landscape of Autumn Forest
By David Johnson
Located in Fredericksburg, VA
This Hudson River School autumn landscape is done by the famed artist David Johnson. He studied at the national Academy of Design in New York. He was best known for the development o...
Canvas, Oil
Hudson River School Watercolor Titled Fishing the Creek
By David Johnson
Located in Fredericksburg, VA
David Johnson was born in 1827 in New York City. Beginning in 1845, he studied for two years in the antique school of the National Academy of Design. His classmates and colleagues in...
Paper, Watercolor
Figure in a Landscape
By David Johnson
Located in New York, NY
Signed (at lower right): DJ [monogram]; (on back): David Johnson 1865
Oil, Board
$4,500
H 14.5 in W 17.5 in D 0.75 in
Sunset Along the Front Range, Colorado, 1900s Traditional Landscape Painting
By Charles Partridge Adams
Located in Denver, CO
This stunning, original signed landscape watercolor on paper painting by Charles Partridge Adams (1858-1942) captures the breathtaking beauty of a Colorado sunset along the Front Ran...
Watercolor
$15,000
H 19.5 in W 24.5 in
"Pastoral Landscape, " William Hart, Hudson River School, Cloudy View with Cows
By William Hart
Located in New York, NY
William Hart (1823 - 1894) Pastoral Landscape, 1877 Oil on canvas 9 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches Signed and dated lower left Born in Paisley, Scotland, William Ha...
Canvas, Oil
$711Sale Price|20% Off
H 13 in W 16 in D 1 in
Antique Autumn Fall Landscape Pumpkin Harvest by Kennedy
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique Autumn Fall Landscape Pumpkin Harvest by Andrew Dwight Kennedy. Framed. Signed.
Oil, Board
1920s Century Country Creek Landscape
Located in Soquel, CA
Serene early 20th century landscape of a winding creek in verdant country side with a distant farmhouse in the background, by an unknown artist (American, 20th Century), c. 1920. Pre...
Canvas, Oil
$6,000
H 19 in W 29 in
"Grand Manan" Harrison Bird Brown, Maine Landscape, Hudson River School Seascape
By Harrison Bird Brown
Located in New York, NY
Harrison Bird Brown (1831 - 1915) Grand Manan Oil on canvas 12 x 20 inches Signed with initials lower left Harrison Bird Brown was born in 1831 in Portland, Maine, and is best known for his White Mountain landscapes and marine paintings of Maine's Casco Bay...
Canvas, Oil
Gone Fishing
Located in North Clarendon, VT
Wonderful Hudson River School oil on board of a fisherman in a peaceful River scene. Monogram and dated on reverse. 9.25" x 12.25" housed in a carved frame measuring 11.5" x 14.5".
Oil
$36,000Sale Price|20% Off
H 25 in W 37 in D 2 in
Historic and Rare 19th Century Arctic Iceberg Seascape Framed Winter Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American winter seascape with an iceberg by Carl Philipp Weber (1849 - 1922). Oil on canvas. Signed. In excellent original condition. Handsomely framed in a period gold g...
Canvas, Oil
$960Sale Price|20% Off
H 14.75 in W 15.5 in D 1.75 in
Mid Century Original Oil Plein Air Landscape of Western Nevada
Located in Soquel, CA
Original Antique Western Nevada Desert Oil Landscape by Phoebe K. Higgins A mid-century desert oil landscape of Western Nevada by Phoebe K. Higgins (American, 1895 - c 1960), circa ...
Linen, Oil, Board
$746Sale Price|25% Off
H 15 in W 21 in D 2 in
Antique American Impressionist Hudson River School Coastal Seascape Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique impressionist painting of a coastal seascape. Oil on canvas, circa 1900. Signed illegibly. Framed. Image size, 18L x 12H.
Canvas, Oil
Vermont Barns - Neutral Monochromatic Study in Grays
By John Koch
Located in Miami, FL
Understated town-scape in grays and muted blues. It's a painting that looks better as you get closer to it. Koch brings the same serene intimacy to an outdoor scene as his interiors....
Oil, Board
$4,500
H 31.5 in W 39 in D 2.5 in
“Quebec City, 1853” Panoramic Landscape View, Cityscape, Canada Signed Oil
By Edmund C. Coates
Located in Yardley, PA
“Quebec City, 1853” by Edmund C. Coates (American, 1816-1871). A luminous 19th-century view of Quebec City by the American painter Edmund C. Coates, known for his detailed Hudson Ri...
Canvas, Oil
Barn, New Hampshire
Located in Sheffield, MA
Bruce Barton Penney American, born 1929 Barn on a Hill Oil on board 25 by 30 in, w/ frame 30 ¼ by 35 in Signed lower right, dated 64 Born Laconia, New Hampshire. Addresses: Kennebu...
Oil, Board
Sold
H 11.75 in W 15.87 in
"Byram Lake, New York" David Johnson, Hudson River School Landscape, Westchester
By David Johnson
Located in New York, NY
David Johnson Byram Lake, New York Monogrammed lower right; signed and titled on the reverse Oil on board 7 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches A landscape painter based in New York City and associ...
Oil, Board
Oak - Lake George
By David Johnson
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed & dated middle right. A landscape painter based in New York City and associated with the second generation of Hudson River School painters, David Johnson was noted for his ...
Paper, Pencil