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, Hudson River School, Mid-19th Century
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
$15,000
H 15 in W 25 in
Sunset on the Hudson River by Hermann Simon (American, 1846-1895)
Located in New York, NY
Painted by Hudson River School artist Hermann Simon (1846-1895) , "Sunset on the Hudson River" is oil on canvas, measures 15 x 25 inches, and is signed and dated 1875 at the lower ri...
Canvas, Oil
$4,500
H 14.5 in W 17.5 in D 0.75 in
Charles Partridge Adams Sunset Front Range Colorado Watercolor Landscape
By Charles Partridge Adams
Located in Denver, CO
A luminous early 20th-century watercolor landscape by Charles Partridge Adams depicting a dramatic Colorado sunset along the Front Range, where expansive prairie, a winding creek, an...
Watercolor
Folk Art American Hudson River School Landscape Figures Homes Rare 19th Century
Located in Buffalo, NY
A 19th century American landscape depicting a quiet coastal or lakeside scene at dusk, where a small cluster of houses rests along the water’s edge beneath a softly glowing sky. A n...
Oil, Board
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
$2,475
H 18 in W 24 in D 2 in
Antique American Sunset Seascape Giltwood Framed New England Harbor Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American sunset seascape oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Measuring: 18 by 24 inches overall, and 12.25 by 18 painting alone.. In excellent original condition. Ha...
Oil, Board
$7,500
H 19.5 in W 15.5 in D 1.5 in
“Eastern White Pines, c. 1910”, New England Landscape, Signed Oil Painting
By Charles Warren Eaton
Located in Yardley, PA
“Eastern White Pines, c. 1910” by Charles Warren Eaton (American, 1857-1937). A wonderful example of Eaton’s renowned compositions of Eastern white pine trees in his mature style. A...
Canvas, Oil, Board
$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
$12,500
H 16.5 in W 23 in D 2.25 in
“Manchester-by-the-Sea” Ann Sophia Towne Darrah, 19th C. Female Artist American
Located in Yardley, PA
About this work: “Manchester-by-the-Sea” by Ann Sophia Towne Darrah (American, 1819-1881). Darrah was among the earliest American women to establish a professional reputation as a p...
Oil, Board
$2,530
H 15.5 in W 27.5 in D 2 in
"Landscape with Sheep" by Daniel Folger Bigelow (1823-1910), Oil on Canvas
By Daniel Folger Bigelow
Located in Portland, OR
"Landscape with Sheep" by Daniel Folger Bigelow (July 22, 1823 - July 14, 1910), Oil on Canvas, signed D. F. Bigelow lower right corner. An American painter active in New England an...
Canvas, Oil
$7,600
H 32 in W 42 in D 2 in
Moonrise in the Mountains (Hudson River School Style Nighttime Landscape)
By Jane Bloodgood-Abrams
Located in Hudson, NY
Luminist, Hudson River School inspired landscape of Catskill mountains with moonlit blue sky "Moonrise in the Mountains", painted by Hudson Valley artist, Jane Bloodgood-Abrams in 20...
Canvas, Oil
$15,000
H 12 in W 18 in
Hudson River Landscape by American Artist Johann Hermann Carmiencke (1810-1867)
By Johann Hermann Carmiencke
Located in New York, NY
Painted by Hudson River School artist Johann Hermann Carmiencke, "Hudson River Landscape" is oil on canvas and measures 12 x 18 inches. The painting is signed and dated 1865 at the l...
Canvas, Oil
$1,495
H 16 in W 13 in D 2 in
Santa Clara Cuba Antique Tropical Framed Palm Tree River Landscape Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Cuban impressionist landscape oil painting. Oil painting circa 1890. Framed. Measuring: 13 by 16 inches overall, and 12 by 9 painting alone. Excellent condition, ready to hang and...
Canvas, Oil
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
Lake George New York
By David Johnson
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed lower left & verso. 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 ab...
Oil, Wood Panel
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