Frank Tenney Johnson Original Vintage Antique 1930s American Western Frontier Pioneer Landscape Oil Painting with Canyon Study Verso
Original early 1930s vintage Western pioneer town landscape, by American Impressionist painter Frank Tenney Johnson, (1874-1939). The painting is a tonal impressionist view of an unpaved road in an American western pioneering town/ Western settlement. The painting has a textured palette knife texture, and is oil on a cut- down composite board, and us signed in the lower right corner of the painting.. The painting is estimated to have been created between approximately 1927-1934. The color and palette appear to have caught the plein air scene at dusk, with a moody dusty feel to the muted color. The painting measures approximately 12" x 16", plus the frame. The frame is a newer modern plein air frame. In frame, the entire artwork measures approximately 17.25" x 21.25". Verso, there is an original canyon study in oil, signed in the lower right of that study, verso of the painting.
Frank Tenney Johnson, (June 26, 1874- January 1, 1939), was an influential American painter and illustrator of the old American West, renowned for pioneering the "Johnson Moonlight Technique" to capture romantic, poetic nocturnes of cowboys, Native Americans, horses, and landscapes. Over his prolific career, he transformed from a commercial magazine illustrator to a highly celebrated fine artist whose technical mastery of nighttime lighting left an indelible mark on Western art.
Born on a cattle farm in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, Johnson grew up near Overland Trail. Watching the final waves of western migration, covered wagons, and stagecoaches, deeply influenced his artistic path.
Following his family's move to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Johnson apprenticed under panorama painter F.W. Heine, who specialized in horse anatomy. This foundational training enabled Johnson to sketch horses with anatomical accuracy.
Johnson later studied at the Milwaukee School of Art under Richard Lorenz, a former Texas Ranger. Lorenz injected a passionate enthusiasm for Western themes, into the young painter.
In 1895, Johnson moved to New York City to attend the Art Student's League of New York, where he studied under legendary American masters such as William Merritt Chase, Robert Henri, and John Henry Twachtman.
To fund his art, Johnson spent the early 1900s working as a major commercial illustrator. He created national features for magazines like "Field & Stream", "Harper's", and "Cosmopolitan".
A 1904 commission from "Field & Stream" took Johnson throughout Colorado and New Mexico. He worked as a real cowboy and ranch hand, soaking in the authentic daily life of the range.
Johnson became widely celebrated for his nighttime paintings, (or nocturnes). He developed a distinctive method using a combination of brushes, palette knives, and his fingers, to construct textured, glowing layers of paint. This became famous as "The Johnson Moonlight Technique", defining how early 20th- century audiences visualized nighttime on the American frontier.
By the 1920s, Johnson's fine art easle paintings began to outsell his commercial illustrations. He relocated to Alhambra, California, sharing a studio with artist Clyde Forsythe. Together, the founded the Biltmore Art Gallery in Los Angeles, creating a vibrant market for Western art.
In 1927, Johnson painted the large- scale proscenium curtain and flanking murals for the historic Cathay Circle Theatre, in Los Angeles.
Looking to escape the California heat, Johnson built a summer cabin and studio during the 1930s, on the Shoshone River in Cody, Wyoming. He spent years hiking and painting landscapes around nearby Yellowstone National Park.
Johnson achieved elite recognition by being elected as a full Academician into the National Academy of Design. Hus work was widely collected by prominent individuals and institutions, including the National Gallery of Art and the Amon Carter Museum.
Frank Tenney Johnson's life was cut short unexpectedly at the age of 64. After contracting spinal meningitis from a casual kiss at a festival holiday dance party, he passed away on January 1, 1939, in Pasadena, California.
Prominent museum collections include the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, the Buffalo Bill Center of the American West, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Autry Museum of the American West, the Gilcrease Museum, Stark Museum of Art, the Rockwell Museum, Denver Museum of Art, and the Palm Springs Art Museum.
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