William h.johnson biography
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Abri Art and Culture
Self-portrait, William H. Johnson, 1923-26, oil on canvas (Image credit: Smithsonian Museum of American Art)
William H. Johnson (1901-1970) was obtaining his arts education at the National Academy of Design in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance. He lived and studied in New York City from 1918 to 1926. Like many African American artists of his generation, he traveled to and studied in Paris and other parts of France from 1926-1929, perhaps to gain more extensive training, perhaps to escape racism in the United States. Despite an art career that spanned almost five decades, outside of scholars of African American art, Johnson remains lesser known than his contemporaries Aaron Douglas, Romare Bearden, and Lois Mailou Jones. These three artists are often associated with the Harlem Renaissance, while Johnson languishes on its periphery, his name rarely being associated with this unprecedented period in African American artistic and intellectual achie
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William Henry Johnson was an African American expressionist painter. He was born on March 18, 1901, in Florence, South Carolina, to mother Alice Smoot Johnson (known as “Mom Alice” or “Aunt Alice”) and father Henry Johnson. William H. Johnson was the oldest of five children: Lacy, Lucy, James, and Lillian. Johnson spent his childhood helping out his family, finding joy in painting, and attending rural grade schools in Florence.
At age 17, Johnson moved to New York, where he worked as a cook, hotel porter, and stevedore. In September 1921, he enrolled at the School of the National Academy of Design (NAD). Between 1923 and 1926, during the academic year, he studied with Charles W. Hawthorne at the NAD and during the summers at The Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
In 1926, Johnson moved to Paris, France, to study art. He worked as a custodian to earn extra money. Over the next few years, he traveled and held exhibits in France, Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium.
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William Henry Johnson
William Henry Johnson was an African American expressionist painter. He was born on March 18, 1901 in Florence, South Carolina to mother Alice Smoot Johnson (known as “Mom Alice” or “Aunt Alice”) and father Henry Johnson. William H. Johnson was the oldest of five children: Lacy, Lucy, James, and Lillian. Johnson spent his childhood helping out his family, finding a joy for painting, and attending rural grade schools in Florence.¹
I can create the illusion of depth in an interior space by drawing 3 converging lines that show where the walls and floor meet.
I can draw an interior space and make it look 3 Dimensional by using Vanishing Points and converging Lines and the rules of 1 point linear perspective.