The Henry and Ludmilla Shapiro Collection; Partial gift and partial purchase through the Decorative Arts Association Acquisition and Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program Funds
Accession Number:
1989-41-215
Catalogue Status:
Research in Progress
Description:
Man wearing military-style white jacket, black boots, stands with arms at side, head turned slightly towards his left; small round base
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Henry L. Milmore
Object number:
1950.4.14
Description:
It is not always possible to identify the sitter in a miniature portrait, and research is still being done on some of the works in the Museum’s collection. Miniatures became popular in England during the early 1700s, commissioned by wealthy families on the occasions of births, engagements, weddings, and bereavements. These paintings, elaborately set into lockets or brooches, provided the wearer with a sentimental connection to a loved one. The back of the miniature often revealed a lock of the sitter’s hair, symbolizing affection, commitment, or loss. The daguerreotype, invented in 1839, provided a cheaper, faster alternative, and portrait miniatures grew less popular. At the turn of the twentieth century, with the establishment of the American Society of Miniature Painters, miniatures enjoyed a brief revival.
What Can You Do for the / Soldiers' Home Bazaar [illustrated card]
Author?:
Meech, James F
Subject:
Soldiers' Home
Physical description:
Ink on paper
1 item, 6" x 3.5"
Type:
Woodcuts
Place:
Civil War
Massachusetts
Boston (Mass.)
Gettysburg (Pa.)
United States
Date:
1881
Civil War, 1861-1865
Topic:
Rifles
Bazaar
Soldiers
Civil war
Bayonets
History
Local number:
AC0060-0001251a.tif (AC Scan No.: Soldier's Home)
AC0060-0001251b.tif (AC Scan No.: list of relics)
Notes:
In Box 3, Folder 3
Civil War Selections from the Archives Center
Summary:
Card for the Soldiers' Home Bazaar, Boston, Autumn 1881, possibly a woodcut. Image shows soldier with bayoneted rifle. On verso: "Relics of Gettysburg." List of 42 items
Cite as:
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Civil War series, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
William H. Johnson, born Florence, SC 1901-died Central Islip, NY 1970
Medium:
oil on plywood
Dimensions:
37 3/4 x 49 1/4 in. (95.9 x 125.1 cm.)
Type:
Painting
Date:
ca. 1942
Topic:
Figure group\male
Ethnic\African-American
History\United States\World War II
Occupation\military\soldier
Object\other\flag
Object\weapon\gun
Credit Line:
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation
Object number:
1967.59.582
Description:
Pearl Harbor inspired two government-sponsored art exhibitions in 1942, for which William H. Johnson painted scenes of African Americans involved in the war effort. Soldiers Training contrasts the patriotism of black enlistees with the military’s segregationist policies. Black soldiers served in their own units, “black” blood was kept separate from “white,” and recruits took on the most menial jobs at Army bases and aboard ships. Johnson may have painted this scene based on reports of the “Buffalo Soldiers” who were training at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Set in a desolate camp ringed by mountains, Soldiers Training suggests the isolation that black soldiers experienced among hundreds of thousands of men and women committed to winning the war.
