William H. Johnson: Expressionist and Artist of the Blues Aesthetic

During the life time of the painter William Henry Johnson (1901-1970), his apparent tug-of-war between an expressive, yet inward-looking art and an art that boldly proclaimed its allegiance to contemporary Afro-American culture bewildered many of Johnson's critics. Since Johnson's death and his "rediscovery" in 1971, similar critical impasses have emerged concerning Johnson's aesthetic transitions. While the many writings, exhibitions and studies on the life and art of William H. Johnson provide an abundance of visual material, biographical data and contextual information, basic answers to the question of Johnson's stylistic development and artistic raison d'etre remain unanswered. This dissertation will examine Johnson's career with the main objective of articulating his artistic motives and mechanisms. In addition, this dissertation will explore Johnson's art in the context of his life, paying close attention to how such factors as environment, artistic milieu and the artist's state-of-mind weighed upon Johnson's creative acts. Finally, this dissertation will compare Johnson's art with the various cultures out of which he operated during his active years as an artist. What each of these objectives will demonstrate is how Johnson's particular orientation to subject matter and artistic execution hinged on an omnipresent spirituality; a world view which, in the case of Johnson's art, links Scandinavian landscapes with South Carolina cotton fields, the School of Paris with the cult of the Jitterbugs, and an international Expressionism with a "blues aesthetic."