Una Johnson (1905 – April 28, 1997) was an American curator and

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

. She was the head curator of prints and drawings at the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

for more than 25 years.

Early life and education

Johnson was born in

Dayton, Iowa Dayton is a city in Webster County, Iowa, United States. The population was 772 at the time of the 2020 census. History A post office called Dayton has been in operation since 1877. The city was named after Dayton, Ohio. Geography Dayton is lo ...

, in 1905. She studied art history and literature at the University of Chicago and at

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

in Cleveland.

Career

Johnson worked at the Cleveland Museum of Art before taking a job in 1936 as assistant curator of prints and drawings at the Brooklyn Museum. In 1937, she oversaw the purchase of a complete set of Francisco Goya's ''

Caprichos ''Los caprichos'' (''The Caprices)'' is a set of 80 prints in aquatint and etching created by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1797–1798, and published as an album in 1799. The prints were an artistic experiment: a medium for Goya's condem ...

'' print series for the museum's collection. When curator Carl O. Schniewiend retired in 1941, she was promoted to his position, which she would hold for the next 28 years. Johnson curated many major exhibitions for the Brooklyn Museum, including the first exhibition of the work of art dealer and publisher

Ambroise Vollard Ambroise Vollard (3 July 1866 – 21 July 1939) was a French art dealer who is regarded as one of the most important dealers in French contemporary art at the beginning of the twentieth century. He is credited with providing exposure and emotio ...

(1941), the first exhibition of

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( , ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His best known work, ''The Scream'' (1893), has become one of Western art's most iconic images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dr ...

prints in the United States (1942), the internationally recognized survey ''American Woodcuts 1670-1950'' (1950), and ''New Expressions in Fine Printmaking'' (1952). In 1947, she curated the Brooklyn Museum's first National Print Exhibition, an event she organized annually until 1968. During her tenure, the Brooklyn Museum made important acquisitions for its print collection, including works by Daumier, a collection of Japanese prints, and many contemporary European works. She published numerous books and monographs about printmaking, focusing on artists like

Georges Rouault Georges Henri Rouault (; 27 May 1871, Paris – 13 February 1958) was a French painter, draughtsman and print artist, whose work is often associated with Fauvism and Expressionism. Childhood and education Rouault was born in Paris into a po ...

, Isabel Bishop, and

Adja Yunkers Adja Yunkers (1900–1983) was an American abstract painter and printmaker. He was born in Riga, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire in 1900. He studied art in Leningrad, Berlin, Paris, and London. He lived in Paris for 14 years, and then ...

. She was a Ford Foundation grant recipient, which enabled her to write a series of monographs about American artists including John Paul Jones and

Milton Avery Milton Clark Avery (March 7, 1885 – January 3, 1965Haskell, B. (2003). "Avery, Milton". Grove Art Online.) was an American modern painter. Born in Altmar, New York, he moved to Connecticut in 1898 and later to New York City. He was the husband ...

. Johnson also wrote catalogues raissone for the artists Karl Schrag and Louise Nevelson. Johnson retired from her post at the Brooklyn Museum in 1969 and was named a curator emeritus of the institution in 1973. She also spent three years as director of the Storm King Art Center in

Mountainville, New York Mountainville is a hamlet in the western section of the town of Cornwall, in Orange County, New York, United States. It is mostly wooded, lightly populated area, located in the narrow valley of Woodbury and Moodna creeks between Schunemunk Moun ...

. In 1997, Johnson died at the age of 91 in New York City.

Selected publications

* ''Isabel Bishop, Prints and Drawings: 1925-1964'', Brooklyn, New York: Brooklyn Museum (1964) * ''American Woodcuts 1670-1950,'' Brooklyn, New York: Brooklyn Museum (1950) * ''Adja Yunkers: Prints 1927-1967,'' Brooklyn, New York: Brooklyn Museum (1969) * ''20th-Century Master Drawings'', Boston: Little, Brown (1976) * ''Ambroise Vollard, éditeur: prints, books, bronzes'', New York: Museum of Modern Art (1977) * ''American Prints and Printmakers'', Garden City, New York: Doubleday (1980)

References

External links

''Portrait of Una Johnson'' by Karl Schrag, 1974, at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Una 1905 births 1997 deaths American art curators American women curators American art historians American women art historians 20th-century American women University of Chicago alumni Case Western Reserve University alumni