Henrietta Johnston By: Jim Lane Henriette Charlotte Chastaigner by Henrietta Johnston 1711, pastels Gibbs Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina

Amongst amateur, and even professional, artists today, one of the most common figures to be found is the artistically inclined woman in the role of the "painting mother." In some cases its a situation where a female artist became a mother and merely continues her work, perhaps on a somewhat reduced scale, while in the midst of raising a family. Probably more common however, especially amongst amateurs, is the woman who has turned to art as a respite from the daily grinds of motherhood. In today's world at least, once the kids are in school, mother has some time to herself, to BE herself, to become that which motherhood and young children have forced her to put aside temporarily. Quite often, her art interests centers on the lives of her children, and not uncommonly, this blooms into the art of portraiture. If she paints for herself, her children are ready models, which often leads to works of other people's children, and finally other people. It can begin as a hobby, but if she's good, especially once the kids are gone, it can become a career.

Henrietta Johnston came to this country in 1708. She came alone with three children, landing from the boat in Charles Town (Charleston), South Carolina. She had originally been traveling with her husband, Gideon, who had been sent by the Anglican Bishop of London to become the rector of St. Phillips Church. However, during a stopover in the Madeira Islands, it would seem the good reverend went ashore and in returning at a late hour, literally "missed the boat." To make matters worse, upon arrival, she found the parishioners had appointed their OWN rector who, along with his family, wasn't in the mood to depart the pulpit OR the parsonage. Though I'm sure she and her brood were not left literally standing on the docks, neither was their plight very comfortable--a young French-Irish mother with three children (stepchildren, actually) and no visible means of support. Fortunately, she had the means at her disposal to survive. She was an artist.

Henrietta De Beaulieu Deering Johnston's training and background would suggest she was at best a talented amateur who had a knack for portraiture. Surprisingly, she didn't use oils, or watercolors, but French pastels (a relatively new medium at that time). Her work immediately became popular in the small coastal city. Her 1711 portrait of Henriette Chastaigner, and her 1715 portrait of Mrs. Samuel Prioleau suggest she may have had some previous art training, but the likenesses are somewhat stylized, especially in the area of the eyes. Even so, she was one of the few (if not the only ) portrait artist in town and quickly found her skills much in demand. Yet even after her husband finally managed to make it to Charles Town to join her, life was not easy. In ousting the elected rector from his pulpit, Gideon Johnston became bogged down in church politics. Deeply in debt, Henrietta worked hard to help them make ends meet. So hard, in fact, that by the spring of 1711, she'd run out of art supplies.

Fortunately, her husband had business in London with the bishop, but inasmuch as he was deeply in debt, notwithstanding the fact that he was a clergyman with a family, it was feared he might try to skip out on his financial obligations. Therefore, his wife was sent with messages to the church hierarchy in his place. At the same time, the trip allowed her to restock her art case with the expensive, (and rare) French pastels she preferred in her portraiture. The journey took three years. On the way back, she even had a run-in with pirates. Then, shortly after her return, her husband was killed in a boating accident. For the rest of her life, she and her family were something of a "charity case." Her sons later returned to England, but their mother had found her place amongst her own with the sizable French Huguenot population of Charleston. Her work remained popular, at one point taking her to New York to fulfill commissions--a working artist-mother who, almost by accident, became the first professional female artists on this side of the Atlantic.

Jim Lane is fifty-ish, balding, bearded, bespectacled, professorial, outgoing, knowledgable about a lot of things, expert on a very few. He grew up in the small town of Stockport, situated on the Muskingum River in Southeastern Ohio. He graduated from a un-noteworthy business college in Cincinnati, from the U.S. Air Force, and from Ohio University where he also obtained a masters degree and wracked up several hours of post-graduate work as well. For most of his professional life he's run a portrait business out of his home, specializing in sports portraits done in pencil and colored pencil.

Happily married for 30 years, Jim taught elementary and high school art for 26 years and also spent many enjoyable hours in the front of a local community college classroom. Recently he has retired from teaching in favor of painting, traveling, writing, designing web pages, and "...doing things I've never done before."

E-mail Jim at: jimlane@jimlaneart.com

Visit The Jim Lane Collection at:   http://www.jimlaneart.com

Or Jim Lane's Arty-fact Archives at:   http://www.1st.net/users/jimlane/Archive.html