David Claypoole Johnston

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David Claypoole Johnston

Self-portrait by D.C. Johnston, ca.1830
Born (1798-03-25)March 25, 1798
Philadelphia
Died October 8, 1865(1865-10-08)
Dorchester, MA
Nationality American
Field cartoonist

David Claypoole Johnston (25 March 1798 – 8 November 1865) was a 19th-century American cartoonist, printmaker, painter and actor from Boston, Massachusetts. He was the first natively trained American to master all the various graphic arts processes of lithography, etching, metal plate engraving, and wood engraving.[1][2]

In 1815 Johnston has studied engraving as an apprentice of successful Philadelphia engraver Francis Kearney, and became himself an engraver of original caricatures, which were too controversial for publishing. In 1821 he switched to a theatrical career, appearing for the first time at the Walnut street theatre on 10 March 1821, as Henry in "Speed the Plow." He performed for five seasons with theatre companies in Philadelphia and Boston.

Afterward he retired from the stage and set up an engraver's office in Boston. His most important early work, was a series of etched and lithographed character portraits of well-known American and British actors. In years between 1828 and 1849 he published nine numbers of his annual comic "Scraps," made of five plates, each containing nine or ten separate humorous sketches.

Image gallery

  • From: Yankee Notions 1838

  • "Benoni Burdock was a bitter man." From: Yankee Notions 1838

  • Exhibition of Cabinet Pictures

  • Richard III, 1828

  • "Anti-Masonic Convention in Valdimor," cover illustration of Corner-Stone March, as Performed by the Boston Brigade Band, 1832

  • Women's Fumigatory Rights. From: Scraps, 1849

  • At the Waterfall, ca.1850 watercolor

  • Lola Has Come, ca.1852

References

  1. ↑ American Antiquarian Society. David Claypoole Johnston Family Illustrated Box List. Retrieved 4 January 2010
  2. ↑ Tatham. 1987.

Further reading

Works by Johnston

Works about Johnston

  • Malcolm Johnson. David Claypool Johnston: American Graphic Humorist, 1798-1865. Lunenburg, Vermont: Stinehour Press, 1970.
  • David Tatham. David Claypoole Johnston's "Militia Muster." American Art Journal, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Spring, 1987), pp. 4–15.
  • Jennifer A. Greenhill. Playing the Fool: "David Claypoole Johnston and the Menial Labor of Caricature". American Art, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Autumn, 2003), pp. 33–51.

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