Harvey William Johnson (American, 1921 to 2005)
Harvey W. Johnson grew up in an artistic family; both his mother and father attended the Art Student’s League in New York and were successful artists. Johnson followed in their footsteps, enrolling in the Art Student’s League following a stint in the Army during World War II.
Upon graduation, he entered the commercial illustration field and was often given assignments that allowed him to further his study of American history, particularly the history of the fur trade and early western exploration. In addition to working as a magazine illustrator, Johnson spent nineteen years as a faculty member of the Famous Artists School in Connecticut, where he worked alongside his friend and mentor, Harold Von Schmidt.
After reading a magazine article about a small group of artists who had recently begun a new organization devoted to American Western Art, Johnson wrote to one of the founders, Johnny Hampton, inquiring about the rules of membership. Hampton not only invited him to join the Cowboy Artists of America (CAA), but also asked him to participate in the group’s first exhibition at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Johnson continued his membership in the CAA for the rest of his career and was an emeritus member upon his death in 2004.
Wagon Trail and Visitor were completed a few years prior to Johnson’s acceptance into the CAA and show the quality of work that led the group’s founders to welcome him as one of its earliest invited artists.
Information courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries, January 2009.