Artist · 4 prints
Frank Tenney Johnson Prints
About Frank Tenney Johnson
Frank Tenney Johnson was an American painter and illustrator, born in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, on 26 June 1874 and died in Pasadena, California, on 1 January 1939. He grew up on a farm beside the old Overland Trail, watching wagons carry settlers west. He studied in Milwaukee and then at the Art Students League in New York, where his teachers included John Henry Twachtman.
In 1904 Field and Stream magazine sent Johnson to Colorado and New Mexico to record the life of cattlemen, and he went on to illustrate Zane Grey's Western novels for about fifteen years. In 1920 he bought a home in Alhambra, California, and his easel paintings became popular enough that he could leave illustration behind. He is best known for his night scenes of cowboys and horses under moonlight, so distinctive that his approach became known as the Johnson moonlight technique. From 1931 he also kept a studio near Cody, Wyoming. Frank Tenney Johnson was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1932.
Frank Tenney Johnson prints: reproductions of the American Western paintings Frank Tenney Johnson made between 1914 and 1928. The collection includes Moonlight in the Canyon (1928), The Prospector (1914) and Girl and Cowboy (1914).
This small selection shows two sides of his work. Moonlight in the Canyon is one of his night scenes, set in deep blue moonlight between canyon walls. The Prospector and Girl and Cowboy are daylight figure paintings from his years as an illustrator, showing a lone miner and a young couple in Western dress.
The deep blues of the night scene suit bedrooms, studies and dens, and the daylight figure paintings work well in living rooms and offices. All prints are museum-quality reproductions, available unframed or framed with acrylic glazing, with free shipping and import duties covered.
