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Not at Home
Accession # 40.60
Artist Eastman Johnson
Title Not at Home
Date ca. 1873
Medium Oil on laminated paperboard
Dimensions 26 7/16 x 22 5/16 in. (67.1 x 56.7 cm) frame: 42 7/16 x 38 5/16 x 5 1/2 in. (107.8 x 97.3 x 14 cm)
Signed Signed verso in cursive: "E. Johnson"
Credit Line Gift of Gwendolyn O. L. Conkling
Location American Identities: Centennial Era

Curatorial Remarks: The painting’s title may seem curious, especially since there is clearly someone in this comfortably furnished domestic interior. In the past, however, the phrase “not at home” indicated that the occupants of the house were not available to receive visitors.

This painting held a particularly personal meaning for Eastman Johnson. It shows his wife, Elizabeth, climbing the stairs leading to more private areas of their residence on Manhattan’s West Fifty-fifth Street.