Arthur Johnson

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(1888 - )

Arthur Johnson was raised on a farm and at the age of eight, learned to sketch on a blackboard at South School in Monroe. He continued to draw in his past time and by the age of 24, Johnson moved to Browntown, ten miles from Monroe, where he picked up oil painting. His first sale was for only 50 cents to an old woman who admired one of his pictures.

Johnson worked as a blacksmith and farmer early on. By 1925, he began and continued work at a factory in Rockford.  In 1928, he subscribed, for five dollars a month, to the Federal Art School in Minneapolis’s correspondence course in oil painting. Unfortunately, due to symptoms of the Depression, these lessons were ignored. When Johnson later took a job as a caretaker of a cemetery in Monroe, his interest in painting was revived.

In 1941, he switched careers to drive truck with the Green Country Lumber and Fuel Company. One year later, he began to exhibit with the Rural Artists, where he met John Stewart Curry and received advice that pushed him to create more life-like and vivid images.

Johnson’s persistence paid off. A power and light company sponsored a one-man show in Monroe and a Green County cheese factory commissioned several murals. Also, The Detroit News featured one of his artworks. His works were bought by surrounding community members after 1945. His work also hung in annual Rural Art Exhibits.

Sources:

John Rector Barton, “Handyman-Painter”, Rural Artists of Wisconsin (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1948), 67-71.

Museum of Wisconsin Art, https://wisconsinart.org/archives/artist/arthur-johnson/profile-1268.aspx

Photo credit: Photo credit: John Rector Barton, Rural Artists of Wisconsin (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1948), 67.