{{Short description|American artist (1874–1939)}} {{other people||Frank Johnson (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox artist | name = Frank Tenney Johnson | image = Frank Tenney Johnson in his studio.jpg | image_size = | caption = Image of Frank Tenney Johnson in his studio | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth-date|26 June 1874|26 June 1874}} | birth_place = Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States | death_date = {{death-date|1 January 1939|1 January 1939}} (aged 64) | death_place = Pasadena, California, United States | resting_place = San Gabriel Cemetery, San Gabriel, California, U.S. | known_for = Painting, Illustrating | training = Richard Lorenz, Milwaukee School of Art, John Henry Twachtman, Art Students League of New York | movement = | notable_works = ''Riders of the Dawn'', ''Somewhere on the Range'' | patrons = | awards = }} '''Frank Tenney Johnson''' (June 26, 1874 – January 1, 1939) was a painter of the Old American West, and he popularized a style of painting cowboys which became known as '''"The Johnson Moonlight Technique"'''. ''Somewhere on the Range'' is an example of Johnson's moonlight technique. To paint his paintings he used knives, fingers and brushes.

==Early life== Johnson was born in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, to Abner Johnson<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZDymhTvltkQC&dq=%22frank+tenney+johnson%22+genealogy&pg=PA9|title = Memories and Other Rhymes|year = 1924|publisher = H.K. Fly Company}}</ref> and Cordelia Rebecca Tenney. He was raised on his family's farm along the old Overland Trail, near Big Grove, Iowa (now known as Oakland, Iowa), in the Council Bluffs area, where his father raised cattle.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tHPPAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22frank+tenney+johnson%22+history&pg=PA615|title = The Outlook|year = 1923|publisher = Outlook Company}}</ref> Johnson's early American ancestors were from England, Ireland, Wales, Denmark and Sweden.{{Citation needed|date = June 2020}} His Bascom ancestors were French Basque. Johnson's mother died in December 1886, and the family moved to the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. He attended Oconomowoc High School in Oconomowoc.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wisconsinart.org/archives/artist/frank-tenney-johnson/profile-1276.aspx|title=Frank Tenney Johnson|publisher=Museum of Wisconsin Art|accessdate=November 26, 2013|archive-date=February 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190213064351/http://wisconsinart.org/archives/artist/frank-tenney-johnson/profile-1276.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1893, he enrolled in the Milwaukee School of Art (absorbed by Milwaukee State Normal School in 1913),{{Citation needed|date = November 2013}}<!--MISSING CONNECTION TO Milwaukee State Normal School--> where he studied with Richard Lorenz, a well-known painter of western subjects.<ref>{{cite book|last=Conzelman|first=Adrienne Ruger|title=After the Hunt: The Art Collection of William B. Ruger|year=2002|publisher=Stackpole Books|page=62|isbn=9780811700375|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZHLHn2F1R0C&pg=PA58 }}</ref> In 1895, Johnson moved to New York City, where he studied with John Henry Twachtman at the Art Students League of New York.<ref>[http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/5aa/5aa267c.htm Artists in Santa Catalina Island Before 1945; essay by Jean Stern] at www.tfaoi.com</ref>

==Career== thumb|upright|The Joyous Troublemaker, an illustration designed by Johnson. In his early career, he worked primarily as an illustrator.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F7tt0dqbdM4C&dq=%22frank+tenney+johnson%22+history&pg=PA185|isbn = 9781402753695|title = Cowboy: The Illustrated History|date = February 2008|publisher = Sterling Publishing Company}}</ref> He began working for ''Field & Stream'' magazine in 1904. He also illustrated for Boys' Life magazine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eDfMrleAjWwC&q=%22frank+tenney+johnson%22+boy+life&pg=PT3|title=Boys' Life|date=August 1913}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4pCdo_1Oy0sC&q=%22frank+tenney+johnson%22+boy+life&pg=PA2|title=Boys' Life|date=November 1919}}</ref> <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wildlifeart.org/collection/artists/artist-frank-tenney-johnson-434/|title=Frank Tenney Johnson|publisher=National Museum of Wildlife Art|accessdate=November 26, 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202230937/http://www.wildlifeart.org/collection/artists/artist-frank-tenney-johnson-434/|archivedate=December 2, 2013}}</ref> In addition to ''Field & Stream'', he contributed to ''Cosmopolitan''<ref>{{cite book|title=Cosmopolitan, Volume 44|year=1908|publisher=Schlicht & Field|page=iii|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zF0yAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR3 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Cosmopolitan, Volume 46|year=1908|publisher=Schlicht & Field|page=723|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XGgyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA723 }}</ref> and ''Harpers Weekly'' magazines,<ref>{{cite book|title=Harper's Weekly, Volume 57|year=1913|page=lxxviii|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7eQxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR78 |last1=Bonner|first1=John|last2=Curtis|first2=George William|last3=Alden|first3=Henry Mills|last4=Conant|first4=Samuel Stillman|last5=Schuyler|first5=Montgomery|last6=Foord|first6=John|last7=Davis|first7=Richard Harding|last8=Schurz|first8=Carl|last9=Nelson|first9=Henry Loomis|last10=Bangs|first10=John Kendrick|last11=Harvey|first11=George Brinton Mcclellan|last12=Hapgood|first12=Norman}}</ref> and illustrated the Western novels of Zane Grey.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.matteucci.com/artists/frank-tenney-johnson/?view=bio|title= Frank Tenney Johnson|publisher= Nedra Matteucci Galleries|accessdate= November 26, 2013|url-status= dead|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20131203043808/http://www.matteucci.com/artists/frank-tenney-johnson/?view=bio|archivedate= December 3, 2013}}</ref>

Johnson lived permanently in New York City from 1904 until 1920, making numerous trips to the west to gather source material for his works that were completed in his New York studio.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jvQsAAAAMAAJ&q=frank+tenney+johnson+family+tree|title = El Palacio|year = 1918|publisher = Museum of New Mexico}}</ref> In 1912 he joined cowboy artist Charles Russell on a sketching expedition to the Blackfoot Reservation east of Glacier National Park in Montana.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sidrichardsonmuseum.org/collection/trouble-on-the-pony-express/|title = Trouble on the Pony Express}}</ref> He lived and worked on the Lazy 7 Ranch in Hayden, Colorado, for a while, where he gained the title "Cow-Puncher Artist."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tHPPAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22frank+tenney+johnson%22+boy+life&pg=PA600|title = The Outlook|year = 1923|publisher = Outlook Company}}</ref> Later he went southwest to work on painting Native Americans. In 1920, he moved to 22 Champion Place in Alhambra, California<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EUoPAAAAQBAJ&dq=%22frank+tenney+johnson%22+history&pg=PA137|isbn = 9780374711047|title = American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell|date = 5 November 2013|publisher = Farrar, Straus and Giroux}}</ref> where he shared a studio with Clyde Forsythe.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Frank Tenney Johnson book|year=1974|isbn=9780385078573|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNM2AQAAIAAJ&q=frank+tenney+Johnson+22+Champion+Place+in+Alhambra,+California|last1=McCracken|first1=Harold|last2=Johnson|first2=Frank Tenney|publisher=Doubleday }}</ref> At this point Johnson's easel paintings became more popular than his illustrations so he concentrated in this medium. Together Johnson and Forsythe exhibited in the Biltmore Art Gallery started by Jack Wilkinson Smith at the Biltmore Hotel according to Edan Milton Hughes, Artists in California 1786 – 1940.

Between 1931 and 1939, he spent much of his time at his studio in Cody, Wyoming, just outside Yellowstone National Park. Many of his paintings were done there from studies inside the park. He has been called the "Master of American Moonlight Painting" and "Master Painter of the Old West."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2-6eCwAAQBAJ&dq=%22frank+tenney+johnson%22+history&pg=PA209|isbn=9780806154121|title=Branding the American West: Paintings and Films, 1900–1950|date=17 February 2016|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press}}</ref>

Attending a social event with his wife, Johnson happened to greet a socialite with a kiss on the cheek. Unfortunately, he contracted spinal meningitis from her with that kiss. She died a few days later, and then he died from the disease on New Year's Day 1939 in Pasadena, California.<ref>{{cite book|last=Solomon|first=Deborah|title=American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell|year=2013|publisher=Macmillan|page=196|isbn=9780374113094|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wdZOAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA196 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://centerofthewest.org/2015/06/14/frank-tenney-johnson-a-fatal-kiss/|title = Frank Tenney Johnson: A fatal kiss|date = 14 June 2015}}</ref>

==Awards and honors== In 1923, Johnson was awarded the Samuel T. Shaw Purchase Prize at an exhibit at the Salmagundi Club of which he was a member.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e1TrAAAAMAAJ&q=frank+tenney+johnson+award&pg=PA278|title = Magazine of Art|year = 1923}}</ref>

In 1932, Johnson was honored with membership in the National Academy of Design.<ref>{{cite book|last=Conzelman|first=Adrienne Ruger|title=After the Hunt: The Art Collection of William B. Ruger|year=2002|publisher=Stackpole Books|page=62|isbn=9780811700375|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZHLHn2F1R0C&pg=PA62 }}</ref>

In 1979, the Frank Tenney Johnson Memorial Invitational Art Show was held at the Gene Autry Hotel in Palm Springs, California.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19781215.2.292&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1|title = Desert Sun 15 December 1978 — California Digital Newspaper Collection}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Frank Tenney Johnson}} <!-- for current and future use if material is uploaded --> * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060210042553/http://www.fieldandstream.com/fieldstream/coverarchive/article/0,23467,913125_1045451,00.html A 1903 Field & Stream cover illustration by Frank Tenney Johnson] * {{Gutenberg author |id=6781| name=Frank Tenney Johnson}} * {{FadedPage|id=Johnson, Frank Tenney|name=Frank Tenney Johnson (illustrator)|author=yes}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Frank Tenney Johnson |sopt=t}} * [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2007/05/death_in_alhamb.html In 1957, Johnson's sister-in-law was found strangled in his former house in Alhambra. The case was never solved.] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110303020746/http://www.franktenneyjohnsonpainting.com/index.html Frank Tenney Johnson Artist and Gallery web site] * [https://www.sidrichardsonmuseum.org/gallery.php/art/trouble-on-pony-express Trouble on the Pony Express, ca.1910-1920, Sid Richardson Museum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624095353/https://www.sidrichardsonmuseum.org/gallery.php/art/trouble-on-pony-express |date=2016-06-24 }}, includes biography {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Frank Tenney}} Category:1874 births Category:1939 deaths Category:Artists of the American West Category:Artists from California Category:Deaths from meningitis in California Category:People from Pottawattamie County, Iowa Category:People from Alhambra, California Category:People from Cody, Wyoming Category:University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee alumni Category:American illustrators