Historical Scene--WW II
Object Details
- Exhibition Label
- In Historical Scene--World War II Johnson articulated the threat that prompted the Cairo Conference in November 1943. Japan and China had been at war for almost a decade, and Japan was poised to invade the Chinese mainland. For Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, the threat was real and imminent. Standing tall, he surveys a landscape filled with machines of war. At the lower right, he sits with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Madame Chiang Kai-shek, who served as interpreter, after Roosevelt committed to providing Allied support for China and battling Japan's rapid advances in Asia.
- Johnson made multiple sketches of these world leaders individually and as a group, working from photographs that appeared in the press. Flags above their heads indicate their nationalities, although each is a clearly recognizable portrait.
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation
- Data Source
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Date
- ca. 1945
- Object number
- 1967.59.659
- Artist
- William H. Johnson, born Florence, SC 1901-died Central Islip, NY 1970
- Sitter
- Winston Churchill
- Chiang Kai-shek
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- oil on paperboard
- Dimensions
- 32 1/2 x 24 3/4 in. (82.7 x 62.9 cm)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- Topic
- Architecture\vehicle\airplane
- History\United States\World War II
- Dress\uniform\military uniform
- Portrait male\full length
- Portrait male\full length
- Portrait male\full length
- Record ID
- saam_1967.59.659
