Frank Tenney Johnson (1874-1939) 
Down the Canyon Floor, 1938
oil on canvas
30 x 24 inches
39.5 x 33 inches (frame)
signed lower left: F. Tenney Johnson NA 1938
verso: titled on stretcher

Frank Tenney Johnson was born in Big Grove, Iowa, and explored the Missouri River’s banks as a child near Council Bluffs, influenced by artist Richard Lorenz to pursue art professionally. After studying under Robert Henri in New York, Johnson settled on a Colorado ranch, illustrating for magazines and authors like Zane Grey. In 1920, he joined Clyde Forsythe in California, sharing a studio in Alhambra where he painted Western themes—cowboys, Indians, and settlers. Known for his “Johnson Moonlight Technique,” he co-founded the Biltmore Art Gallery in Los Angeles and participated in the Rancho Visitadores group. Johnson’s evocative paintings earned global recognition before his untimely death in Pasadena.

As a painter of the world of Native Americans and cowboys from the northern Wyoming Rockies to the exotic canyons and cliffs of New Mexico and Arizona, Johnson found inspiration in the far West past and present. His career straddled the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, a fertile time in American art. In his day, Johnson was considered the foremost painter of the West, recognized for picking up where Frederic Remington and Charles Russell had left off. In Down the Canyon Floor, the artist displays twilight deep within an inner canyon recess, casting a greenish-blue light on the scene. Although the tonal range is limited, one can still discern a variety of hues including the pale green and tan sandy soil as well as the sepia tones of the boulders and canyon walls, mixed in with greens, blues, and touches of red. Johnson’s mastery of capturing light, mood, and expression are all fully captured in this exceptional painting.

The painting appears to be in good condition. The canvas has been lined to layers of both cotton and synthetic fabric support with an unknown adhesive. The surface is flat with no distortions but maintains the impasto of the original paint layers. The canvas is stretched to a wood stretcher that is in good condition and is a replacement for the original stretcher. The tacking edges are covered with a polyethylene tape. The surface is covered with layers of varnish with a semi-gloss sheen. Under UV light (ultraviolet light) the varnished appears to have oxidized and fluoresces evenly. There are small areas of inpainting (bottom center, restrained dots and center left (small circle, fingerprint size) that fluoresce above the varnish layer and older inpainting around the edges near the frame that are under the varnish layer. The artist’s signature and date are painted in the lower left corner and are clearly visible and un-altered. This painting was fully restored previously and remains in good condition with no visible condition issues.