Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Johnson, Harry John
JOHNSON, HARRY JOHN (1826–1884), water-colour painter, was born at Birmingham 10 April 1826. As a boy he went with Sir Charles Fellowes [q. v.] to Lycia in 1840. After some lessons from Samuel Lines [q. v.], he settled in 1843 in London, began water-colour painting, and was one of the original students at the Clipstone Street academy. He also studied under William James Müller [q. v.] He was a friend of his fellow-townsman, David Cox the elder [q. v.], and accompanied him on his first visit to Bettws-y-Coed and on other sketching expeditions in North Wales; he does not appear, however, to have been Cox's pupil. Johnson was elected an associate of the Institute of Painters in Water-colours in 1868, and a full member in 1870. He was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy, where his pictures were much admired; his sketches, however, have more merit than his completed works. He was popular among his brother artists, but suffered for many years from increasing deafness. He died 31 Dec. 1884, leaving a wife and one daughter. There are fair examples of Johnson's art in the South Kensington Museum and in the print room at the British Museum. A good example of his work, ‘A Stone Cross on Dartmoor,’ was at the Manchester Exhibition in 1887. Some of his drawings have been engraved.
[Bryan's Dict. of Painters and Engravers, ed. Graves; information from Mr. Charles Redclyffe.]