Mathematical Paintings of Crockett Johnson - Resources
Selected Works of David Crockett Johnson
Barnaby, New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 1943.
Barnaby and Mr. O’Malley, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1944.
Harold and the Purple Crayon, New York: Harper 7 Row, 1955.
“A Geometrical Look at vp,” Mathematical Gazette, 54 (Feb 1970): 59-60.
“On the Mathematics of Geometry in My Abstract Paintings,” Leonardo, 5 (1972): 97-101.
“A construction for a regular heptagon,” Mathematical Gazette, 17 (March 1975): 17-21.
Papers of Crockett Johnson, Mathematics Collections, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Correspondence in the Harley Flanders Papers, Mathematics Collections, National Museum of American History.
Correspondence in the Ad Reinhardt Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Selected Works about Crockett Johnson
Stephanie Crawthorne and Judy Green, “Harold and the Purple Heptagon,” Math Horizons (September 2009): 5-9.
Philip Nel, “Crockett Johnson and the Purple Crayon: A Life in Art,” Comic Art, 5 (2004): 2-18.
Philip Nel. Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: A Biography, Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, in preparation.
James B. Stroud, “Crockett Johnson's Geometric Paintings,” Journal of Mathematics and the Arts, 2 #2 (June 2008): 77-99.
For a more detailed bibliography and further information, see the Crockett Johnson Web site created and maintained by Philip Nel.
For a description of American mathematics and science education at the time of Crockett Johnson’s paintings, see the Museum's Web site: “Mobilizing Minds: Teaching Math and Science in the Age of Sputnik.”
Credits
This introduction and the accounts of Crockett Johnson paintings given below have benefited from insights of Uta C. Merzbach, Judy Green, J. B. Stroud, Philip Nel, Mark Kidwell, Emmy Scandling, and Joan Krammer.
"Mathematical Paintings of Crockett Johnson - Resources" showing 3 items.
Painting - Law of Orbiting Velocity (Kepler)
- Description
- This work illustrates two laws of planetary motion proposed by the German mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) in his book Astronomia Nova (New Astronomy) of 1609. Kepler argued that planets move about the sun in elliptical orbits, with the sun at one focus of the ellipse. He also claimed that a planet moves about the sun in such a way that a line drawn from the planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times. The ellipse in the work represents the path of a planet and the white sections equal areas. The extraordinary contrast between the deep blue and white colors dramatize this phenomenon.
- This oil painting on masonite has a wooden frame. It is signed: CJ65. It also is marked on the back: Crockett Johnson 1965 (/) LAW OF ORBITING VELOCITY (/) (KEPLER). It is #22 in the series. The work follows an annotated diagram from Crockett Johnson’s copy of Newman's The World of Mathematics (1956), p. 231. Compare to paintings #76 (1979.1093.50) and #99 (1979.1093.66).
- Reference: Arthur Koestler, The Watershed (1960).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1965
- referenced
- Kepler, Johannes
- painter
- Johnson, Crockett
- ID Number
- 1979.1093.16
- catalog number
- 1979.1093.16
- accession number
- 1979.1093
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Painting -Law of Orbiting Velocity (Kepler)
- Description
- This piece is a further example of Crockett Johnson's exploration of Kepler’s first two laws of planetary motion. The ellipse represents the path of a planet, and the white sections represent equal areas swept out in equal times. This work, a silk screen inked on paper board, is signed: CJ66. It is #76 in the series, and it echoes painting #22 (1979.1093.16) and painting #99 (1979.1093.66).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1966
- referenced
- Kepler, Johannes
- painter
- Johnson, Crockett
- ID Number
- 1979.1093.50
- catalog number
- 1979.1093.50
- accession number
- 1979.1093
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Painting - Law of Orbiting Velocities
- Description
- This creation, similar to works #22 (1979.1093.16) and #76 (1979.1093.50), is a further example of Crockett Johnson's work relating to Kepler's first two laws of planetary motion. The ellipse represents the path of a planet and the white sections represent equal areas swept out in equal times. This work is a silk screen on paper. It is number 99 in the series, and is signed in the right corner: Crockett Johnson (/) 67. It draws on a figure from The World of Mathematics by James R. Newman.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1967
- referenced
- Kepler, Johannes
- painter
- Johnson, Crockett
- ID Number
- 1979.1093.66
- catalog number
- 1979.1093.66
- accession number
- 1979.1093
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center