![Eastman Johnson - Interesting News [1872]](http://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7420/27516166285_a9e8c717d2_b.jpg)
Although Johnson did not design his work with the intent of social criticism, much of his oeuvre reflects the national interests and concerns of his era. The frequency with which the artist depicted this subject could speak to his appreciation of literacy’s role as the impetus for independence and social mobility, or as an indication of the changing national mood in the wake of the devastating Civil War: the female attention to literacy now seemed a positive sign of their independence rather than an act of subversion. Johnson himself was married for the first time in 1869. His only child, a daughter, was born the next year. The new emphasis on domesticity his life enjoyed during this decade most likely exhibits Johnson’s great talent as a keen observer and great chronicler of the people and situations that surrounded him on a daily basis.
[Sotheby’s, New York - Oil on panel, 47 x 57.2 cm]
