dward Killingworth Johnson, British watercolour artist, illustrator and engraver, was born on 30 May 1825, at Maryland Point in Stratford-le-Bow, then on the borders of Essex and London, and died in Halstead, Essex, in 1896. Although his father Richard was an Irish merchant, his mother, Mary Meadows, had strong artistic connections — the boy's uncles on her side were professional artists, John Masey Wright (1777-1866), an accomplished illustrator and water-colourist, and James E. Meadows (1828-1883), a prolific painter best known for his seascapes and rural scenes.
Johnson was the youngest of the couple's six surviving children. After their mother died of cholera in 1832, his father took the family to live at his own family home, Baker's Farm in Sible Headingham, in Essex. Sadly, the children were orphaned when their father died in 1853. At the early age of ten, Johnson was apprenticed to the wood-engraver John Orrin Smith, and then in 1842 to Smith's business partner, the noted wood-engraver and landscape painter William James Linton (1812-1897), who was then producing engravings for the newly established Illustrated London News, thus beginning Johnson's long association with the periodical. Around this time, he was also attending evening classes at the Langham Life School. In the 1851 census he is recorded as living in Camden, and as being an "artist and sculptor." He also, curiously, exhibited a "felt hat" at the Great Exhibition of 1851. His design had been made up by the Newcastle felt manufacturer, William Mason, and is listed in the official catalogue for the exhibition as "designed by Mr. Killingworth Johnson, registered as the 'Raphael'" (Chris Beetles Gallery).
In his thirties, Johnson began to focus all his energies on painting, producing a large number of genre works, often showing "little girls in various poses and situations.... He was an excellent artist who used pure watercolour in combination with bodycolour, a technique in which the two are mixed to give an opaque look to the painting and often called gouache. All his work is highly finished" (Haynes Fine Art).
Johnson was now very much part of the art world:
Around this time, a public enthusiasm and curiosity about photography began to grow and extended to Johnson and his artistic circle, which included his contemporary, Charles Keene and notably, his niece, Mary Ellen Edwards (1838-1934), a talented emerging illustrator. Alongside his niece, Johnson was an early contributor to The Graphic (founded in 1869) and was also employed on staff at London Society, a new, fashionable literary magazine. [Chris Beetles Gallery]
By the 1860s, which we now think of as the beginning of a "Golden Age of Illustration," Johnson's reputation as an engraver, illustrator and painter became firmly established. "He was elected an Associate of the Society of Painters in Water Colours in 1866, where he exhibited 176 works throughout his lifetime. The first picture that Johnson exhibited at the Society in 1866, Tuning Up, received particular praise from The Times critic: "his heads show a sense of character, his young ladies are graceful and maidenly, and, though his work as yet fails to satisfy, it gives excellent promise" (Chris Beetles Gallery).
Johnson became a full member of the Society of Painters in Water Colours in 1876, exhibiting his paintings, largely portraiture, there, as well as at the Royal Academy, the American Society of Painters in Water Color, the Philadelphia Exhibition and the Paris Universal Exhibition (Exposition Universelle) of 1889. Among his correspondents were not only Keene, but James Whistler (a friend of Keene's), and Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, who was a fellow member of the Royal Watercolour Society.
Probably Johnson's best-known commission was to illustrate H. Rider Haggard's She: A History of Adventure on its first appearance in print in The Graphic. As Chris Beetles Gallery site suggests, the magazine would have brought him into contact with that journal's principal artists, including Hubert von Herkomer, Frank (Francis Montague) Holl, William Small, noted lithographer Joseph Nash, painter-illustrator Godefroy Durand, Sydney P. Hall, and Dickens illustrators Charles Green and Sir Luke Fildes.
Johnson's personal life also flourished. He married Hannah Reynolds in November 1871; they moved from London to his family home in Baker's Farm, Essex, and had three children:
Following their marriage, Edward and Hannah left London for the Essex countryside, and returned to the Killingworth family home at Baker’s Farm in Sible Hedingham to live with Edward’s sister, Fanny Johnson. The farmhouse was enlarged with a brick extension to accommodate a studio for Edward, and Hannah appears to have quickly become the missing muse of her artist husband, with many of his paintings feature the same golden-haired lady. Many of the subjects with abstract titles suggesting rural tranquillity where painted at Baker’s Farm, and at least one painting included the family home in the title (In the garden at apple blossom time, Baker’s Farm).... From 1874-1889, Edward Johnson's pen name at The Graphic was "Our Country Artist," and both Baker's Farm, and its rambling and beautiful garden became the backdrop for many of his most successful works, featuring Edward's wife and children. [Meadows Family Tree]
The Final Years in the Essex Village
Johnson's contributions to the Illustrated London News continued, and included sketches from the annual exhibitions the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours, to which he was still sending exhibits each year. But the Meadows Family Tree mentions an engraving in the issue of 28 April 1894 which seemed to indicate that he was bowing out. Entitled simply "Goodbye", it was an etching of young girl in a country setting. A book he helped to illustrate that year, Little Journeys Abroad, also hinted at a farewell. Indeed, he died two years later on 7 April 1896. The Meadows family tree website tells us that he was buried on 11 April 1896 in Sible Hedingham churchyard. It continues: "In their report of the burial, the local Gazette wrote, "His genial and kindly disposition had won for him the esteem of a large circle of friends by whom his death will be much regretted."
Bibliography
"Edward Killingworth Johnson." The Meadows Family Tree (this excellent site is the main source of information for this biography). Web. Accessed 8 April 2025. http://meadowsfamilytree.net/Edward-Killingworth-Johnson-
"Edward Killingworth Johnson, RWS (1825-1896)." Chris Beetles Gallery (also largely derived from The Meadows Family Tree). Web. Accessed 8 April 2025. https://www.chrisbeetles.com/artist/590/edward-killingworth-johnson-rws
Haggard. H. Rider. She: A History of Adventure. Illustrated by E. K. Johnson. The Graphic Magazine, Vols. XXXIII and XXXIV. October 1886 to January 1887.
Haggard. H. Rider. She: A History of Adventure. Illustrated by E. K. Johnson. New York: Harper & Bros., 1887.
"Johnson, Edward Killingworth." Haynes Fine Art. Web. Accessed 8 April 2025. https://www.haynesfineart.com/artists/edward-killingworth-johnson-uk
Created 8 April 2025