March is Women’s History Month, so on our blog, we will be sharing stories about famous Cecil County & Maryland women!
Mabel Hunt Johnson, Artist
1897 – 1940
(From The Bulletin of the Historical Society of Cecil County 1978)
Mabel Hunt Johnson was the daughter of Inez Hunt, who was an artist. She studied painting at an art school in Cleveland, Ohio. Mrs. Hunt’s studio there was called The Phoenician Studio. She made her living with her art and painted murals in at least two Cleveland hotels. She acted as an interior decorator for many private homes.
Mabel Hunt married George A.M. Johnson of North East, MD and established a studio near Leslie, MD. The 1930 U.S. Census lists her as married, age 33, can read and write, and living with her husband and her son Allan. Her occupation was listed as artist and her husband’s occupation was listed as a salesman of farm machinery. Mr. Johnson was a talented maker of lawn ornaments which were in vogue during the 1930s.
Mrs. Johnson painted many pictures of old homes in the county and wildflowers of Maryland. She worked in oils and watercolors. Her work is highly prized by its owners.
Mrs. Johnson had a shy retiring nature and as a result was thought of to be aloof and unsociable. She was a friend of Miss Corinne Jamar of Elkton, a noted miniaturist, and gave exhibitions of her paintings with Miss Jamar. Mrs. Johnson’s work was exhibited in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and other cities.
Mrs. Johnson died in Coral Gables, FL on February 22, 1940. She had one son, Allen Hunt Johnson, who was a landscape gardener in Florida.
In 1960, Mr. Johnson decided to move to Florida permanently and presented to the Cecil County Historical Society a large collection of her paintings, which included many local scenes, houses, and wildflowers. It is a very representative collection of her art.
