Archive of Professor Lee Johnson

Collection

How to
request

Only individual files or items can be requested not entire collections, series, or sub-series

Use the Navigate this collection tree to find the materials you wish to request for viewing in a reading room, at file or item level, then click the Request this button on those pages.

Help

The archive comprises research files relating to individual paintings grouped by theme or subject, including images; correspondence and papers relating to articles by Johnson, enquiries about works thought to be by Delacroix, letters by Delacroix, and other matters; slides relating to the work of Delacroix; and publications by Johnson and other authors.

Dates

Creation: 1864-2006 and n.d. [c.1900-2000]

Extent

6.93 Linear metres (140 containers)

Language of Materials

English
French

Conditions Governing Access

Some material is closed.

Preferred Citation

Oxford, Bodleian Libraries [followed by shelfmark and folio or page reference, e.g. MS. 23995/1].

Please see our help page for further guidance on citing archives and manuscripts.

Full range of shelfmarks:

MSS. 23995/1-140. There is no shelfmark MS. 23995/75.

Collection ID (for staff)

CMD ID 23995

Additional Description

Abstract

Papers of Professor Lee Johnson (1924-2006), art historian, mainly relating to the work of the artist, Eugène Delacroix.

Biographical / Historical

Lee Frederick Johnson (1924-2006) was born in London and educated at the King's School, Canterbury, and at Edinburgh Academy. He emigrated with his mother to America in 1940 and served in the U.S. Army during WW2. Following study in Paris and Perugia, he entered the Courtauld Institute of Art in 1952, studying under Anthony Blunt. He received a Diploma in the History of European Art in 1954.

In 1958, Johnson completed his doctoral thesis, 'Colour in Delacroix: Theory and Practice' at King's College, Cambridge. A revised version of this was published in 1963 as Delacroix (Weidenfeld and Nicolson).

In 1959 he was appointed Lecturer in the History of Art at the University of Toronto, where he spent most of his career, which included regular lectures and tutorials at Cambridge University and occasional teaching at Oxford and London. He retired from the University of Toronto as Professor of the History of Art in 1984.

In 1981 the first volume of Johnson's catalogue of the paintings of Eugène Delacroix was published. This was followed by further volumes, including revisions and supplements, the final, fourth supplement being published in 2002.

Johnson was appointed Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 2000.

Arrangement

The papers were arranged and catalogued at the Oxford University History of Art Department. The present catalogue preserves that arrangement (shelfmarks MS. 23995/1-109), with the addition of slides relating to the work of Delacroix (shelfmark MS. 23995/110) and publications by Johnson and other authors (shelfmarks MS. 23995/111-140), which formed part of the bequest but were not included in the Department's catalogue.

Much of the arrangement is Johnson's own. Research files relating to individual paintings are grouped by Delacroix's theme or subject. These are followed by files relating to matters including articles by Johnson, enquiries received, and letters by Delacroix.

Custodial History

Bequeathed to the Oxford University History of Art Department.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Transferred from the Oxford University History of Art Department in Jan 2025.

Bibliography

Publications by Professor Lee Johnson include:

The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix, A Critical Catalogue 1816-1831 Volume I - Text (Clarendon Press, 1981)
The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix, A Critical Catalogue 1816-1831 Volume II - Plates (Clarendon Press, 1981)
The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix, A Critical Catalogue 1816-1831 Volume I - Text (Clarendon Press, 1986)
The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix, A Critical Catalogue 1832-1863 (Movable Pictures and Private Decorations) Volume III - Text (Clarendon Press, 1986)
The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix, A Critical Catalogue 1832-1863 (Movable Pictures and Private Decorations) Volume IV - Plates (Clarendon Press, 1986)
The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix, A Critical Catalogue (The Public Decorations and their Sketches) Volume V - Text (Clarendon Press, 1989)
The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix, A Critical Catalogue (The Public Decorations and their Sketches) Volume VI - Supplement and Plates (Clarendon Press, 1989)
The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix, A Critical Catalogue, Fourth Supplement and Reprint of Third Supplement (Oxford University Press, 2002)
Delacroix (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1963)
Eugène Delacroix, Further Correspondence, 1817-1863 (Clarendon Press, 1991)
Delacroix Pastels (John Murray, 1995)
Johnson, L. and Hannoosh, M., Nouvelles Lettres (William Blake and Co., 2000)