Avery Johnson, Key West, watercolor, Deep Sea Fishing, Key West
Born in Wheaton, Illinois, artist Avery Johnson worked on the Jackson, Mississippi diorama at the Chicago Century of Progress in 1933. In the summer of 1934, he and Stanley Woods were chosen by the Florida Emergency Relief Administration to be the first part of a team of artists in the Key West Artist’s Program. The Program would begin to clean up the city, paint the beauty of the area and use the art created to advertise Key West across the country as a tourist destination. In July 1934 Johnson and Woods were making sketches at Loggerhead, Ft. Jefferson, and the Dry Tortugas. At the end of the month, they opened an exhibit of their Key West work at the Chamber of Commerce in Key West. Johnson designed an insignia for FERA with two clasped hands, symbolic of the cooperative spirit between the citizens of Key West and FERA. At the bottom was the slogan, “Help to all who help themselves.” Johnson and Woods paintings were the basis for the printing of 60,000 four color postcards depicting scenes of Key West. Johnson painted six panels, Dancing Girls, for Raul’s Club in Key West that were later given to the Key West Art and Historical Society. One of his watercolors was chosen by President Franklin Roosevelt to hang in the White House. Education: Wheaton College; Art Institute of Chicago. Exhibits: Corcoran Galleries, Washington, D.C., Painting chosen by President Roosevelt to hang in the White House; Chamber of Commerce, Key West. July-August 1934. Twenty-five paintings of Key West and the Tortugas; Key West Art Gallery, September 1934; Key West Art Gallery, Caroline Lowe House, February 1935; Coral Gables Biltmore Hotel, with other Key West artists, March 1935, watercolors, Yacht Basin, Boats at Anchor, Steamship, Off the Keys, Back Yard Scene and Church; Key West Paintings, by Twelve Key West Artists, toured the nation, 1936, watercolors, A Tarpon Hooked, Brown House, etching, Key West Yacht Basin; United States Industrial Reformatory, Chillicothe, Ohio, April 1936, Green Street; White House, Washington, D.C., 1936, watercolor.
Avery Johnson, Key West, watercolor, East Martello Tower, Key West.
Avery Johnson, Key West. watercolor, Key West Golf Club
Avery Johnson, Key West. watercolor, Yacht Basin Key West
