Detail of the painting “Ron the Dipper!”: beige canvas with black, white and ocher streaks

Life and Work

Ronald Edward Johnson

1930 – 2020 · Painter · Sculptor

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Chapter I · 1930 – 1949

DetroitandSt. Louis

Childhood

Detroit, MichiganNovember 12, 1930St. Louis, Missouri

Born in Detroit in 1930

Ronald Edward Johnson was born in Detroit on November 12, 1930 (state of birth Michigan according to the censuses), the son of ordinary people, as a newspaper put it in 1968. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, in the household of his grandparents Henry and Ollie McMerty: the 1940 and 1950 censuses list him there as their grandson, and in 1956 a press release from his army post named the same grandparents (Baltimore Afro-American, April 28, 1956). His mother, Idamae, moved around 1951 to Toledo, Ohio, where her father, a native of Cairo, Illinois, had lived since about 1929; he died there in 1961, she in 1996 (Toledo Blade, May 10, 1954, June 27, 1961, and October 30, 1996). He had an older brother. His grandmother Ollie, in whose home he had grown up, died in St. Louis in early summer 1958, his step-grandfather Henry in May 1962 (burial lists in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 8, 1958, and in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 23, 1962). According to Ronald’s own accounts, his paternal grandfather came from England and his paternal grandmother from Jamaica; no documents on this are known so far.

His widow, Elsbeth Michel-Johnson, tells of a hard youth. According to her account, as a teenager he lived in Harlem, New York, and experienced violence there, including at the hands of the police. At twelve he worked laying railroad track; at fourteen he returned home. Afterward he went back to school and received a scholarship, while friends of his lost their lives. The censuses of 1940 and 1950 each record him in St. Louis.

In the yearbooks of Sumner High School in St. Louis, the first high school for Black students west of the Mississippi, a Ronald Johnson appears in 1948 and 1949 on the gymnastics team of coach Arthur L. Washington (“The Maroon and White” 1948, pp. 72–86, and 1949, p. 73). The yearbooks from 1946 to 1952 record no graduation from Sumner. He graduated from Vashon High School, the city’s second high school for Black students, with the January class of 1951—as he himself also stated in 1956. At the commencement on January 24, 1951, he was one of three student speakers (St. Louis Argus, January 19, 1951, p. 13). Six days after the ceremony he left for Bloomington, his fare paid from donations by teachers (St. Louis American, February 1, 1951, p. 5). At his school, Vashon High School, art was taught at the time by the sculptor Houston Chandler, whose “Gorilla” is now in the collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum.

Detail from the 1949 Sumner High School yearbook: young gymnasts in undershirts; back row, left, according to the caption, Ronald Johnson
Sumner High School gymnastics team, St. Louis, 1949. Back row, left, according to the caption: Ronald Johnson. Yearbook “The Maroon and White” 1949, p. 73 (St. Louis County Library).

“He had a very eventful life.”

Elsbeth Michel-Johnson, his widow (transl.). According to a profile from c. 2007, he said little about his childhood itself.

Chapter II · 1951 – 1955

Indiana UniversityBloomington

THE ARBUTUS · 1955

Yearbook portrait of Ronald Edward Johnson in jacket and tie, graduating class of 1955
Johnson, Ronald Edward, B.S.

Art Education

According to a 1968 newspaper report, Johnson went to Indiana University in Bloomington on a scholarship and studied art education. He traveled from St. Louis to Bloomington on January 30, 1951, in time for the second semester of the academic year (St. Louis American, February 1, 1951), and was already competing on the university team as a freshman in March 1951 (Daily Herald-Telephone, Bloomington, March 24, 1951). In July 1952 he obtained a marriage license in St. Louis (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 15, 1952); in 1956 he was living in Aberdeen with his wife, a native of St. Louis, and two children. On Founders Day, May 7, 1952, he received a certificate for high academic achievement in the preceding year. For 1952/53 he was on the university’s Dean’s List; his honor at Founders Day 1954 was even reported by the Toledo Blade, the newspaper of the city where his mother lived (May 10, 1954). On June 13, 1955, he graduated as a Bachelor of Science in Education; the yearbook lists his field as Fine Arts Education.

St. Louis, Mo. · B.S. Fine Arts Education · Gymnastics, Swimming

Entry in the graduating class, Arbutus 1955, p. 448

“horizontal wizard”

Arbutus, yearbook 1955.

GYMNASTICS

On the University Gymnastics Team

From 1951 to 1955 Johnson competed on the university team; the university’s sports history “Glory of Old IU” (1999) lists him as a letterman in men’s gymnastics for 1952, 1953 and 1954, that is, the seasons 1951/52 through 1953/54 (p. 250). In the 1953/54 season he led the team together with Frank Feigl; according to the yearbook, his specialty was the parallel bars, and in the 1955 yearbook he is shown on the horizontal bar. At the Big Ten Championships in Columbus on March 13, 1954, he placed eighth on floor exercise and on the horizontal bar, and he was the university’s only gymnast entered in the national collegiate championships (NCAA) in Champaign, Illinois, on April 2 and 3, 1954, on the parallel bars and the horizontal bar; the Bloomington paper mistakenly called them the “National AAU” (Daily Herald-Telephone, April 2, 1954; Des Moines Register, April 4, 1954). For 1953/54 he received the university’s Balfour Award as his team’s “high scorer,” who was reported to have been “12th in the nation” in two events (Daily Herald-Telephone, June 29, 1954; likewise “Glory of Old IU,” p. 118). In January 1955 an opposing coach called him “their star, Ron Johnson” (The Minnesota Daily, January 28, 1955). Even as a student he taught, his earliest known teaching: for the Saturday classes in tumbling and trampoline for boys that began in January 1954, the Bloomington paper announced: “Ronnie Johnson, a member of the I.U. gym team, will be the instructor” (Daily Herald-Telephone, January 15, 1954, p. 4).

January 16, 1954, meet against Iowa and Minnesota: Johnson wins his team’s only event, on the parallel bars. At the end of his routine he falls from the apparatus and learns only an hour later that he has won.

Based on the Indiana Alumni Magazine, February 1954; also carried as a wire report (“Gymnast Kayoes Himself Winning”) in The Daily Herald, Biloxi, Mississippi, February 10, 1954
Team photo of the Indiana University gymnastics team, January 1953, the gymnasts in jerseys lettered INDIANA; Johnson in front, second from left
Gymnastics team, January 14, 1953. Johnson in front, second from left.
Ron Johnson in a handstand on the horizontal bar, black-and-white photo from the 1955 yearbook
“Ron Johnson, horizontal wizard”. Arbutus 1955, p. 292

Indiana University

The Certificates

Indiana University certificate for Founders Day, May 7, 1952, awarded to Ronald Edward Johnson in recognition of high academic achievement
Founders Day, May 7, 1952: award for high academic achievement
Diploma of the Indiana University School of Education: Bachelor of Science in Education for Ronald Edward Johnson, Bloomington, June 13, 1955, signed by President Herman B Wells
Diploma of June 13, 1955, signed by President Herman B Wells

FINE ARTS · FACULTY

His Teachers

As early as 1956, Johnson stated that he had studied sculpture at Indiana University with Robert Laurent, “a pioneer in wood sculpture in the United States”: “Under Laurent’s direction, Lt. Johnson became interested in the medium of wood, now his chosen specialty” (Baltimore Afro-American, April 28, 1956). George Rickey and David Smith were also among his teachers; he was David Smith’s master student. All three taught in Bloomington during his years there.

IU 1942 – 1960

Robert Laurent

Sculptor who carved directly in stone and wood. As early as 1956, Johnson stated that he had studied sculpture with Laurent. In 1954/55 Laurent taught at the American Academy in Rome; in Bloomington, David Smith substituted for him.

IU 1949 – 1955

George Rickey

Painter, later known for his kinetic sculptures. The 2003 Fürth catalogue and the Main‑Post in 2010 name him as Johnson’s teacher.

IU 1954 – 1955

David Smith

Sculptor of American Abstract Expressionism. In 1954/55 he substituted for Robert Laurent in Bloomington and, at Laurent’s invitation, built up the metal sculpture program (Decatur Daily Democrat, July 16, 1954, and March 10, 1955). It was Johnson’s final year; he was Smith’s master student.

Chapter III · 1955/56 – 1961

US Army

According to a gallery text, Johnson was already taking part in an officer training program while still a student. After graduating, he became a reserve officer in the Ordnance Corps, the weapons and supply branch: “commissioned in the Army Ordnance Corps for a two-year tour of active duty,” as a 1956 press release from his post put it (Baltimore Afro-American, April 28, 1956). It turned into more than two years. In 1956 he was a second lieutenant at the Ordnance School of Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. In 1957 he was a first lieutenant in the 578th Ordnance Company at Fort Riley (Kansas); in December 1957 he was transferred to the Pacific (Korea) (Armed Forces Journal, November 30, 1957; Army Times, December 7, 1957). The company itself remained in the United States; family accounts say he spent two years in Tokyo. From c. 1959 to 1961 he was stationed at Fort Totten, New York; on January 24, 1961, he was promoted to captain by Special Order 22 (Army Times, January 28, 1961). He never appears in the Army Registers of career officers.

SERVICE RECORD · FILE CARDORDNANCE CORPS

JOHNSON, RONALD E.

   1955 · B.S., 2ND LT., ORDNANCE CORPS (RESERVE)

04/1956 · ORDNANCE SCHOOL, ABERDEEN, MD

04/1956 · SOLO EXHIBITION, ART STUDIO

   1957 · 1ST LT., 578TH ORD. CO., FORT RILEY, KS

12/1957 · TRANSFERRED: PACIFIC (KOREA)

C. 1959 · FORT TOTTEN, N.Y.

01/1961 · CAPTAIN, SPECIAL ORDER 22

07/1961 · FORT TOTTEN, N.Y. → GERMANY

Compiled from the Aberdeen Proving Ground press release (Baltimore Afro-American, April 28, 1956) and the transfer and promotion lists in Army Times and Armed Forces Journal, 1957 to 1961 (1957 from the 578th Ordnance Company, Fort Riley, to Korea; Special Order 22 of January 24, 1961).

Schematic route: 1956 Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland; 1957 Fort Riley, Kansas, with the 578th Ordnance Company; December 1957 transfer to the Pacific (Korea); c. 1959 to 1961 Fort Totten, New York; 1961 Germany ROUTE OF MARCH 1956 – 1961 ABERDEEN, MD FORT RILEY, KS KOREA FORT TOTTEN, NY → GERMANY
Schematic representation, not to scale. Stations based on the 1956 press release and the transfer lists of 1957 and 1961: Fort Riley with the 578th Ordnance Company, transfer to Korea in December 1957, Fort Totten c. 1959 to 1961.

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND · 1956

The Earliest Known Solo Exhi­bition

From April 22 to May 6, 1956, Lieutenant Johnson presented his earliest known solo exhibition at the Art Studio of Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland: three wood sculptures in black walnut, ranging from realism to abstract form; wire mobiles and stabiles made of mahogany, solder wire, coat hangers and tin cans; oil paintings, drawings, a room divider of crate wood and glass, ceramic jewelry, pottery and weaving. A recurring motif was the abstract fish, in oil, ceramics, wood and wire.

At the time he lived in Aberdeen with his wife from St. Louis (marriage license July 1952) and two children. In the preceding five years he had already exhibited in Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and New York. The exhibition predates by twelve years the first German newspaper report of 1968, which still assumed his work had never been exhibited.

Baltimore Afro-American, April 28, 1956, p. 15, “One-man art show now at Aberdeen” (Newspapers.com, subscription); The Baltimore Sun, April 28, 1956, p. 8 (Newspapers.com, subscription)

The Baltimore Afro-AmericanApril 28, 1956 · p. 15

One-man art show now at Aberdeen

Newspaper photo from 1956: Lieutenant Ronald E. Johnson above a wire mobile, a figurative sculpture behind him

“2nd LT. RONALD E. JOHNSON” – caption in the Afro-American. The photo shows Johnson above a wire mobile, with a figurative sculpture behind him and a wire fish on the wall.

“MAN AND MOBILE – Lieut. Ronald E. Johnson paints a mobile part of his one-man exhibit at the Art Studio, Aberdeen Proving Ground.” – caption in the Baltimore Sun for the same photo.

It is the earliest known image of Johnson at work.

Black-and-white photo: Johnson in uniform shaking hands with an older officer; on the table, two trophies for the 3-meter springboard diving event at Fort Totten
Fort Totten, New York: Johnson (left) with the first-place trophies. The officer congratulating him is Col. Frederick T. Berg, deputy post commander.

ARMY · SPORTS

Victory off the 3‑Meter‑Board

The gymnast from Bloomington was also a diver. The trophies in the photo from Fort Totten, in the New York borough of Queens, bear the inscription “Fort Totten – 1st Place – 3 Meter Springboard Dive”; the presentation scene suggests that he won a post competition, in the summer of 1959 or 1960. In January 1961 he became a captain.

Clipping from the Army Times of July 22, 1961: list of overseas transfers in the Ordnance Corps with Capt. R. E. Johnson, Fort Totten, to Germany
Army Times, July 22, 1961, Ordnance Corps, Captains: “Johnson, R E USAG 1362 Ft Totten to Ger”

FORT TOTTEN · SPRINGBOARD DIVING 3 M

Chapter IV · 1961 – 1985

Germany

In the summer of 1961 Captain Johnson came to Germany as an officer of the 88th Ordnance Company in Hanau. The officer became a teacher of arts and crafts: in 1963 he left the Army to become crafts director in Landstuhl (newspaper report from Lendershausen, c. 1986). In 1968, according to a newspaper report, he taught as an arts and crafts instructor for the US Army in Worms and lived in Ludwigshafen. By the summer of 1969 at the latest, he was running the newly renovated Special Services hobby workshop (craft shop) in the Ledward Barracks in Schweinfurt, where he also built furniture and planned an oil painting class; this is how the European Stars and Stripes described it on December 25, 1969, without giving a rank. From 1969 to 1985 he was Crafts Director there, in charge of arts and crafts, and from 1976 he also ran the American evening school in Schweinfurt (newspaper report from Lendershausen, c. 1986). The yearbooks of the American schools in Schweinfurt and Würzburg do not mention him; his workshop thus belonged to the welfare and recreation services for the troops, not to a school.

1961
Hanau, 88th Ordnance Company
1963
Crafts director in Landstuhl, arts and crafts instructor for the US Army
1968
Apartment in Ludwigshafen, teaching in Worms
1969
Schweinfurt, Ledward Barracks: head of the Special Services hobby workshop (Stars and Stripes, December 25, 1969, p. 9)
until 1985
Crafts Director with the US Army in Schweinfurt; from 1976 also head of the American evening school
Volume 94Tuesday, August 20, 1968Ludwigshafen am Rhein

Schwarze Kunst aus Ludwigshafen (Black Art from Ludwigshafen)

By Egon W. Scherer

Newspaper photo from 1968: Ronald E. Johnson, his hand on his forehead, in front of a standing wooden figure
Original caption: “From captain to arts and crafts instructor: painter Ronald E. Johnson” (translated from German)

The journalist Egon W. Scherer met Johnson by chance in a Ludwigshafen tavern. In Johnson’s apartment in the city center, where he lived with his wife, Scherer found a wealth of his own works which, according to the article, had never been shown publicly. This can only apply to Germany: in the United States, Johnson had already had a solo exhibition in 1956 (Chapter III).

Scherer describes a man who had studied art at Indiana University on a scholarship and then rose to the rank of captain in the army. By now Johnson was driving every day from Ludwigshafen to Worms to give interested army personnel instruction in art and crafts.

But being a soldier, “that was not my profession, it was not in my nature,” Johnson said (transl.).
Original clipping of the newspaper article “Schwarze Kunst aus Ludwigshafen” of August 20, 1968
The original clipping; the body text has been deliberately obscured.

The article uses the language of its time, including terms that are now considered racist. We therefore show the clipping as a document and quote only excerpts. The newspaper is the “General-Anzeiger für den Großraum Ludwigshafen.”

The Seventies

Johnson taught, painted, rode a touring motorcycle and went skiing.

Color photo from the 1970s: Johnson with a beard, leather jacket, helmet and sunglasses on a touring motorcycle with luggage cases, a city bus in the background
On the road, 1970s
Color photo from the 1970s: Johnson laughing on skis, in a green jacket and striped ski pants with a wool cap
In the snow, 1970s
Detail of a relief painting by Johnson: thick, fibrous layers of paint in white, ocher and red
“Impasto” (detail), c. 1980

Chapter V · 1985 – 2020

The Studio in FranconiaHofheim · Gernach

“A sculptor who paints”

This is how he saw himself. The Main-Post profiled him under this title in 2010. (transl.)
Low studio house with large windows behind a garden with sunflowers, foxgloves and a small pond
House and garden in Franconia

Independent Artist from 1985

In 1985 Johnson stopped teaching and from then on lived as an independent artist. From 1992 to 1995 he completed an apprenticeship as a goldsmith with a master goldsmith in Schweinfurt (Main-Post, October 30, 2002). He had lived in Lendershausen near Hofheim in the Haßberge hills since about 1974 (Quer, 1998: “for 24 years”), then from 1998 in Gernach (municipality of Kolitzheim, Schweinfurt district), where he had his studio by 2002 at the latest. He was a member of the Berufsverband Bildender Künstler (BBK) Unterfranken.

Visitors to Gernach found paintings everywhere in the house, on the floor, on the walls, on shelves, with sculptures in between. He said of himself that he was always working, that work was everything.

Ronald E. Johnson with a gray beard, in a gray jacket and blue checked shirt
Ronald E. Johnson in the year of his 80th birthday, 2010. Photo from the estate.
Johnson in a checked shirt painting a large canvas with green bands of color
In the studio in Gernach, 2002: the first bands of color on a large canvas.
Johnson at his workbench among shelves, paint bottles and papers
At the workbench in the Gernach studio, 2002. Photos from the estate.

Marble Dust, Paint Tube, Palette Knife

First he gave the canvas a body, a structure on which he set the paint; according to a gallery text, he troweled on marble dust mixed with a binder for this purpose. Over a brilliant red, blue or yellow ground he let lines proliferate straight from the paint tube, in loops, rivulets and coils. Once everything had dried, he scraped the painting down with the palette knife and reworked individual lines with the brush.

After a gallery text, the Main-Post (2011) and the art historian Eva-Suzanne Bayer (2003).

Guide the light across the surface: move the mouse; on a phone it moves on its own.

“When you sculpt, you work with an object; it is real. When you paint, you have the canvas, and it is only a symbol of an object.”

Ronald E. Johnson, Main-Post, March 31, 2011 (transl.)

Bodies of Work

Painting

Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, on a textured, in places relief-like ground; also reverse glass painting. Poured and troweled paintings, color fields, reliefs in gold and bronze, dark nocturnes. A series of “Brücken‑Bilder” (Bridge Pictures) is mentioned in 2002. By his own account, Johnson met Jackson Pollock; in a text of his own he names Pollock, Thiele and Max Beckmann as artists from whom he could learn a great deal.

Sculpture

Carrara marble, limestone and wood: linden, mahogany, poplar. Soft bodily forms reminiscent of Henry Moore, yin-yang forms with sharp ridges and openings, triangular planes worked from rough stone blocks. The surfaces are smooth and finely polished.

Jewelry

After training as a goldsmith, he made jewelry in organic forms, which in 2002 he showed in a display case of its own in his studio.

The exhibition text of the Fürther Kunst-Begegnungen in 2003 set the two side by side: the sculptures showed “great discipline and utmost precision” (translated from German), while his paintings “seem … literally to explode” (translated from German).

From the Studio

Works from his former website.

Abstract painting in blue with white streaks Red color field over a black and red surface Blue, curtain-like forms Gold relief of five panels with blue and copper textures Relief painting in blue, green and violet Dark relief painting in blue and black Light painting of sand-colored squares Nocturne: dark landscape with a bright moon Rust-brown, horizontally layered surface Relief with sign-like forms in bronze Abstraction in midnight blue with light cracks Two-part painting with black and blue pours Gray-black cloud over a white ground Nocturne: city skyline with a bright moon Light surface with a dark, curving line Concentric circles in bronze and black
Tall, slender stone sculpture by Johnson on a lawn in the Stadtgraben of Tauberbischofsheim
Untitled, 2005, Stadtgraben, Tauberbischofsheim, donated by the Rotary Club. The work from the sculpture symposium at the Froschgraben in July 2005, at which the jury chose his sandstone figure for purchase by the town.
Johnson in a hat, goggles, dust mask and ear protection grinding a tall pale stone stele
Working on a stone stele, around 2005. Photo from the estate.
Ring-shaped sculpture of pale, gray-veined marble on a dark stone base
Marble on a dark base, height 38 cm

2003

The Year of Exhibitions

In 2003 Johnson showed his work in three places: in the Glashalle on the Maininsel in Schweinfurt, at the Fürther Kunst-Begegnungen in Schloss Burgfarrnbach, and at the Galerie Schulgasse 18 in Eibelstadt. The Fürther Nachrichten described him as the senior figure and focal point of the Fürth exhibition.

“Ronald E. Johnson is a magician. He makes stones float, sets pictures in motion, drives lines into relief.”

Eva-Suzanne Bayer, Main-Post, September 14, 2003 (transl.)
Johnson in 2003 with a blue hat and black shirt in front of one of his blue and yellow paintings, smiling
In front of one of his paintings, Fürth 2003
Johnson installing work in the courtyard of Schloss Burgfarrnbach, a white marble sculpture hanging from a crane
Installation in the castle courtyard
Exhibition room with a tall white sculpture and framed dark paintings
In the castle gallery
Dark blue painting on a white wall, with a white marble sculpture on a pedestal in front of it
Painting and marble sculpture in an exhibition, photo from the estate (undated)
Painting with color fields in blue, yellow, green and orange on a light wall
Painting with color fields in an exhibition, photo from the estate (undated)

In His Words

“I am addicted to the atmosphere in the studio.” (translated from German)

“I let myself be guided entirely by my intuition.” (translated from German)

Many of his works have no title, because “the title gets in the way” (translated from German). Newspaper report “Werke der Intuition” on the retrospective at the BBK gallery in the Kulturspeicher in Würzburg, published in the fall of 2010

The signature on his paintings is usually just “Johnson”.

Detail: the signature “Johnson” in black on the rough blue ground of the painting “Super Blue Circle Earth”
Signature on “Super Blue Circle Earth”, 1990

Epilogue

Ronald Edward Johnson died on April 9, 2020.

Painting “Super Blue Circle Earth”: a large circle built up in relief in shades of blue and green on a brilliant blue ground
“Super Blue Circle Earth,” 1990 (per sales listing). Mixed media, impasto on canvas, approx. 49 × 49 cm

“Every person has the ability to change their life and their surroundings for the better.”

His motto, according to the family’s death notice (transl.)

Room with framed and unframed paintings from the estate leaning against the walls
Paintings from the estate

What Remains

According to the editor, the estate comprises more than 700 works; as early as 2024, the Kunstverein Fulda spoke of more than 700. They are mainly abstract paintings, along with sculptures in marble and wood, and jewelry. Many bear only a number instead of a title. He last lived in Gernach.

Sculptures of white and black marble, stored close together White and black stone sculptures in storage Polished sculptures of black and white stone Black female torso on a pedestal outdoors

Four years after his death, the Kunstverein Fulda devoted two rooms of the exhibition “Farbe trifft Holz” (May 1 to June 16, 2024) to him. Works on view included the large painting “Explosion” and the wood sculptures “Black Lady” and “Torso.” His widow, Elsbeth Michel‑Johnson, gave one of the laudatory addresses.

Shop · Originals

Available Works

Jürgen Wollmann offers selected originals from the estate. Each work can be viewed by appointment in Schwalmstadt-Treysa. Save works and send a non-binding purchase inquiry.

Visit the shop for full details →

    All prices are seller’s prices and final prices, plus shipping and insurance. Prices are set by the seller; they are not an estimate or a valuation. A purchase inquiry is non-binding; a contract is concluded only upon acceptance of a personal offer. Subject to prior sale.

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    At a Glance

    Biography and Exhibitions

    Biography

    1930
    Born November 12 in Detroit, Michigan; raised in St. Louis, Missouri, by his grandparents Henry and Ollie McMerty (1940 and 1950 censuses); his mother Idamae lived from about 1951 in Toledo, Ohio, where her father had lived since about 1929 (Toledo Blade 1954, 1961 and 1996)
    until 1951
    Sumner High School, St. Louis: on the gymnastics team in 1948 and 1949 (yearbooks); graduated from Vashon High School with the January class of 1951, student speaker at the commencement on January 24 (St. Louis Argus, January 19, 1951)
    1951 – 1955
    Studied at Indiana University, Bloomington, from February 1951 (left St. Louis on January 30; St. Louis American, February 1, 1951), on a scholarship (according to a 1968 newspaper report); gymnast on the university team, letterman in men’s gymnastics in 1952, 1953 and 1954 (“Glory of Old IU,” 1999, p. 250), entered in the 1954 NCAA championships in Champaign (twelfth in two events, according to the local press), Balfour Award 1953/54 (Daily Herald-Telephone, June 29, 1954); marriage license in St. Louis in July 1952 (married with two children in 1956); graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education on June 13, 1955 (yearbook: Fine Arts Education)
    1955 – 1961
    Reserve officer in the US Army, Ordnance Corps; 1956 Ordnance School, Aberdeen Proving Ground (Maryland); 1957 first lieutenant in the 578th Ordnance Company, Fort Riley (Kansas); transferred to the Pacific (Korea) in December 1957; c. 1959 to 1961 Fort Totten (New York); promoted to captain in January 1961
    1961
    Transferred to Germany, 88th Ordnance Company in Hanau
    1963 – 1985
    Working for the US Army: 1963 crafts director in Landstuhl; 1968 arts and crafts instructor in Worms (living in Ludwigshafen); by summer 1969 at the latest, supervisor of the newly renovated Special Services crafts workshop (Craft Shop) in the Ledward Barracks in Schweinfurt, according to an article in the European Stars and Stripes of December 25, 1969; until 1985 crafts director with the US Army in Schweinfurt, from 1976 also head of the American evening school (newspaper report from Lendershausen, c. 1986)
    c. 1974 – c. 1998
    Lendershausen near Hofheim (Haßberge): home and first studio of his own (documented in 1996 and 1998; Quer, 1998: “for 24 years”)
    1985
    Freelance artist; for many years he also earned his living as a tennis instructor (newspaper report from Lendershausen, c. 1986)
    1992 – 1995
    Apprenticeship as a goldsmith with a master goldsmith in Schweinfurt (Main-Post, October 30, 2002)
    from 1998
    Gernach (Kolitzheim, Schweinfurt district; studio there by 2002 at the latest); member of BBK Unterfranken; exhibitions in Germany and France, according to a biography from the estate
    2000
    The Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich, acquire an untitled oil painting (132 × 157.5 cm, inv. KM 1701), purchased from BBK Unterfranken; his only known work in a public collection
    2020
    Died April 9 in Mainstockheim (Kitzingen district); last residence Gernach

    Exhibitions and Symposia

    1951 – 1956
    Exhibitions in Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and New York (as stated in 1956)
    1956
    Solo exhibition, Art Studio of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, April 22 to May 6: wood and wire sculpture, mobiles, oil painting, jewelry, pottery, weaving (Baltimore Afro-American and Baltimore Sun, April 28, 1956)
    1968
    First known German newspaper report (August 20); according to it, his works had never been publicly exhibited in Germany until then
    before 1978
    Group exhibitions in Pommersfelden (Weißenstein Palace) and Bad Neustadt an der Saale (his own exhibition list); according to a family note, all the works he showed in Pommersfelden were sold
    between 1976 and 1985
    Exhibition at the “Haus des Gastes,” Hofheim: paintings, jewelry and wood sculpture on a single evening (newspaper report “Ronald E. Johnson ein vielfältiger Künstler”)
    1998
    11th Unterfränkische Kulturtage, Schüttbau Rügheim (Hofheim), July 18 to 26: six artists from the Haßberge district, among them herman de vries, Petro Schiller, Ludwig Heinrich, Gerhard Nerowski and Jannina Hector (Fränkischer Tag, July 15, 1998)
    2000
    Annual exhibition of BBK Unterfranken, Otto-Richter-Kunsthalle, Würzburg, through December 23: a focus marking his 70th birthday, with wood sculptures in linden and mahogany, canvases and reverse glass paintings
    2002
    Galerie Kirchner, Grünsfeld, April 12 to May 12: sculptures, paintings and prints
    2003
    “Licht-Signale,” Glashalle Maininsel, Schweinfurt
    2003
    “Wald und Kunst,” Jägerhäuschen in the forest between Zeil and Bischofsheim, Forstdirektion Eltmann (July; Main-Post, July 4 and 11, 2003)
    2003
    12. Fürther Kunst-Begegnungen, Stadtmuseum Fürth, Schloss Burgfarrnbach, July 27 to September 14
    2003
    “Bilder und Skulpturen,” Galerie Schulgasse 18, Eibelstadt, September 12 to October 3
    2004
    Part of the photo project “Atelierspuren” by Marion Braun
    2004
    “Zammete,” Markthalle Ostheim vor der Rhön, July 24 to August 8, opening of the 17th Unterfränkische Kulturtage
    2005
    Sculpture symposium at the Froschgraben, Tauberbischofsheim, July: the jury chose his sandstone figure for purchase by the town; it stands in the Stadtgraben
    2006
    BBK sculpture symposium “Zuruf,” forecourt of the Kulturspeicher Würzburg, July 13 to 22
    2006
    art club Kunstverein Burgwedel/Isernhagen, Großburgwedel near Hanover: opening of the association’s new art space on November 5, together with the Würzburg painter Michael Kraus (Nordhannoversche Zeitung, November 2, 2006)
    2007
    Joint exhibition with Carlo Catoni, Bad Kissingen
    2007
    1st Lichtenburg Symposium “Weite – Nähe,” Ostheim vor der Rhön, September 2 to 8, with Jan Polacek, Dierk Berthel, Ortrud Sturm, Steff Bauer and Sören Ernst; the sculptures were afterwards placed on the Tanzberg
    2007 – 2008
    “Ronald E. Johnson – Bilder & Skulpturen,” Werkstatt Galerie Nordheim am Main, December 8, 2007, to the end of February 2008, introduced by Katharina Winterhalter
    2008
    Kreisgalerie Mellrichstadt: the six poplar-wood sculptures from the Lichtenburg Symposium in the gallery garden (summer; Main-Post, May 16, 2008)
    2008
    Catalogue “Ronald Johnson,” January 2008: text by Katharina Winterhalter, photographs by Dierk Berthel
    2009
    “50 + XXL,” state exhibition of BBK Bayern, Balanstraße 73, Munich, March 8 to April 5
    2010
    “Aus einer Hand” (From One Hand), retrospective for his 80th birthday, Kunstverein Tauberbischofsheim, Engel-Saal: paintings and small-format sculptures, September 25 to October 17, opening on September 24
    2010
    Retrospective for his 80th birthday, BBK gallery in the Kulturspeicher Würzburg, October 29 to November 21
    2011
    “Ronald Johnson – Malerei,” WeinGalerie, Neue Gasse, Schweinfurt, April to June 18
    2024
    “Farbe trifft Holz,” Kunstverein Fulda, May 1 to June 16 (posthumous, with Ines Britz and Jan Döhrer)
    Year unknown
    Exhibition at ZF Sachs, Schweinfurt (before 2010)
    Year unknown
    Extensive solo show at the Künstlerhaus Würzburg, then at Turmgasse 9, through February 4 (two newspaper reports)

    Voices on the Work

    “The sculptor as painter and the painter as sculptor: a fascinating thing.”

    Martyna Makarowska, Würzburg, late 2000 (transl.)

    “Human bone forms and the depth of the color black hold Ronald Johnson under their spell.”

    Martyna Makarowska, Würzburg, late 2000 (transl.)

    “He makes stones float, sets pictures in motion, drives lines into relief.”

    Eva-Suzanne Bayer, Main-Post, September 14, 2003 (transl.)

    He “trowels, splatters, drips and dribbles”; the effect, she wrote, was “almost archaic.”

    Marion Reinhardt, Fürther Nachrichten, August 12, 2003 (transl.)

    Contact

    Write to Us

    Editor

    Jürgen Wollmann, art dealer in Schwalmstadt-Treysa. He looks after works from the estate of Ronald Edward Johnson and is preparing the catalogue raisonné. The catalogue raisonné is not published online; information and extracts are available on request for a fee.

    Information Wanted

    Anyone who knew Johnson, owns works by him, or has photographs, letters or memories is asked to get in touch. Every work we know of makes the catalogue raisonné more complete.

    Email: juergen.wollmann@t-online.de
    Phone: 0171 / 77 07 83 0

    Frequently Asked Questions

    How does a work get into the catalogue raisonné?

    Use the form to send us photos of the front, the back and the signature, along with the dimensions and everything you know about the work’s origin. Inclusion is free of charge. It is not a confirmation of authenticity. We never publish the location or the owner.

    How can I recognize a work by Johnson?

    He usually signed simply “Johnson,” as a rule at the lower right. Typical features are relief-like, impasto surfaces and lines that are poured or drawn directly from the tube. A reliable judgment is possible only with the original.

    Can I buy a work?

    Yes, the available originals can be found in the Shop. Send a non-binding purchase inquiry, and you will receive a personal offer.

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    Museums, art associations and galleries may request loans from the holdings.

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