Isabelle Jonette Johnson[1] (April 23, 1901 – May 13, 1992)[2] was an American painter noted as one of the first modernist painters in Montana.[3][4] Her ranch has been converted into Tippet Rise, an outdoor sculpture park and art center.
Johnson said of Gauguin when writing about color, "His paintings are so intense that one Gaugin is magnificent, a room filled with Gaugin's works can make you ill." Later in her essay, "That Wonderful World of Color," she wrote, "Forget how other people use color and use the colors you feel in your mind's eye and your imagination. This canvas is not for your husband, wife, or neighbor, but for yourself, so have courage to fail if necessary."[5]
Career
Johnson taught at Montana State University Billings, from 1949 to 1961 and served as department head from 1954 to 1961.[6] As a teacher of art in Montana she taught Modernism, often having to introduce her students to that genre. "She felt it was a requirement of her job that she push us and lead us to look in other directions that were not traditional, and she did it without saying a mean word about [Charles M.] Russell or any other traditional painter," said Donna Loos, one of her students.[7] She received the Montana Governor's Award for the Arts in 1983 and the Distinguished Service Award from Eastern Montana College (now Montana State University, Billings) in 1984. Her most famous student, Theodore Waddell, said three weeks after meeting her, "I decided I did not want to be alive and not make art."[8]
The Yellowstone Art Museum published an anthology of her work and life in 2015. The Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana, owns 827 Johnson-related works in its permanent collection, the majority of which were donated by Johnson.[6]
Education
Johnson's educational background is as follows:[9]