William H. Johnson, March 18, 1901–April 13, 1970, was born in Florence, South Carolina. He moved to New York in 1918 and studied at the National Academy of Design from 1921 to 1926 with Charles Hawthorne. He also attended Hawthorne’s summer school in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

After traveling and studying in Europe, Johnson returned to the United States with his wife, Danish artist Holcha Krake, in 1938. His later work drew on African American subjects and folk art. He worked in painting and printmaking, and taught at the Harlem Community Art Center. The Smithsonian American Art Museum holds more than a thousand of his works.

After Krake died in 1944, Johnson’s health declined. He spent the final 23 years of his life at Central Islip State Hospital in New York, where he died in 1970. After his death, friends intervened to prevent the disposal of his work; a large portion of his estate was acquired by the Harmon Foundation and later transferred to the Smithsonian American Art Museum.