# Husking Bee, Island of Nantucket

- By: Eastman Johnson (American, 1824–1906)
- Date: 1876
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 69.6 × 138.2 cm (27 3/8 × 54 3/8 in.)
- Culture: Nantucket Island
- Credit line: Gift of Honoré and Potter Palmer
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/81564)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/8a647e1c-d778-db71-6ba4-6456b800d6b9/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Eastman Johnson painted this composition in 1876, 100 years after the founding of the United States. The centennial fostered a sense of nostalgia among some residents as industrialization and urban growth rapidly transformed the nation. Husking Bee, Island of Nantucket depicts a seasonal gathering on the rural Massachusetts island. Community members work together to shuck corn and ready the harvest, a traditional activity that was far removed from daily life for many in the late 19th century. Johnson employed a warm palette and loose brushwork to describe this agrarian subject, presenting an uncomplicated vision of cooperation and closeness to the land.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0