John Graver Johnson
Date of birth: 1841
Place of birth: Philadelphia, PA
Date of death: 1917.04.14
Category: collector
Identity:
John Graver Johnson was a lawyer and collector. He married Ida Powell Morrell in 1879.
Life:
Johnson practised law in Philadelphia from 1863 and defended many corporate cases such as the Sugar Trust, the American Tobacco Co. and the Standard Oil Co. before the US Supreme Court. His private clients included such celebrated names as Frick, Rockefeller and Morgan. He also acquired a vast art collection which spanned the history of Western art - Flemish, Spanish, Italian Renaissance and Dutch seventeenth century art. Later he took to collecting contemporary art. Much of his collection is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Bibliography:
Who Was Who in America, 1897-1942, vol. 1, Chicago, 1943; Saarinen, Aline B., The Proud Possessors, London, 1959.
