Curious About TJC?

The Johnson Collection (TJC) is a private collection of Southern art dedicated to sharing the rich and diverse artistic legacy of the American South. While privately held, the collection is committed to public access. TJC Gallery, our downtown Spartanburg gallery, is free and open to the public, and works from the collection can be seen in exhibitions and institutions across the country.

The Johnson Collection holds works spanning from the late eighteenth century to the present day, all connected to the American South through the artist, subject, place, or artistic tradition.

The Collection reflects the breadth and complexity of Southern art, with particular strengths in works by women artists, artists of color, and artists associated with Black Mountain College. Through continued collecting, research, exhibitions, and partnerships, TJC seeks to tell a more complete and inclusive story of art in the American South.

The Johnson Collection welcomes the ongoing conversation around what it means to be “Southern.” There is no single answer. Southern identity has evolved over the past two centuries and continues to mean different things to different people, places, and communities.

Our approach to collecting reflects that complexity. TJC includes works by artists who spent their entire lives in the South, as well as those who left the region, made the South their adopted home, or encountered it for only a brief but meaningful period. In each case, the artwork or artist has a connection to the histories, cultures, people, places, or experiences of the American South.

TJC takes a multi-faceted historical and geographic approach to defining the South. While traditional geographic markers, including the Mason-Dixon Line and the Ohio River, have historically been used to delineate the region, TJC recognizes that Southern identity extends beyond fixed boundaries and has evolved over time. Geography is therefore considered alongside an artist’s life, work, and relationship to the histories, cultures, people, and places of the American South.

Ultimately, TJC views “Southern art” not as a fixed category, but as an evolving conversation about a shared—and remarkably diverse—cultural identity.

The Johnsons are a Spartanburg family whose passion for Southern art led to the founding of The Johnson Collection. George Dean Johnson Jr. and Susan “Susu” Phifer Johnson began collecting paintings connected to the Carolinas in 2002. That family interest has since grown into a collection of more than 1,400 works and one of the nation’s leading private collections devoted to Southern art.

The Johnson family continues to oversee TJC and its commitment to preserving, studying, and sharing Southern art with audiences in Spartanburg and across the country.

Learn more about the Johnson family and the story of the Collection on our About Us page.

As part of our mission to make Southern art publicly accessible, TJC regularly lends works to museums and institutions across the country. We do not charge a loan fee, helping remove barriers to the inclusion of Southern art in exhibitions.

Interested in borrowing a work? Learn more about our Loan Program, contact Sarah Tignor, or submit a Loan Request Form.

Due to the shorter run of exhibitions at TJC Gallery, we do not typically produce exhibition catalogues. We do, however, occasionally create themed materials for visitors to enjoy, from cookbooks to art trading cards.

TJC has published four hardcover catalogues for our major traveling exhibitions: Romantic Spirits, Scenic Impressions, New York to Nebo, and Central to Their Lives. These catalogues can be ordered online or purchased locally at Hub City Bookshop.

TJC often provides high-resolution images at no cost for approved scholarly and non-commercial publications. Please submit image requests at least three weeks in advance.

Please note that TJC does not necessarily hold reproduction or publication rights for works in the Collection. Where applicable, requestors are responsible for securing permission from the artist, artist’s estate, or other rights holder.

Submit an Image Request Form or contact TJC Librarian Mary Owens Davidson for assistance.

Yes. TJC holds works by several artists with ties to Spartanburg, including Margaret Law, August Cook, and Helen DuPré Moseley. Like the majority of artists represented in the Collection, however, these artists are no longer active.

TJC generally does not collect work by emerging or early-career artists, whether from Spartanburg or elsewhere. When considering work by living artists, we typically focus on those with a significant and established body of work.

No. TJC is committed to the stewardship and public accessibility of the artwork in our care, rather than its commercialization. We do not sell works from the Collection, nor do we sell prints or reproductions of them.

As a primarily philanthropic organization, our focus is on preserving, researching, exhibiting, and sharing Southern art with the public.

TJC does not accept donations of artwork; however, we make a limited number of acquisitions each year. If you are interested in offering a work for consideration, please complete the acquisition form at the bottom of this page.

For review by our acquisition committee, you will need to provide photographs of the front and back of the artwork and a recent certified appraisal. Please allow three to six weeks for a response.

No. TJC does not provide authentication or appraisal services and cannot offer opinions on the value or authenticity of privately owned artwork. We also do not perform conservation treatments on works outside the Collection.

For these services, we recommend contacting a qualified independent appraiser, conservator, or other appropriate specialist which can be found on our Art Resources page.

Though we cannot provide official documentation for you, we are happy to assist you with research. Our Special Library is available by appointment, and our Librarian, Mary Owens Davidson, can help you find the appropriate resources.

Artwalk is a free self-guided tour through Spartanburg’s museums and galleries every third Thursday of the month. Between the hours of 5 and 8 PM, you can visit a variety of Spartanburg art venues, like the Chapman Cultural Center, Spartanburg Art Museum, and the Artists Collective Spartanburg. You can start and end your ArtWalk wherever you would like, but make sure to check each venue’s respective website for details of their participation.

TJC Gallery is happy to be one of the participating venues, and we offer complimentary refreshments and free programming on theme with the current exhibition.

Yes, please feel free to take photographs of the artwork, and tag us on social media if you post them. However, to keep the artwork safe, we ask that you turn off your flash.

TJC Gallery is wheelchair accessible, and there are no stairs in our two room gallery. There is one handicap parking space directly in front of TJC Gallery. For more information on mobility and parking, contact Holly Watters.

TJC Gallery rotates every three months, so there is always a new way to experience the Collection.

TJC Gallery only features works from the Collection. We do not borrow or hang art from other institutions in our space, but we frequently loan art from TJC to other institutions.

Artwork from TJC is on view at universities and philanthropic institutions in Spartanburg; you can even find world-class artwork in the AC Hotel lobby. Please peruse our In Spartanburg page to read the details of those locations.

You can also check out our Loans page to learn where and when you can see the works we’ve loaned to institutions all across the country.

TJC Gallery is our most public-facing location, and Our Team has responsibilities are carried out in our offices and at partner organizations. If you request in advance, we are happy to open the gallery for you if you are only available outside of those hours. We can also schedule tours of our offices, storage, and additional venues between 9 and 5 PM, Monday to Friday. Please reach out to Blake Batten to schedule a free tour or fill out our form.

We have offices and a museum-grade storage space at One Morgan Square. We try to keep as much work out of storage as possible; most museum and other cultural institutions are only able to display 10% of their holdings at a time, but we aim for 50%. A vast majority of the artwork that does stay in storage for long periods of time are works that require limited exposure to sunlight, like watercolor paintings.

TJC currently has around 1,400 objects in the Collection. While we do make a limited number of acquisitions every year, we will not far exceed the current number in order to properly care for these cultural objects.

TJC Gallery will always have no admission fee. We also offer free tours at our Spartanburg locations and complimentary programming at TJC Gallery.

We welcome visitors of all ages and all species, though we ask that they not be left unattended around the artwork. Well-behaved pets must remain on a leash.

We aim to have child-friendly programming for every exhibition, and we always keep coloring pages and crayons in the back gallery. If at the end of your visit you are willing to part with your masterpiece, we may even hang it in the front window of our gallery!

No, TJC Gallery is not a private event space, but we are happy to give tours to larger groups. If your group is greater than 15 people, please schedule your tour in advance.

We are happy to lead an evening tour of the current exhibition at TJC Gallery or participate in a program connected to artwork on display, but any for-profit, ticketed event will be denied. Please reach out to Blake Batten if you have any questions or if you would like to book a tour.