Background
Johnson was born in Flint, Ohio and moved to Claremont, California in 1907 to study at Pomona College, and then to New York City in 1909 to study at the Art Students League of New New York
Johnson was born in Flint, Ohio and moved to Claremont, California in 1907 to study at Pomona College, and then to New York City in 1909 to study at the Art Students League of New New York
Educated Pomona Preparatory school and College, Claremont, California. Studied art under Louis Saint Gaudens and under James East. Fraser, Senior, George Bridgeman and Robert I. Aitken, Senior, Art Students’ League.
He was active in both California and New York, and is well known for his statues honoring American soldiers of World War I, known as doughboys. Two of these doughboy statues can be found in DeWitt Clinton Park and Doughboy Park in New York City, the latter of which was named the best war memorial of its kind by the American Federation of Artists in 1928. Among his earlier works is the bronze nude statue,"Spirit of Spanish Music" located in Lebus Court at Pomona College.
His allegorical figures of Architecture and Sculpture decorate the exterior the 1927 Fine Arts Building (Los Angeles).
He had a sister, also a sculptor. Annetta Johnson Saint-Gaudens, who assisted him with some of the architectural sculpture on the Fine Arts Building in Los Los Angeles
Married Ottilie Marie Schmucker, August 19, 1916. Children: Lillian (deceased), Harvey William, Cynthia Mae.