William H. Johnson was posthumously recognized as one of the foremost African-American artists and a major figure in 20th century American art when in 2012 the US Postal Service issued a stamp in his honor. Johnson’s legacy as a prolific artist is one laced with strife. Although respected as a modernist during his artistic life, a series of events including the passing of his wife to cancer, his diagnosis with syphilis, and subsequent syphilis-induced paresis led him to spend the last 23 years of his life in a mental hospital. His life’s work was almost destroyed when it was no longer possible to pay for the storage of them. Eventually the Harmon Foundation gained control of them and gave more than 1,000 works to the Smithsonian.