in 1909, johnson and painter andrew dasburg went to paris and joined the modernist circle of artists living there, including morgan russell, jo davidson, and arthur lee. during a trip to london that same year they were married. johnson returned to the united states early the next year, but dasburg stayed in paris where he met henri matisse, gertrude stein and leo stein, and became influenced by the paintings of cézanne and cubism. he returned to woodstock, new york in august and he and johnson became active members of the artist community. in 1911, their son alfred was born. both dasburg and johnson showed several works at the legendary armory show in 1913. after several years of exhibiting single pieces, her first general exhibition was in 1917 at the studio of gertrude vanderbilt whitney. she also had joint exhibitions at the whitney studio club, co-exhibiting with florence lucius (1919) and lila wheelock (1923).