Like many of his contemporaries in the Harlem Renaissance era, Johnson’s move to New York was transformational. He briefly enrolled at the city’s National Academy of Design, before serving in the armed forces during World War I. Johnson completed his stint in the military and re-entered the Academy in 1923. He returned to New York, during the heyday of the Harlem Renaissance, re-emerging at an opportune moment when the patronage and consumption of Black arts by institutions like the Harmon Foundation was soaring. In 1928 painting, the Foundation awarded him a prize for his painting "Swing Low Sweet Chariot."

His early classical images such as "Swing Low," gave way to more modern approaches that showed the influence of African sculpture, Cubism, and post-impressionism that Johnson was undoubtedly exposed to at the National Academy. Johnson’s work evolved when he began to experiment with color and light in his compositions. His later images were characterized as “Symbolic Abstraction” by some critics. Johnson’s propensity toward portraiture and spiritually inspired images, however, was consistent throughout his short career.

Major institutions such as The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, patronized Johnson’s work. In 1932, the Whitney purchased his painting "Negress." During the same period the Musical Art Forum of Orange, New Jersey acquired a significant number of Johnson’s works as well. A stellar artist, whose career was on the rise, Johnson’s livelihood was cut short. Shortly before his death he travelled to Virginia to chronicle a series images based the daily life African Americans and southern landscapes. Soon after Johnson died of heart failure. His 1934, Self-Portrait, was among the last images that Johnson created. He was only thirty-eight years old, when he died of heart failure.