American Old Master: The Art and Science of Thomas Eakins

Abstract

In the second half of the 19th century, American painting was changing. The scene dominated by the landscapists became enriched by figurative painting, mostly by painters who had trained in Europe. The number of paintings exhibited by American artists, both within the USA and abroad, was quickly increasing, and artists were taking up American themes more often (1, 2). Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (1844–1916) was a Philadelphia man. He was born there and remained associated with the city for his entire life. From the very beginning his training was geared toward the figurative. At the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Eakins first drew from antique casts, as was the custom in art schools at that time, and attended lectures on anatomy, beginning in 1862. Later, he went to life drawing classes and attended courses on anatomy and dissection at the Jefferson Medical College (3). Between 1866 and 1870, Eakins studied in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he drew extensively from the nude and worked in the atelier of Jean-Léon Gérôme (4). Gérôme painted highly finished neoclassicist images in a technically accomplished academic style. For a short time Eakins also worked with realist portrait painter Léon Bonnat (4). He later traveled to Spain, where he acquainted himself with the work of Velázquez. Eakins returned to Philadelphia in 1870 and continued to develop as a figurative painter. In 1874, he attended surgical demonstrations by Dr. Samuel David Gross and in 1875 created a painting of one such demonstration, which he named The Gross Clinic (5, 6). This picture of Dr. Gross and his assistants, performing surgery, introduced a theme of a man in his working environment, to which Eakins frequently returned. The Gross Clinic was not what the “elegant” public expected; it was rejected from the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia as “unsightly.” It still was shown on the exhibition grounds, however, in the United States Post Hospital (5). Eakins began to teach art students. In 1876, he worked as an unpaid instructor at life classes at the Philadelphia Sketch Club. He then joined the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts as assistant to Christian Schussele, a neoclassical painter who in 1868 had become the first professor at the Academy. He also assisted the anatomist Dr. William W. Keen. Eakins became professor of drawing and painting at the Academy in 1878 and its director of schools in 1882 (7). Eakins was a passionate educator. By focusing the training on nude model drawing and painting, the study of anatomy, and dissections, he revolutionized the curriculum of the Academy. He rejected drawing from casts. Remarkably, Eakins was also fascinated by photography, then at its early stages of development (8). He saw photography as an essential tool for figure and motion studies and as a key aid to teaching. For a time Eakins collaborated with the eminent photographer Eadweard Muybridge (9), who visited Philadelphia in 1883. Both artists conducted photographic studies of human and animal movement. This work led to Eakins's famous work History of a Jump, which was exhibited in 1886 (10). Eakins also had a deep interest in anatomy. In 1894, he delivered a paper, “The Differential Action of Certain Muscles Passing More Than One Joint,” before the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. Unfortunately, his focus on the painting of nudes caused difficulties. Parents of students protested against the use of nude models. Eakins eventually lost the support of the Academy's Committee of Instruction, and in 1886, after he had removed the loincloth of a male model in a class where women were present, he was asked to resign. Incidentally, his popularity among the students was such that 38 of them left the Academy and formed the Art Students' League of Philadelphia, where Eakins subsequently taught. The dismissal from the Academy at the peak of his academic career was a major blow from which Eakins never fully recovered (11). He did reinvent himself artistically by concentrating on portrait painting. He remained within the Philadelphia academic milieu socially, and his portraits include those of academics, doctors, and churchmen. He was commissioned to paint several portraits outside Philadelphia, notably the portrait of Walt Whitman, which Whitman particularly appreciated (12). In 1889, students in the medical school commissioned from Eakins a portrait to celebrate the retirement of Dr. D. Hayes Agnew, professor of principles and practice of surgery (13). The painting represents Dr. Agnew performing a mastectomy at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Department (Fig. 1). Eakins took only 3 months to create the painting. It is his largest work, and its composition is similar to that of The Gross Clinic. The surgical practice shown is quite different, however. In 1867, Joseph Lister had published the groundbreaking article “On the Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery.” Lister then had traveled to America in 1876. The aseptic technique had extended the scope of surgery (14), and white coats and face masks were introduced in the 1880s. The surgeons are gowned in The Agnew Clinic, but not in the painting of Dr. Gross. Dr. Agnew's assistants and most of the people shown in the picture can be identified. Eakins painted himself at the very lower right edge of the picture. The painting was presented to the medical school by the graduating class on May 1, 1889 (15). The Agnew Clinic, 1889, oil on canvas, 84 3/8 × 118 1/8 inches. ©Geoffrey Clements/CORBIS. Reproduced with permission. Eakins was fascinated more by human individuality than by classical ideals of beauty. He was a realist who was not interested in academic decorative nudes. For Eakins, observation was essential, and he made elaborate preparations, multiple sketches, and photographs for his paintings. His Study of Seated Nude Woman Wearing a Mask, painted in the 1860s, shows uncompromisingly realist form (16). Eakins's realism was strengthened by his attraction to science and anatomy, and was further aided by his use of photography. Paradoxically, this “scientific” exactness might have contributed to the low popularity of his work, which was the case experienced for most of his life. His realism contrasted with the flamboyant elegance of paintings of another American portraitist, Merrit Chase (17). During Eakins's only solo exhibition, in 1896 in Philadelphia, no works were sold. Eakins began to receive formal recognition only toward the end of his life. In 1903, he became an associate of the National Academy of Design, and an academician the same year. He received gold medals at the Pan-American Exposition, in Buffalo (1901), and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, in Saint Louis (1904) (2). During his career, Eakins tried to combine the organizational association with the Academy with highly controversial attitudes (at the time) in a society with puritanical conservative tastes—an almost impossible task. Yet, with a remarkable stubbornness, Eakins held his line. This eventually brought him the recognition and status of an Old Master in American art. The author thanks Jacky Gardiner for excellent secretarial assistance.

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