Thomas Eakins

The most revealing and interesting writings of American artist Thomas Eakins are the letters he sent to family and friends while he was a student in Paris between 1866 and 1870. This book presents all these letters in their entirety for the first time; in fact, this is the first edition of Eakins's correspondence from the period. Edited and annotated by Eakins authority William Innes Homer, this book provides a treasure trove of new information, revealing previously hidden facets of Eakins's personality, providing a much richer picture of his artistic development, and casting fresh light on his debated psychosexual makeup. The book is illustrated with the small, gemlike drawings Eakins included in his correspondence, as well as photographs and paintings. In these letters, Eakins speaks openly and frankly about human relationships, male companionship, marriage, and women. In vivid, charming, and sometimes comic detail, he describes his impressions of Paris--from the training he received in the studio of Jean-Leon Gerome to the museums, concerts, and popular entertainments that captured his imagination. And he discusses with great insight contemporary aesthetic and scientific theories, as well as such unexpected subjects as language structure, musical composition, and ice-skating technique. Also published here for the first time are the letters and notebook Eakins wrote in Spain following his Paris sojourn. This long-overdue volume provides an indispensable portrait of a great American artist as a young man.

"Randall Griffin's book examines the ways in which artists and critics sought to construct a new identity for America during the era dubbed the Gilded Age because of its leaders' taste for opulence. Artists such as Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, and Thomas Anshutz explored alternative "American" themes and styles, but widespread belief in the superiority of European art led them and their audiences to look to the Old World for legitimacy. This rich, never-resolved contradiction between the native and autonomous, on the one hand, and, on the other, the European and borrowed serves as the armature of Griffin's innovative look at how and why the world of art became a key site in the American struggle for identity." "Homer, Eakins, and Anshutz will be of importance to all those interested in American culture as well as to specialists in art history and art criticism."--Jacket.

Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) is one of the most fascinating and important personalities in the history of American art. His memorable and much-loved scenes of rowing, sailing, and boxing as well as his deeply moving portraits are renowned for their vibrant realism and dramatic intensity. This beautiful and insightful book, published in conjunction with a major exhibition on the life and career of Eakins - the first in twenty years - presents a fresh perspective on the artist and his remarkable accomplishments. Lavishly illustrated with more than 250 of Eakins's most significant paintings, watercolours, drawings, and sculpture, the book features essays by prominent scholars who place his art in the context of the history and culture of late nineteenth-century Philadelphia, where he lived. The contributors also discuss how Eakins applied his French academic training to subjects that were distinctly American and part of his own immediate and complex experience. Eakins's own photographs, which he used as part of his unique creative process, are also examined for the first time in the full context of his life's work. The exhibition Thomas Eakins will be on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 4th October, 2001 to 6th January, 2002; the Musee d'Orsay, Paris, from 3rd February to 12th May, 2002; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from 10th June to 15th Spetember, 2002.