Thomas Eakins - The Agnew Clinic

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Inspired by: Thomas Eakins - The Agnew Clinic

This painting was commissioned in 1889, to honor anatomist and surgeon David Hayes Agnew, on his retirement from teaching at the University of Pennsylvania. His students put up the $750 (equivalent to $21,600 today) to pay for the depiction. Each student came to Eakins studio to be sketched for placement in the final painting. Eakins placed himself in the painting on the far right behind the nurse – although the actual painting of him is attributed to his wife, Susan Macdowell Eakins.

It depicts a mastectomy, which was a novel procedure. Despite the lack of expectation of cure, it was an attempt to lengthen the life of the patient. The portrayal of a procedure in which a partially nude woman is observed by a roomful of men (even though they were doctors) was controversial. It was denied a spot in 1891's Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and 1892's New York's Society of American Artists. One art critic warned that “delicate women or children suddenly confronted by the portrayal of these clinical horrors might receive a shock from which they would never recover.” Agnew asked not to have as much blood as seen in the Gross clinic (one cause for its rejection). His hands are covered in liquid, which would have been used for sterilization, rather than blood.

To see original: bit.ly/4c9bCJQ

Howard Pyle - Marooned

Pyle was considered the dean of American illustration. In 1894, he began teaching illus-tration at the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry (now Drexel University). He left there to open his own school, the Howard Pyle School of Illustration Art This was in Wilmington, Delaware where he had spent most of his life. Artists came from all over to be part of this studio. NC Wyeth was from Massachusetts, but gravitated to Pyle in Delaware. He sent Pyle a portfolio and was accepted. Pyle did not charge his students, but he only accepted the ones he felt were truly talented.He influenced so many artists, and told them "Throw your heart into the picture and then jump in after it."
Historians at that time were not sure what pirates actually looked like. In his many pirate books, he created their clothes straight from his imagination, giving them a style akin to gypsies. His works became so well known, that what Pyle painted is now what the general public thinks pirates looked like. The creators of “Pirates of the Caribbean” with Johnny Depp, acquired a number of his pirate illustrations and modeled the characters in the movie after them. Many of his pirates wore a big red sash and bandana, a style that was not from history, but manufactured by Pyle. In this painting the hat and the coat at the pirate’s feet are those of a naval officer. Probably garnered from a high seas skirmish.In his stories, there was a pirate’s code, which if broken brought on punishment. One possible punishment was, marooning. The pirate would be left on a desert island and given a knife or pistol with which to commit suicide. This poor sole hangs his head and contemplates his end. To see original: https://bit.ly/3Yduocp

Thomas Eakins - Between Rounds

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Inspired by: Thomas Eakins Between Rounds - 1898-99

Most of Eakins's sporting paintings: rowing, baseball and swimming are from the 1870’s and 80’s. But, he painted three boxing scenes in the late 90’s. These he began after attending professional matches at the Philadelphia Arena, then located diagonally across the street from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He asked several of the participants to pose for him, along with his friends and family who portrayed officials and spectators. Here we find boxer “Turkey Point” Billy Smith in his corner. Billy lost more fights than he won, and in the depicted bout he was knocked out in the third round.

Eakins sports paintings frequently expressed the muscular system of the nude male. He stands as the first American artist to base his art on the close and exacting analysis of the body. He felt it so important that he even studied anatomy at Jefferson Medical College. He began teaching at PAFA (his almamater) in 1876, While there, discontent arose concerning his teaching methods, His insistence on the study of the nude in mixed-sex classes and his frequent use of pupils as models did not please Victorian Philadelphia. While lecturing about the pelvis to a class that included female students, Eakins removed a loincloth from a male model so that he could trace the course of a muscle. Angry protests by parents and students forced him to resign at the request of the Academy board. To see original: https://bit.ly/3z6ufh4