#thomas eakins

Thomas Eakins making an appearance in his own photograph (the clothed figure on the left), with an unknown model, and J. Laurie Wallace, 1883. Wallace can be seen in another shot on this same wooden platform.

I have posted a few of Thomas Eakins’ group photographs in recent weeks, so here is one a little different for a change, a single model posed alone (circa 1888).

Another photograph by Thomas Eakins in 1883, showing two of his art students boxing while four more spectate - they have shifted positions between this and the first shot posted.

vintagehandsomemen:

Study photo from the Thomas Eakins studio, late 1800s.

Not the finest clarity or definition of detail, but a less widely published photograph than many of Eakins’ references; one I hadn’t seen ‘til now.

Thomas Eakins’ art students enjoying a tug-of-war, I wonder which was the winning side? The same group posed for a variety of sporting scenes this day in 1883, we’ve seen them boxing, and wrestling.

Photographed by Thomas Eakins circa 1883, this may or may not be from the same set as the other male nudes by the shoreline, as the boat so prominent in those shots is absent here, and the water much less still.
As something of a beachcomber myself, I cannot help but wonder what intriguing thing the man on the right (John Laurie Wallace) has found washed up by the waves!

Finding familiar chaps in these old photographs is always a delight, here we see strapping young sportsman Bill Duckett again, in another shot from this modelling session with Thomas Eakins, some time between 1887 and 1892.

Despite being of poor quality, this is nevertheless an interesting addition to the collection, a third shot from the waterside showing Thomas Eakins and John Laurie Wallace, in 1883. The others may be seen hereandhere.

Thomas Eakins and John Laurie Wallace pose nude by the shoreline circa 1883 - a lovely and much less often-seen shot to go with the more widely circulated rear view of the same two men,

A second photograph of artist Thomas Eakins posing nude before his own camera in this leafy setting - the first here - taken in the 1880s.

whateverisrealised:

Thomas Eakins (American, 1844 - 1916) - Seated Nude Man (Duckett); Nude Model at Philadelphia Art Students’ League (c. 1886-92 (negative) printed later)

I’ve featured this photograph of Bill Duckett (and his ‘legs to die for’) once before, though a cropped and tattered print, this time we may see the whole image, untrimmed and unspoilt.

vintagehandsomemen:

Circle of Thomas Eakins (American, 1844-1916). Photographs of a Standing Male Nude Model (“Joseph Smith”), c. 1883. Albumen prints from glass negatives, (h:3 3/16  w:1 1/8 inches). Cleveland Museum of Art (source)

Seven photographs of George Reynolds, 1883, by Thomas Eakins (third from the right is my own favourite in the set)

My goodness, at this precise moment my dear little collection’s esteemed audience stands at an astounding eight thousand followers! I never even imagined it might make eight hundred, I was honestly pleased with achieving but eighty, and now look at you all! I thank each and every one for your interest, your sharing and showing your admiration of the photographs, and all the kind messages of appreciation; and I fervently hope you’ve all found plenty to enjoy in what you’ve seen here over the last couple of years.
I have been unable to find you a photograph of eight men together, to mark today’s total the way I did some other significant figures, so allow me to cheat just a little and present eight exposures of the same man, in a Marey Wheel photograph by Thomas Eakins, circa 1884.

George Reynolds, student of Thomas Eakins, photographed in motion with multiple exposures of a Marey Wheel camera, in 1884.

Another of the early outdoor photography by Thomas Eakins, the second I’ve posted from this photoshoot featuring his art students bathing (the first can be found here) - I wonder have you all also seen the 1885 oil painting he used these as reference for? http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swimming_hole.jpg 

A second, less well-known photograph from this studio shoot by Thomas Eakins, I recognised the model at once. I must agree with a previous commentor on this photograph who added, ‘legs to die for’. Indeed!

An extraordinary and fascinating photographic work here, by Thomas Eakins, captured with a similar technique to Muybridge’s sequential photographs, but here superimposed one over another to create something as bizarre as it is interesting. The leaping model is none other than Eakins himself.

Thomas Eakins (left) and John Laurie Wallace, 1883. Pleasantly ordinary-looking gentlemen, both - not perfect boyish youth or highly developed athletic bodies, just average chaps looking very natural and relaxed in front of the camera.

MWW Artwork of the Day (4/11/16)
Thomas Eakins (American, 1844-1916)
John Biglin in a Single Cell I (c. 1873)
Watercolor on off-white wove paper, 49.2 x 63.2 cm.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Fletcher Fund)

Eakins was yet another native of Philadelphia, the city that produced most of America’s artists in the 19th and early 20th centuries. An influential teacher as well as pioneering photographer, he is today recognized as the most important American realist painter of his era. Eakins had done the obligatory visit to Paris, studying art there for nearly four years, but, aside from a lasting appreciation for the works of the French realists Courbet, Corot, and Gêrome, his stay there left no imprint on his work, which was dedicated to portraying American subjects in a distinctly American style. For Eakins, this style was rooted in a scientific analysis of the things he saw before him, his ego taking a back seat to his empirical vision. He thus eschewed the metaphysical overtones of the Hudson River School and had nothing but contempt for paintings full of allegories or moralistic exhortations. He was the first artist to use photography for preparatory studies of a subject he would paint. That they were often nude studies eventually led to scandal and dismissal from his teaching post at the Philadelphia Academy of Art. His artistic output was evenly divided between portraits of well-known contemporaries (e.g., Walt Whitman) and scenes taken from American life, like the rowing picture above.

The Schuylkill River runs through the heart of Philadelphia. In the 1870s rowing caught on there in a big way among its middle-class citizens. Rowing clubs sprang up overnight on its banks, light racing craft swarmed the river on weekends, annual competitions were held, the winners becoming local heroes. Eakins, himself a skilled oarsmen, celebrated these new champions in a series of paintings, in much the same manner and spirit as the ancient Greeks memorialized their Olympic heroes in sculpture. The scientific precision with which the rower’s arm muscles and the ripple effect of the oars on the water are drawn are good examples of Eakins’ artistic credo in action.

More of Eakins’ paintings and watercolors appear in the MWW exhibit/gallery:
* Americana IV: Democratic Vistas - Thomas Eakins & Winslow Homer