Now considered one of the most important painters in the history of American art, Thomas Eakins was a controversial figure in his day. Trained in Pennsylvania, he left in 1866 to study at the École des beaux-arts in Paris for three years. Returning to his home town of Philadelphia, Eakins joined the staff of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1876, introducing the methods he had learned in Europe. He insisted, for example, that students draw directly from the nude human body rather than from plaster casts of antique sculptures (the standard procedure in American art schools at the time). When, in 1886, Eakins was given the option of either changing his teaching policies or resigning, he chose the latter. The artist's battle with the Pennsylvania Academy is well known, and Eakins is now often depicted as a rebellious innovator committed to challenging the prudish mores of 19th-century America. This conflict, however, was not the guiding narrative of Thomas Eakins 1844–1916 : un réaliste américan, presented at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris in February. Originating from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, this exhibition of paintings and photographs shed light on the painter's fascination with the human body.
At a time when landscape painting was dominant in the United States, Eakins maintained that art students should be trained in anatomy and participate in dissections to the same degree as medical students. Anatomical lessons were indeed an important part of Eakins' training at the École des beaux-arts, but he also frequented the anatomical amphitheatre at the École de médecine as well as at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Eakins also encouraged the production of anatomical moulages for use by his students. These wax sculptures of the human body were already standard teaching tools at medical schools. Some of the wax fragments used by Eakins were installed in a glass case at the Musée d'Orsay; representations of a neck and part of a shoulder as well as a foot and hand were hung from hooks like slabs of meat, surrounded by the framed paintings and photographs that Eakins produced.
The artist's interest in anatomy is apparent in many of his works. When Eakins painted his friend John Biglin rowing (John Biglin in a Single Scull, 1873–74) he featured the athlete's body leaning forward, with face, neck, arm and leg muscles tensed in anticipation of the next stroke. Although it may seem only logical that Eakins emphasized the mechanics of the body in an image of sport, he did so even in a rare religious work. The Crucifixion (1880) shows Christ's head bowed and in shadow, while light draws attention to the fleshly details of his physique, including the carefully rendered texture of his skin and thin layer of body hair. Christ's fingers curl, and his wrist bones surface under the weight of his heavy body. In this painting Eakins seems to have been more interested in the structure and form of the male body than in creating a spiritual experience for the viewer.
Of course, Eakins is now most famous for his paintings of anatomy theatres. When students at the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania commissioned Eakins to paint a portrait of their professor of surgery, he created The Clinic of Doctor Agnew (1889). Agnew is shown stepping away from the operating table to lecture to his students. These men, who fade into the darkened background of the amphitheatre, demonstrate various reactions to the medical spectacle before them: some lean forward with interest or strain to see the stage more clearly, others slump with boredom and even fall asleep. Eakins, selected to produce this work because he had himself observed many of Dr. Agnew's lessons, is among the students shown in attendance. Appearing at the extreme right side of this large canvas, Eakins was painted by his wife, Susan Macdowell Eakins.
Although in many ways an illuminating exhibition, Thomas Eakins 1844–1916 included little discussion (despite its title) of “realism.” Nevertheless, a kind of definition emerged from the show. Realism was revealed as an approach to artistic production that required artists to undergo extensive training in order to see the world — and in this case, the body — in a particular way. Drawing numerous links between medicine and art making, the installation at the Musée d'Orsay ultimately portrayed Eakins as a painter who strove to see the human form with the disciplined eyes of a 19th-century surgeon.
Thomas Eakins 1844–1916 will appear at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from June 18 to September 15, 2002.
Lianne McTavish Dr. McTavish is an associate professor of visual culture at the University of New Brunswick and specializes in the history of early modern French art and medicine.
Figure. Thomas Eakins, John Biglin in a Single Scull, 1873–74. Oil on canvas. Photo by: Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven
Figure. Thomas Eakins, The Clinic of Doctor Agnew, 1889. Oil on canvas. Photo by: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Figure. Thomas Eakins, Study of Movement: History of a Jump, 1885. Contemporary print from original negative. Photo by: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia