(1844-1916) An American Realist. This retrospective presents for the first time in France the most important paintings, photographs and sculptures by the greatest American artist at the turn of the century after Winslow Homer. The exhibition highlights the complex and stimulating links between the two techniques. This confrontation reveals an artist haunted by the representation of the body, who explored, often audaciously, one of the founding themes of modern American culture and imagination.
(1844-1916)
An American Realist
This retrospective presents for the first time
in France the most important paintings,
photographs and sculptures by the greatest
American artist at the turn of the century
after Winslow Homer.
Trained in Paris by Bonnat and Gérôme,
Thomas Eakins practised an art that was
remarkable for its scientific rigour in
representing typically American
contemporary subjects, in particular the
sporting life. Eakins's work is also crucial in
investigating the relationship between
painting and photography in the nineteenth
century.
The exhibition highlights the complex and
stimulating links between the two
techniques. This confrontation reveals an
artist haunted by the representation of the
body, who explored, often audaciously, one
of the founding themes of modern American
culture and imagination.
Curators: Darrel Sewell, The Robert L.
Mc.Neil, Jr., curator of American Art, The
Philadelphia Museum of Art, W. Douglass
Paschall, Research Associate and
Coordinator Department of American Art,
The Philadelphia Museum of Art and
Laurence des Cars, curator, musée d'Orsay
Exhibition also presented at the Philadelphia
Museum of Art, from October 4, 2001 to
January 6, 2002 and at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art (New York) from June 18
to September 15, 2002
Image: Thomas Eakins
Between rounds (detail)
1899
Oil on canvas
Philadelphia Museum of
Art, given by Mrs
Thomas Eakins and
Miss Adeline Williams
(c) Will Brown,
Philadelphia Museum of
Arts
Musée d'Orsay
galleries 55 to 60
Paris