Eakins Revealed: The Secret Life of an American ArtistThomas Eakins is widely considered one of the great American painters, an artist whose uncompromising realism helped move American art from the Victorian era into the modern age. He is also acclaimed as a paragon of integrity, one who stood up for his artistic beliefs even when they brought him personal and professional difficulty--as when he was fired from the Pennsylvania Academy of Art for removing a model's loincloth in a drawing class. Yet beneath the surface of Eakins's pictures is a sense of brooding unease and latent violence--a discomfort voiced by one of his sitters who said his portrait "decapitated" her. In Eakins Revealed, art historian Henry Adams examines the dark side of Eakins's life and work, in a startling new biography that will change our understanding of this American icon. Based on close study of Eakins's work and new research in the Bregler papers, a major collection never fully mined by scholars, this volume shows Eakins was not merely uncompromising, but harsh and brutal both in his personal life and in his painting. Adams uncovers the bitter personal feuds and family tragedies surrounding Eakins--his mother died insane and his niece committed suicide amid allegations that Eakins had seduced her--and documents the artist's tendency toward psychological abuse and sexual harassment of those around him. This provocative book not only unveils new facts about Eakins's life; more important, it makes sense, for the first time, of the enigmas of his work. Eakins Revealed promises to be a controversial biography that will attract readers inside and outside the art world, and fascinate anyone concerned with the mystery of artistic genius. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 86
Page 8
... seems to have preferred having her look at likenesses of other women he had loved. He did paint two small portraits ... Eakins and Miss Mary Adeline ims. Eakins hung his Crucifixion by the front door of amily home, where it was the first ...
... seems to have preferred having her look at likenesses of other women he had loved. He did paint two small portraits ... Eakins and Miss Mary Adeline ims. Eakins hung his Crucifixion by the front door of amily home, where it was the first ...
Page 30
... seems far-fetched. But what is most disturbing is her amazing disregard of evidence—her systematic omission of the many other complaints that were made against Eakins as a teacher, or even of any mention of the loin cloth incident ...
... seems far-fetched. But what is most disturbing is her amazing disregard of evidence—her systematic omission of the many other complaints that were made against Eakins as a teacher, or even of any mention of the loin cloth incident ...
Page 32
... Eakins's hands were remarkable. “His hands . . . were not large, but ... Eakins's eyes. Thus Goodrich writes: “His most expressive features were his eyes ... seems to relate closely to what was unusual about his paintings. For example ...
... Eakins's hands were remarkable. “His hands . . . were not large, but ... Eakins's eyes. Thus Goodrich writes: “His most expressive features were his eyes ... seems to relate closely to what was unusual about his paintings. For example ...
Page 40
... Eakins needed another woman to play that role and turned to the one nearest to him, his dedicated student Susan Macdowell. Susan's role as a companion seems to have started immediately after Margaret's death. Margaret Eakins died on ...
... Eakins needed another woman to play that role and turned to the one nearest to him, his dedicated student Susan Macdowell. Susan's role as a companion seems to have started immediately after Margaret's death. Margaret Eakins died on ...
Page 44
... Eakins's career. The Bregler papers shed new light on these matters. Admittedly, the record they provide remains incomplete. Eakins seems to have destroyed many personal items that one would have expected him to save, such as all his ...
... Eakins's career. The Bregler papers shed new light on these matters. Admittedly, the record they provide remains incomplete. Eakins seems to have destroyed many personal items that one would have expected him to save, such as all his ...
Contents
Life and Art | 131 |
The Case of Thomas Eakins | 413 |
Acknowledgements | 478 |
Biographical Key | 481 |
Notes | 487 |
Bibliography | 537 |
Index | 559 |
Other editions - View all
Eakins Revealed: The Secret Life of an American Artist Henry Adams,Thomas Eakins Limited preview - 2005 |
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