Thomas Eakins: Art, Medicine, and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia - Hardcover

Werbel, Amy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300116551 ISBN 13: 9780300116557

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2007

Synopsis

The life and work of Thomas Eakins (1844 1916), America’s most celebrated portrait painter, have long generated heated controversy. In this fresh and deeply researched interpretation of the artist, Amy Werbel sets Eakins in the context of Philadelphia’s scientific, medical, and artistic communities of the 19th century, and considers his provocative behavior in the light of other well-publicized scandals of his era. This illuminating perspective provides a rich, alternative account of Eakins and casts entirely new light on his renowned paintings.
Eakins’ modern critics have described his artistic motivations and beliefs as prurient and even pathological. Werbel challenges these interpretations and suggests instead that Eakins is best understood as an artist and teacher devoted to an exacting and profound study of the human body, to equality for women and men, and to middle-class meritocratic and Quaker philosophies.

About this title

About the Author:

Amy Werbel is professor of fine arts, St. Michael’s College, Colchester, VT. She has studied and written extensively on Thomas Eakins for twenty years.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0300116551
• ISBN 13: 9780300116557
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208