| Artist: | Eakins, Thomas |
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|---|---|---|
| Title of Work: | The Gross Clinic | |
| Date of Work: | 1875 | |
| Nationality: | American | |
| Context: | The Turn of the Century | |
| Movement: | American Realism | |
| Medium: | Oil | |
| Subject: anatomical lesson delivered by Dr. Gross to his students. The figures are portraits of actual people, not idealized but with emphasis put on character. Graphic scene of the body opened up and blood stains on the doctor's hand. Eakins is interested in painting the scene truthfully and tangibly. Style: not idealized, but it is composed with a strong sense of order and structure. The figures are arranged in a triangular formation that seems more pyramidal due to the emphasis on volume (plasticity). There are no flat passages. Eakins paints thickly, applying the pigment so it builds up a concrete, tangible, almost sculptural reality; Eakins stresses the material physicality of paint. His use of chiaroscuro helps him model the figures and establish the focus. Anti-Impressionistic, anti-decorative. Pays close attention to anatomical correctness. An art rooted in the study of nature and science. Context: end of the century in America; Eakins travels to Europe, but returns to Philadelphia and never leaves home again. Knew anatomy as well as medical students did. Director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts. Favored an art centered on humanity, character, and scientific truth rather than abstraction or artifice. Less interested in developing an avant-garde than a distinctly American art grounded in American realism and pragmatism. | ||
