Susan Macdowell Eakins

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Thomas Eakins , The Artist's Wife and His Dog (1884–89), Susan Macdowell Eakins, and family dog ​​Harry

Susan Hannah Macdowell Eakins (born September 21, 1851 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † December 27, 1938 in Philadelphia) was an American painter, photographer and new woman . Her work was first shown at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts , where she also studied. There she won the Mary Smith Prize in 1879 and the Charles Toppan Prize in 1882. One of her teachers was her future husband Thomas Eakins . She worked on portraits, still lifes and photographs. During her marriage she was hardly active as an artist, but after the death of her husband she resumed painting and was also committed to her husband's fame, including donations to numerous museums. Her own works have been shown in group exhibitions. The first solo exhibition came after her death.

childhood

Susan Hannah Macdowell, unknown girl, Elizabeth Macdowell and presumably Mary Macdowell at the Macdowell house , photo: Thomas Eakins, approx. 1880–1882

Macdowell was the fifth of eight children of William H. Macdowell, an engraver, talented painter, and photographer from Philadelphia who passed on an interest in Thomas Paine and freethinking to his three sons and five daughters . She and her sister Elizabeth showed an early interest in art and were encouraged by their father, who set up a studio for her. She also showed talent on the piano.

education

At the age of twenty-five, she met Eakins at the Hazeltine Gallery, where his painting Die Klinik Gross was exhibited in 1876. It was also shown at the Centennial Exposition . Unlike most other viewers, she was taken with this controversial picture and decided to study with him at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), which she then attended for six years. During this time, PAFA was considered the best art school in the USA. Before studying at Eakins, she studied with Christian Schussele . Under Eakins it took on his sober, realistic style. She was an outstanding student and won the Mary Smith Prize for best painting by an enrolled artist. Her sister Elizabeth also studied at PAFA since 1876. Other students were Mary Cassatt , Cecilia Beaux , Emily Sartain, and Alice Barber Stephens . They received a good education but were not allowed to paint from the living model. As a spokesperson ( class secretary ) for the students, she advocated that women should also study nude models.

marriage

Thomas Eakins, Portrait of Susan Macdowell Eakins , Hirshhorn Museum
Susan Macdowell Eakins, Portrait of Thomas Eakins , posthumous, ca.1920-25, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Macdowell married Eakins in 1884. As director of studies at PAFA, Eakins allowed students to study female and male nude models. A year after the wedding, Eakins lost his post at PAFA on allegations, and while family and friends supported the couple, it was a life-changing event that weighed on their enthusiasm.

Macdowell Eakins spent most of her time on her husband's career, entertaining guests and students, helping him deal with the academy, even when family members turned against him. The couple remained childless.

Career

She painted portraits, especially of the family and scenes from everyday life. From 1876 to 1882 she exhibited at the PAFA, during the marriage she only worked sporadically. Both spouses had their own studios in the same house. Both worked as a photographer and as a model and used their own photographs as templates for paintings. She was also a nude model in photographs of her husband. In 1898 she became a member of the Philadelphia Photographic Salon and exhibited one of her best photographs, Child with Doll . In 1905 she exhibited at the PAFA.

Thomas Eakins saw her as superior to him in the use of colors and as the best painter he knew. The art historian Susan Casteras said of her Portrait of a Lady from 1880, it shows her solid handling and real anatomical construction with dark tonality.

In 1916 after the death of her husband she took up painting again, working daily and with increased production. Her style became warmer, lighter and brighter. In 1936 her works were exhibited at the Philadelphia Art Club along with those of her husband and sister Elizabeth.

  • Woman in a Plaid Shawl, 1872

  • Gentleman and a Dog, 1878, Taubman Museum of Art , Roanoke, Virginia

  • Still life

death

Macdowell Eakins died in 1938 and was buried in Woodlands Cemetery , Philadelphia. Charles Bregler saved significant parts of her husband's work from the household, which was broken up by her relatives. It was not until 35 years later, in 1973, that the first one-woman exhibition took place at PAFA. In 1976 her work was included in the Nineteenth Century Women Artists exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

In September and October 1977 an exhibition of the photographs and paintings of her, her sister and her husband was held in Roanoke, Virginia at the North Cross School .

Works

Her work includes:

  • Alfred Reynolds, oil on cardboard, 1880–1900
  • Anguish, oil, 1916
  • Anna Hyatt Caldwell, oil. Mrs. Caldwell was the wife of Joseph Ralston Caldwell and died in 1935
  • Artist and model, oil
  • Boy in orange shirt, oil
  • Chaperones, watercolor on paper, 1879
  • Child's Head, oil
  • Clarence Cranmer, Oil, 1920-1925
  • Dancers, oil, ca.1890
  • David Wilson Jordon, Oil, Palmer Museum of Art , Pennsylvania State University
  • Dora Adelman, oil, 1935
  • Double Figure Study, oil
  • Dr. William N. Bradley, oil, 1934
  • Edward Coles (1786–1868), oil, 1883, Chicago Historical Society
  • Fruit and Flower Arrangement, oil, ca.1880
  • Gentleman and Dog, oil, 1878, Taubman Museum of Art , Roanoke, Virginia
  • Girl in Yellow Blouse (seated), oil on canvas
  • Girl in Yellow Blouse (standing), oil on canvas
  • Girl Reading, oil, ca.1879
  • Girl Reading, Oil, 1925-1930
  • Girls Head from the Rear, oil, ca.1890–1900
  • Grandfather Macdowell, oil, 1879
  • Hannah Macdowell and Sister, oil, 1882
  • Hannah Trimble Gardner Macdowell, Oil, 1880–1885
  • Joanna Wnukowska Kowalewski, oil, 1933
  • Kate Lewis, oil, 1884, Allentown Art Museum
  • Landscape, oil
  • Lenore Adelman, oil, 1933
  • Leroy Ireland, oil on canvas, 1910, Brooklyn Museum of Art
  • Lewis Sisters (at home), oil, 1932
  • Luigi Maratti, oil on canvas, 1932
  • Margaret Eakins, watercolor, ca.1878
  • Mrs. King, watercolor, 1879
  • Murray with Barry statue, watercolor on paper
  • Music, oil on cardboard, ca.1875, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
  • Old Fashioned Dress, oil, 1880
  • Old Man, Portrait Sketch, oil, approx. 1885–1895
  • Paul Crenshaw Physick, MD, Oil, University of Pennsylvania
  • Peonies, oil, 1925
  • Pierre Menard , 1766-1844, oil on canvas, Chicago History Museum
  • Portrait of a Bearded Man, oil, 1932, Kennedy Galleries, New York, New York
  • Portrait of a Lady, oil, 1880
  • Portrait of a Man, oil, 1920–1930
  • Portrait of a Philadelphia Lady, 1890s
  • Portrait of a Soldier, oil, 1917
  • Portrait of a Woman, oil, ca.1880–1885
  • Portrait of Charles Bregler, oil on canvas, 1920s, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
  • Portrait of David Wilson Jordan, oil, Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University
  • Portrait of Thomas Eakins, oil, circa 1889, Philadelphia Museum of Art
  • Reflections, oil, 1881
  • Roseanna Williams, oil on wood, 1879, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
  • Roseanna Williams, watercolor, 1879
  • Sculptor and Model, oil, 1924
  • Seated Girl in Tunic, oil, 1920-1930
  • Seated Old Woman Reading, oil
  • Spinning, watercolor, ca.1878
  • Still Life, oil, ca.1920
  • Still Life: Dish, Vegetable and Fruit, Oil
  • Study of Cello Player, oil, ca.1895–1900
  • Study of a Man
  • Study of Susan, oil
  • Susan and Elizabeth Macdowell (self-portrait), oil, 1879
  • Susan and Elizabeth Macdowell (self-portrait), oil, 1910–1920
  • Susan and Elizabeth Macdowell (self-portrait), oil, 1925
  • Susan Hannah Macdowell Eakins (self-portrait as a child), oil, after 1861
  • Susan Hannah Macdowell Eakins (self-portrait), oil, ca.1910–1920, private collection
  • Tennis player, oil, 1933
  • The Bibliophile, oil, 1932
  • The Spinners (Three Fates), oil
  • Thomas Cadwalader, 1795–1873, oil, 1882
  • Thomas Cowperthwaite Eakins, oil, ca.1920
  • Thomas Eakins Working at an Easel, oil on cardboard, early to mid 1880s, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
  • Two Ladies and Dog, oil, approx. 1880–1885
  • Two Sisters, oil on canvas, 1879
  • Unidentified Girl, oil, ca.1879
  • Unidentified Man, Oil, 1880-1900
  • Unidentified Woman, Oil
  • Walter Gardner Macdowell, oil, 1880–1930
  • Watchful Guardian, oil, 1878
  • William H. Macdowell, Portrait Sketch Oil, 1880–1881
  • William H. Macdowell, oil, 1881
  • William Pepper (1810–1864), oil, 1883, University of Pennsylvania
  • Woman in a Plain Shawl, oil on canvas, ca.1872
  • Woman in Profile, oil, ca.1890–1900
  • Woman Reading, oil on canvas, 1879–1884
  • Woman Seated, oil, 1880, was in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller III
  • Woman with book, oil

literature

  • K. Foster: Eakins, Susan Hannah Macdowell . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 31, Saur, Munich a. a. 2001, ISBN 3-598-22771-X , p. 480.
  • Akela M. Reason: Beyond Realism: History in the Art of Thomas Eakins . Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. UMI Dissertation Services, College Park 2005, OCLC 79458726 (326 pp., Umd.edu [PDF; accessed December 28, 2016]).

Web links

Commons : Susan Macdowell Eakins  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reason, p. 89
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Delia Gaze: Dictionary of Women Artists . Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, London 1997, ISBN 1-884964-21-4 , pp. 485 .
  3. ↑ a b c University of Rochester. Memorial Art Gallery (Ed.): Seeing America: Painting and Sculpture from the Collection of the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester. University Rochester Press, Rochester, NY 2006, ISBN 1-58046-244-8 , p. 141 ( books.google.com ).
  4. ^ A b c d e Carol Kort, Liz Sonneborn: A to Z of American Women in the Visual Arts. Infobase Publishing, New York 2002, ISBN 1-4381-0791-9 , p. 58 ( books.google.com ).
  5. ^ A b Thomas Eakins: A Drawing Manual. Philadelphia Museum of Art; 2005, ISBN 0-300-10847-8 , p. 7 ( books.google.com ).
  6. ↑ a b Susan Eakins (1851-1938) . AskART. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
  7. ↑ a b c Delia Gaze: Dictionary of Women Artists . Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, London 1997, ISBN 1-884964-21-4 , pp. 485-486 .
  8. ^ Sidney D. Kirkpatrick: The Revenge of Thomas Eakins: A Life in Somber Tones . In: The New York Times . Retrieved November 29, 2013. 
  9. ↑ a b Delia Gaze: Dictionary of Women Artists . Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, London 1997, ISBN 1-884964-21-4 , pp. 487 .
  10. ^ A b c Carol Kort, Liz Sonneborn: A to Z of American Women in the Visual Arts. Infobase Publishing, New York 2002, ISBN 1-4381-0791-9 , p. 59 ( books.google.com ).
  11. ↑ Susan Macdowell Eakins. Woodland Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  12. ^ Carol Kort, Liz Sonneborn: A to Z of American Women in the Visual Arts. Infobase Publishing, New York 2002, ISBN 1-4381-0791-9 , p. 60 ( books.google.com ).
  13. ↑ North Cross School: Thomas Eakins, Susan Macdowell Eakins, Elizabeth Macdowell Kenton: an exhibition of paintings, photographs, and artifacts, Slack Hall, North Cross School, Roanoke, Virginia, September 18– October 2, 1977. Published for the North Cross School Living Gallery Exhibitions Program by Progress Press; 1977.
  14. ^ Search: Susan Macdowell Eakins. SIRIS database, Smithsonian Institution . Retrieved April 30, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Eakins, Susan Macdowell
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Eakins, Susan Hannah Macdowell (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American painter, photographer and new woman
DATE OF BIRTH September 21, 1851
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia
DATE OF DEATH December 27, 1938
Place of death Philadelphia