Iconic polaroids taken by Andy Warhol

Thomas Eakins (b. 25 July 1844) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. Pioneering a deeply rigorous, unsentimental approach to capturing contemporary life, he is now recognized by art historians as one of America’s most important and profound artists. Living and working almost entirely in Philadelphia, Eakins brought portraiture out of the traditional drawing room, capturing his subjects within the active environments of modern life. The Gross Clinic (1875) is widely considered his masterpiece. This monumental painting depicts the prominent surgeon Dr. Samuel Gross conducting a surgical operation before a gallery of medical students. It initially shocked audiences and was rejected from the 1876 Centennial Exhibition due to its unflinching, bloody realism. The Agnew Clinic (1889), painted fourteen years later, depicts another surgical operation, charting medical progress via its representation of artificial lighting, sterilized white gowns, and professional nursing. Other notable works relying on precise mathematical perspective and measurements to render the anatomy of human exertion include Max Schmitt in a Single Scull (1871), The Biglin Brothers Racing (1872), Salutat (1898), and Wrestlers (1899). Becoming the director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in 1882, he implemented a revolutionary curriculum centered around exhaustive anatomical dissection and drawing from live, nude models. However, his uncompromising beliefs frequently collided with Victorian societal norms. In 1886, he sparked a massive public scandal by abruptly stripping the loincloth from a male model during an anatomy lecture attended by both male and female students. The resulting backlash forced his resignation from the Academy. Despite being ostracized by polite society, many of his students deeply respected his devotion to artistic truth and continued to seek his guidance. Later in his career, Eakins transitioned toward bust portraits of friends, family, and intellectuals, including his famous depiction of poet Walt Whitman (1887). Rather than flattering his subjects, he captured their true characters, etching the wear and tear of their lives directly onto their faces. Whether Eakins was gay remains a subject of ongoing historical debate. Analyzed through a gay lens, evidence supporting his homosexuality includes the homoerotic subtext of many of his works, most famously The Swimming Hole (1885) which prominently featured muscular, nude men. Eakins and his male students also frequently took photographs of each other posing nude, which was highly controversial at the time and contributed to his firing from PAFA. Eakins never publicly identified as gay. He was married to Susan MacDowell, a former student of his, for 32 years. They married when he was 39, she was 32, had no children, and their partnership appeared to have been less about romance than mutual respect and artistic collaboration. On the other hand, one of his most enduring and emotionally significant relationships was with Samuel Murray, 25 years his junior and also a former student who became his closest friend, studio assistant, and confidant. Murray often accompanied Eakins on his numerous trips to New Jersey to visit Walt Whitman – widely believed to have been gay – with whom Eakins had a notably close, admiring friendship. Remaining fiercely loyal to Eakins through his years of institutional criticism, Sam was present at his bedside when Eakins died of heart failure on June 25, 1916, at age 71 in Philadelphia. 🏳️‍🌈

Jodie Comer praises director Michael Sarnoski’s work on ‘THE DEATH OF ROBIN HOOD’. “He sent me the script, it was so cinematic but also so emotional and character driven. With a director who prioritizes both of those things in equal measure, it’s so exciting.”