Why did Thomas Eakins, now considered the foremost American painter of the nineteenth century, make portraiture his main field in an era when other major artists disdained such a choice? With a rich discussion of the cultural and vocational context of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Elizabeth Johns answers this question.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:
"The publication of Thomas Eakins: The Heroism of Modern Life by Elizabeth Johns is an event of some importance, for I believe that this is one of the best studies ever written about an American painter. . . . [The main] chapters function as studies of individual pictures, but they are woven with such great skill that they reflect on nearly all of Eakins's major works and they deal with many of the important issues about him. "—Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., The New York Times Book Review

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Print publication date January 1984 (in print)

Print ISBN 9780691002880

EISBN 9780300273441

Illustrations 142

Print Status in print

Publisher (in print)

WorldCat

Google Books

Base text size -

Chapter images ()