Michael C Ellis ART 260 M.

Herzog Portraits of Thomas Eakins

The Gross Clinic (1875) was one of Thomas Eakins's masterpieces, and one of the most influential paintings regarding the budding field of medicine as the United States emerged from the Civil War. Based on Eakins's earlier work, this painting can be considered as much a portrait of Eakins himself as of Dr. Gross. Though initially deemed offensive and repulsive, The Gross Clinic was very much ahead of its time, to the extent of challenging representation of the body and simultaneously challenging the practice of amputation, a hint at the future of understanding in both the arts and medicine. Without a doubt, through The Gross Clinic and his subsequent works, Eakins pushed the limits of art out of Victorian conservatism into what American realist art was destined to become.

During the Civil War, Eakins, born 1844, was approaching his 20's. While isolated from the front lines in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts from 1862-1865 (Fried, 3), many of the effects of the war would permeate the subjects of his paintings years later. The bloodshed of the war, much like the blood on Dr. Gross's hands, was desensitizing the nation. George Orwell, in Decline of the English Murder, relates the coarsening of violence [in the United States] 'to the brutalizing effects of war' (Qtd. in Bellesiles, 7). The massive casualties of the war were reducing soldiers to mere bodies, something Eakins's one-hundred and eighty uncommissioned portraits challenged (Pohl, 267). Eakins was also accumulating a body count, a significant body of work in painting and photography. Throughout his education, Eakins developed a style of artwork concentrating on his propensity toward accurate representation and appreciation of the human form with an honesty that celebrated life, sometimes theatrically. Eakins often used nudity to capture the truth of his subjects - at an insistence

that was, at some points throughout his career, considered borderline predatory. Since Eakins's subjects were human, this inevitably led him to the same destination as the classical artists before him, to friends, prostitutes, relatives, students, and to the dissection tables. Having studied anatomy in high school, Eakins concurrently studied anatomy at the Pennsylvania Academy during his education in the arts. During his education at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Eakins studied with Jean-Lon Germe, and worked briefly with the portrait artist Lon Bonnat, and sculptor Augustin-Alexandre Dumont (Fried, 3). It was in Paris, Fried contends, that Eakins could have easily been inspired by Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolas Tulp (1632), Feyen-Perrin's more recent work The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Velpeau (1864) on exhibit at the Paris salon in 1864, possibly even the gaping wound in Caravaggio's Doubting Thomas (1602), and in general much of Courbet's work such as The Painter's Studio (1845), also realist (Fried 8,44). These works all share qualities evident in Gross Clinic, both stylistically and situationally. Returning to the United States, Eakins could have used his experience overseas as fodder against the shortcomings of his peers. Eakins is noted having called Whistler a coward (Kirkpatrick, 320), and in this sense, the pose of the cringing woman in black in Gross Clinic could even be considered an affront to the tame, emotionless nature of Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, aka Whistler's Mother(1871), by presenting a woman of unnaturally similar garb sitting in a nearly identical chair in a dynamic pose fraught with disgust. After his return from Paris studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and Ecole de Mdicine, he studied surgery at Jefferson Memorial College, where he met Dr. Gross, a professor of medical surgery who would later inspire, promote, and purchase his painting for the Centennial Exhibition of Philadelphia in 1876 (Fried, 8), The Gross Clinic. Eakins himself went on to teach anatomy and dissection as well, being fully qualified to teach surgery (Pohl, 268).

The war had the effect of bringing to light the inefficiency of medical practices of the time. A medical field that could better handle infections and injury was sorely needed, and much of this was

developing through medical education of techniques both here and abroad toward the end of the 19th century. The Gross Clinic, in this sense, captured both the peak of realism and the peak of medicine as it existed in 1875. Dr. Gross considered himself a conservative surgeon, and disregarded the common treatment of osteomyelitis -the bone infection being treated in the painting- by amputation in his time, instead choosing to remove infections by surgery (Pohl, 269). As art historian Elizabeth Johns notes, he was considered an untiring worker, and a brilliant researcher and writer by his community (Qtd in Pohl 268). I have performed many operations, Dr. Gross wrote,

and flatter myself that I possess at least some of the qualities of a good operator- a steady hand, and unflinching eye, perfect self-control, and a thorough knowledge of relative anatomy. I have rarely failed to accomplish what I had set out to do. The sight of blood, as I have said, was very disagreeable to me in early life; but it never appalled me in any of my great operations, and I do not believe that I ever trembled three times in my life when I had a knife in my hand. (Qtd. in Fried, 2)

In this painting, Dr. Gross performs the removal of a piece of infected bone for his class at Jefferson Medical College. Dr. Gross is quoted, The operation is proceeded with, slowly, deliberately, and in the most orderly, quiet, and dignified manner. (Qtd. in Pohl, 269). Classes that originated from the French system of medical education such as this were contrary to the traditional system of medical education, where students would follow a surgeon as an apprentice (Pohl, 269). Eakins himself is pictured to the right, observing this class as he would have during his education. As Jennifer Doyle, author of Sex Objects: Art and the Dialectics of Desire, implies, Just as Gross helped convert surgery from a disreputable practice associated with the sawing off of diseased limbs into an enlightened noble, healing profession, so Eakins brought a faith in empirical observation and an aura of professionalism to the practice of painting. (17).

The practice of self-inclusion is evident throughout Eakins's career. In one of his earliest controversial paintings, Max Schmitt in a Single Scull (1871), Eakins places himself in a scull behind Schmitt. Eakins was an avid rower and studies for his rowing paintings have been found underneath a study for The Gross Clinic, Sketch for The Gross Clinic (1875). However, Michael Fried noted while studying x-rays of this sketch, ...a suggestive resemblance between the [inverted] poses of the two rowers in the X-ray and those of three of the four assisting surgeons in the oil sketch (Fried, 57,59). This brings into question the reality imposed by Gross Clinic, as Doyle also notes, suggesting that it is more of a contrived composition that previously thought. The Swimming Hole (1884), a portrait of multiple nude male students of Eakins in neoclassical poses, executed from photographs (also heavily composited), and his photograph Thomas Eakins nude , holding a nude female in his arms, looking down (1885) later continue this tradition of using himself as a model as well, with the exception that he was painted into The Swimming Hole by his wife, Susan Macdowell Eakins (Fried, 13). The thigh of the model in Eakins nude and her positioning, along with her pose as a reference to The Agnew Clinic (1889) -a mere afterthought to Gross Clinic, brings to light a potentially new interpretation of the patient in Gross Clinic, and returns our attention to Eakins's philosophy of representation of the human body.

It is assumed by scholars that the patient in Gross Clinic was a young man. Frances Pohl maintains that assumption in Framing America (Pohl, 267), as does Fried, noting the academic assumption and attributing the scalpel, and the lack of visible genitalia to a fear of castration (Fried, 41). However, gender cannot reasonably be determined by the position of the figure nor the features. As Doyle indicates, ...despite its aggressive presentation, the patient's body remains not only anonymous, but androgynous as well. (Doyle, 19). She highlights the suggestions of gender that Eakins includes, The patient's body is cut open and bleeds from a vagina-like gash on the thigh.

(Doyle, 17), Naked and exposed, the patient's body is extremely vulnerable, but, because it is presented to us from behind, the body is also not entirely available to the spectator's inquiring gaze. (Doyle, 19). This adds a new dynamic to Gross Clinic, suggestive of Eakins's potentially bisexual tendencies. Eakins mentioned in a letter home to his father, 1868:

When a man paints a naked woman, he gives her less than poor Nature did. I can conceive of few circumstances wherein I would paint a woman naked, but if I did I would not mutilate her for double the money. She is the most beautiful thing there is in the world except a naked man, but I never yet saw a study of one exhibited. It would be a godsend to see a fine man painted in the studio with bare walls, alongside of the smiling smirking goddesses of many complexions, amidst the delicious arsenic green trees and gentle wax flowers and purling streams a-running up and down hills, especially up. I hate affectation. (Qtd. in Doyle, 27)

It would be possible, then, to infer that Eakins was working towards a composition contrasting the vulnerable qualities of the feminine to the domineering, invasive, daresay potentially destructive masculinity in the amphitheater; this could be a criticism of his era that harkens back again (or chronologically forward) to the male-female contrast of Eakins nude, by including not only a horrified female observer, but an unconscious female patient as well.

The disgust generated by the gleaming metal retractors, steel scalpel, and fingers covered with blood in Gross Clinic, along with the cringing woman, reflected Eakins's reception by the American art community (Fried, 56). Max Schmitt, painted earlier, was rejected by the Union League of Philadelphia because it illustrated men at sport, something considered unfit for painting. Other reviews were varied:

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that, although his rowing painting showed 'marked ability,' the whole effect was 'scarcely satisfactory.' The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin reviewer, who ignored the Messchert portrait altogether, was not so snobbish. The critic avowed that the painting, though 'peculiar,' showed 'more than ordinary interest' and predicted a 'conspicuous future' for the artist. (Kirkpatrick, 148)

Gross Clinic, his next significant work was criticized even more harshly. It was rejected by the judges from the Centennial Exhibition because, as one reviewer stated, This violent and bloody scene shows that at the time it was painted, if not now, the artist had no conception of where to stop, or what the limits are between the beauty of the nude and the indecency of the naked. Power has it, but very little art.(Qtd. in Doyle, 37). The painting was delegated to a replica US Army hospital in the medical section of the exhibition, much to the dismay of Eakins. Dr. Gross later purchased the painting and placed it in the Jefferson Memorial College (Fried, 6). Eakins borrowed it in March of 1879 for entry in the Society of American Artists' second annual exhibition in New York, where it was accepted but treated with disgust (Fried, 6). It was further rejected from the collection sent back to Philadelphia for the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and returned to JMC (Fried, 6). The Agnew Clinic brought even more scathing remarks. It was refused from a Pennsylvania Academy's exhibition because it violated museum standards of decorum (Qtd in Pohl, 270).

A man out of his time, Eakins faced criticisms throughout his entire career beyond accusations of creating lowbrow artwork including claims of incest, taking advantage of students, and abusive relationships; he was even blamed for the suicide of his niece Ella, who shot herself during a bout of depression dreading a return to unwanted living arrangements (Kirkpatrick, 423). Complaints regarding Eakins's academic decorum at the Pennsylvania Academy varied widely throughout his career. Doyle notes that many of the scandals Eakins was involved with concentrated on his relationships with

women, undermining the idea that homoeroticism and masculinity fueled his behaviors (21). In an incident in which he removed a loincloth from a male model in front of a class of female students, he was asked to and ultimately did resign from his position as director the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, despite support from his students and some media outlets (Kirkpatrick, 313).

Eakins's appreciation of what was set before him in life paved the way for American realism. Eakins, along with Cassatt, Singer, Sargent, Whistler, Homer, Hassam, Weir, Anshutz, and Chase are all considered inspirations for the Ashcan school. The informal, genre-like paintings of Eakins follow from the earlier tradition of working-men portraiture, such as John Neagle's Pat Lyon at the Forge (1826). This concept led to those of Schmitt, Dr. Gross, Dr. Agnew, and Rush, where Eakins's further demonstrates his skill as an artist. Eakins's work with masculinity and sport resulted in his attendance of over 300 boxing matches (Kirkpatrick, 437). Eventually he wanted to include these subjects in his situational portraits, such as Between Rounds (1898), and that same subject would later earn Bellows his reputation as manly (Qtd.in Pohl, 331).

Eakins's appreciation continues to find its way into contemporary artwork. In a 1960's comicstrip, Peanuts, by Charles Schultz, while the characters are lying identifying shapes in clouds, Linus identifies one as the profile of Thomas Eakins (Cooper). Representations of Dr. Gross, however, did not end with the return of Eakins's portrait to Jefferson Memorial College. More recently, Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell created a graphic novel, From Hell, in 1999, that was later re-made into the highbudget Hollywood film by the same name, From Hell (2001), directed by the Hughes brothers. Following Orwell's taste, the novel borrows the most original English murder story, Jack the Ripper, and adapts it into a conspiracy of silence. In the novel and film, Gall, a surgeon contending the failure of Gross's steady hand, ... unflinching eye, and self control from a stroke, ends up committing gruesome murders for the royal family of England in a psychotic attempt to regain his reputation. The

character in the film, bears the same wiry hair pattern as Gross, is presented in an amphitheater setting, with a set of surgeon's knives greatly resembling Gross's toward the front of the painting, bloody hands (see Figure 17), and even female victims. Gall's assigned name towards the end of the film also references Eakins, Thomas Mason.

Thomas Eakins offered the American imagination something that could not be obtained without some offense. Much like Dr. Gross creating wounds to heal his patient, Eakins strove to ruffle the feathers of the Victorian mindset to present to them the frank beauty that lay before them. With his lifelike, dramatic portraiture borrowing from genre paintings and the suggestions of Mr. Lyon to John Neagle, Eakins set the foundation for both American realism and what would become the Ashcan School. Setting a new standard in representation, Eakins became a master out of his time, and beyond the criticism is lauded for his tireless efforts of observation. Eakins also set the foundation for film through his motion photography methods. He is truly an American artist worthy of his recognition.

Works Cited Bellesiles, Michael. The Lethal Imagination. New York: New York University Press, 1999. Cooper, Charles F. A Most Merry and Illustrated History of The Life and Times of Thomas Eakins. Cooper Toons, 2007. http://www.coopertoons.com/merryhistory/thomaseakins/eakins.html Doyle, Jennifer. Sex Objects: Art and the Dialectics of Desire. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006 Fried, Michael. Realism, Writing, and Disfiguration. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987. Hughes, Albert and Allen. From Hell.20th Century Fox, 2001. Kirkpatrick, Sidney D. The Revenge of Thomas Eakins. Binghamton: Vail-Ballou Press, 2006 Moore, Alan and Eddie Campbell. From Hell. Top Shelf Productions, 1999. Orwell, George. Decline of the English Murder. Tribune, 1946. Pohl, Frances K. Framing America: A Social History of American Art 2nd ed. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2008.

Figure 1. Thomas Eakins, The Gross Clinic, oil painting, 1875. Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia.

Figure 2. Detail of Thomas Eakins.

Figure 3. Detail of Woman in Black.

Figure 4. Detail of Patient.

Figure 5. Ward in Model U.S. Army Post Hospital, Medical Department, Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, photograph, 1876. Library of Congress.

Figure 6. Thomas Eakins, Max Schmitt in a Single Scull, oil painting, 1871.The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Figure 7. Detail of Thomas Eakins.

Figure 8. Thomas Eakins, The Swimming Hole, oil painting, 188385. The Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth.

Figure 9. Thomas Eakins, The Agnew Clinic, oil painting, 1889. University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Figure 10. Thomas Eakins, Thomas Eakins nude, holding nude female in his arms, looking down, photograph, c. 1885. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia.

Figure 11. William Rush Carving His Allegorical FIgure of the Schuylkill River, oil painting, 1876-77. Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Figure 12. Gustave Courbet, The Painter's Studio, oil painting, 1845-55. Muse du Lourve, Paris.

Figure 13. Rembrandt Van Rijn, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolas Tulp, oil painting, 1632. Mauritshuis, The Hague.

Figure 14. F.-N.-A. Feyen-Perrin, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Velpeau, charcoal drawing, 1864. Muse des Beaux-Arts, Tours.

Figure 15. Caravaggio, Doubting Thomas, oil painting, ca. 1602-3. Straatliche Schlsser und Grten, Posdam-Sanssouci.

Figure 16. James Whistler, Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (Whistler's Mother), oil painting, 1871, Muse d'Orsay, Paris.

Figure 17. The Hughes brothers, From Hell, film, 2001, 20th Century Fox, Los Angeles.