In the early 1880s, Thomas Eakins began photographing friends, family,
and students at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts where he taught and
was appointed director in 1882. Because the use of photographs as a teaching
tool was common in Europe in the late nineteenth century, Eakins probably
became interested in photography while studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts
in Paris in the late 1860s.
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Shortly after his dismissal as director of the Academy in 1886, Eakins
was taken to visit Walt Whitman for the first time at his home in Camden,
New Jersey, by their mutual friend and Philadelphia journalist, Talcott
Williams. Whitman generally refused to pose for photographers, but because
of his respect for Eakins's artistic skill and educational beliefs, he made
an exception. |
Eakins photographed the aging poet to supplement the oil sketches and life
sittings for an oil portrait, which Eakins gave to Whitman on its completion.
It was exhibited at the Academy in 1891 and was later bought by that institution
from Whitman descendants, who had taken it to Canada. |
