THOMAS P. ANSHUTZ: A REAPPRAISAL OF EAKINS' PUPIL AS AN ARTIST AND TEACHER
THOMAS P. ANSHUTZ: A REAPPRAISAL OF EAKINS' PUPIL AS AN ARTIST AND TEACHER
Loading...
Files
Publication or External Link
Date
1973
Authors
Maynard, Catherine Simpson
Advisor
Jordan, Jim M.
Citation
DRUM DOI
Abstract
Though seldom mentioned in surveys of American art,
Thomas Anshutz, through his connection with the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts--for over thirty-six years--first as
student, then as teacher and director; came in contact with
many painters who became leaders in art in this country. Further
investigation of Anshutz and his relationship to Eakins,
to the Eight and other contemporaries, seems necessary. Obviously
Anshutz has been severely underestimated as an artist
and teacher.
The predominating influence in Anshutz's career was
Thomas Eakins. The Eakins years from 1876 to 1891, include
time spent with Eakins while a student as well as Anshutz's
early teaching years. This time span was the most productive
in terms of his painting output and produced the well known
Steel Workers, Noontime. After his first trip to Europe in
1892, Anshutz evolved away from Eakins stylistically to a
brighter more painterly oeuvre. However, Anshutz continued
the tradition of Eakins and his significance as a teacher
seems to lie in what he was able to convey to his students
of Eakins' methods rather than any original contribution on
his own part.
As an artist his works are uneven in quality. Other
than some promising landscapes of the 1890s he never again
achieved the pinnacle of Steel Workers, Noontime. He remains
an obscure artist known solely for his one masterpiece and
for his influence on his famous pupils, who revered him.