Photographers - Part 79

 Thomas Eakins

Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) was an American artist.  Above, his famous painting The Swimming Hole, 1884-1885, depicts Eakins (at lower right) and his students, left to right: Talcott Williams, Benjamin Fox, J. Laurie Wallace, Jesse Godley, and George Reynolds.

But Eakins was also a prolific photographer.  He took photos to assist in his artwork (above, a photo study for The Swimming Hole), but also for their own sake.

In 1884, Eakins worked briefly with Eadweard Muybridge, the pioneering motion-study photographer.  Eakins developed his own photographic methods, slightly different from Muybridge.  Above, Naked Series, 1883, depicting Eakins' student J. Laurie Wallace.

Eakins produced so many male nude photos that I am going to concentrate today on photos of one man, J. Laurie Wallace (1863-1953), who was a student under Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.  Eventually Wallace became an artist in his own right.

Above, Thomas Eakins and John Laurie Wallace at the Shore, c. 1883.  Eakins is at left.

A portion of a companion photo, Thomas Eakins and John Laurie Wallace at the Shore, c. 1883, showing Eakins (right) and Wallace from the rear.

Standing Male Nude with Pipes, 1883.  The piper is J. Laurie Wallace.

Nude Playing Pipes, 1883, gives us a rear view of Wallace.

Figure study using men posed as boxers standing in a field, c. 1883, shows Eakins' students Talcott Williams, Thomas Anshutz, and J. Laurie Wallace.

This photo, c. 1883, shows what I think are the same three students on a platform in a field.  J. Laurie Wallace is at right.

We end with this photo, c. 1883, showing the naked Talcott Williams and J. Laurie Wallace on the platform.