Bill Duckett Nude, at the Art Students’ League of Philadelphia

Thomas Eakins

ca. 1889 · Platinum print · Photographs

In the 1880s and 1890s, Eakins explored various artistic applications of photography, from motion studies jointly produced with Eadweard Muybridge to an inventory of naturalistic poses referred to as the "naked series." He also used photography as a formidable tool in the classroom. Indeed, he was forced to resign as director of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1886 after outcries arose against his use of nude male models in women’s classes. A group of loyal students rallied to his defense, however, and formed the Art Students’ League of Philadelphia, where Eakins made several photographic studies of Bill Duckett, the young companion of Walt Whitman. This enlarged platinum print displays his masterful fusion of photographic naturalism with a decidedly romantic sensibility.

Artist

Thomas Eakins

Date

ca. 1889

Medium

Platinum print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

David Hunter McAlpin Fund, 1943