Eakins and Icons

• Autores: Michael Leja
• Localización: Art bulletin, ISSN 0004-3079, Vol. 83, Nº 3, 2001, págs. 479-497
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Thomas Eakins undertook rigorous, systematic study of anatomy, linear perspective, motion, and reflection in the belief that the knowledge gained would enable him to paint intensely truthful likenesses. His paintings, however, are animated by irrepressible conflicts that stemmed from his attempts to bring seeing and knowing into harmonious union. Eakins’s efforts often led him away from mimesis and toward adventurous experimentation with diagrammatic and noniconic signs. This aspect of his work points to parallels with the philosophical writings of his contemporary Charles Sanders Peirce. The comparison clarifies features of both oeuvres and the cultural history they share.