TitleEdward W. Redfield
Artist
Thomas Eakins
(American, 1844 - 1916)
Date1905
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 30 x 26 in.
Framed: 34 5/8 x 30 1/2 x 2 1/2 in.
SubmissionANA diploma presentation, October 16, 1905
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number400-P
Label TextWhile best known for his activity as art teacher in Philadelphia, Eakins began commuting to New York in the early 1880 for appointments as lecturer on anatomy at several of the city's art schools. From 1881 through the school year 1884-85 he taught at the Students' Art Guild of the Brooklyn Art Association; in November 1885 he became the regular lecturer in anatomy at the Art Students League of New York, a position he retained through the 1888-89 season; the 1888-89 year also was his first as the National Academy's lecturer in anatomy; and 1891-92 was the first seven seasons during which he was the lecturer in anatomy for the Woman's Art School of Cooper Union.Eakins gave his annual series of ten lectures at the National Academy beginning in 1888, and he remained the Academy's lecturer in anatomy through 1894-95. During the 1893-94 season he united the previously separate male and female classes, with some repercussions from students and the press. During the 1894-95 school year, Edwin H. Blashfield, chairman of the Council's school committee and a former fellow-student, had an informal and apparently amicable discussion with Eakins concerning some reservations the Academy had about his teaching methods. At the artist managed Academy, however, reaction was not so aggressive as it had been in Philadelphia; Eakin's contract was not renewed the next year, whether by mutual agreement or one-sided decision is not recorded.
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