American, 1851 - 1912
Anshutz's interest in art developed in his youth, which was spent in Moundsville, Kentucky, and Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia). The family moved to Philadelphia in 1871, just at a period when the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts school was closed, thus Anshutz took up residence with his uncle in Brooklyn the following year in order to attend the Academy school. Apparently he had scouted out the school: In an 1871 letter to his parents, Anshutz called the Academy "a rotten old institution," describing the antique class as a place where "by and by you are given a full length figure and after much hard labor and many defeats you are (if your ability ever enables you attain so much) promoted to the life school. . ." Despite his less-than-admiring evaluation, he registered for the Antique class on October 6, 1873, and again on November 2, 1874; on March 8, 1975, he was advanced to the Life class.
By 1875, Anshutz was attending the Philadelphia Sketch Club's life class, taught by Thomas Eakins. When the Pennsylvania Academy reopened in 1876, he enrolled in Eakin's life class, while studying drawing and painting with Christian Schussele. Anshutz first exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1879. The following year was he was represented for the first time in the NAD Annual.
In 1878 and 1879, Anshutz was Eakins's assistant demonstrator in the dissecting room, commencing his long and influential career as a teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy. In 1881, he became Chief Demonstrator in life class dissections under Dr. W. W. Keen, Professor of Artistic Anatomy, and Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing to Eakins. During the early 1880s, he also worked with Eakins and Eadweard Muybridge on photographic motion experiments at the University of Pennsylvania. However, Anshutz supported Eakins' dismissal from the Academy faculty, and in 1886, succeeded him as Instructor in Anatomy, Drawings and Paintings, and remained a prominant figure in the Academy School until his retirement in 1911.
Following his marriage to Effie Shriver Russell in September, 1892, Anshutz combined the wedding trip with a year of study abroad. Based in Paris, he entered the Academie Julian, working under William Adolphe Bouguereau and Lucien Doucet.
In 1898, with Hugh Breckenridge, he founded the Darby School of Painting, a summer art school, in Darby, Pennsylvania. Anshutz succeeded William Merritt Chase as the head of the faculty of the Pennsylvania Academy in 1909. In 1910, he was elected president of Philadelphia Sketch Club, a position he held until his death, although much of these years he and his family spent in travel in the West Indies and Europe in an attempt to improve the artist's failing health.
Although Hilton Kramer has aptly said of Anshutz that he "was at once a socialist and a stuffed shirt, more 'advanced' in his ideas than in his ability to recognize (or willingness) to realize them in his art," he was known as a broad-minded teacher. His tolerance of new techniques and ideas is evident in the range of styles practiced by some of his most prominent pupils, a group which includes Robert Henri, John Sloan, William Glackens, John Marin, Charles Demuth, Arthur B. Carles, Edward Redfield, and Alexander Stirling Calder.
MAL
By 1875, Anshutz was attending the Philadelphia Sketch Club's life class, taught by Thomas Eakins. When the Pennsylvania Academy reopened in 1876, he enrolled in Eakin's life class, while studying drawing and painting with Christian Schussele. Anshutz first exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1879. The following year was he was represented for the first time in the NAD Annual.
In 1878 and 1879, Anshutz was Eakins's assistant demonstrator in the dissecting room, commencing his long and influential career as a teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy. In 1881, he became Chief Demonstrator in life class dissections under Dr. W. W. Keen, Professor of Artistic Anatomy, and Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing to Eakins. During the early 1880s, he also worked with Eakins and Eadweard Muybridge on photographic motion experiments at the University of Pennsylvania. However, Anshutz supported Eakins' dismissal from the Academy faculty, and in 1886, succeeded him as Instructor in Anatomy, Drawings and Paintings, and remained a prominant figure in the Academy School until his retirement in 1911.
Following his marriage to Effie Shriver Russell in September, 1892, Anshutz combined the wedding trip with a year of study abroad. Based in Paris, he entered the Academie Julian, working under William Adolphe Bouguereau and Lucien Doucet.
In 1898, with Hugh Breckenridge, he founded the Darby School of Painting, a summer art school, in Darby, Pennsylvania. Anshutz succeeded William Merritt Chase as the head of the faculty of the Pennsylvania Academy in 1909. In 1910, he was elected president of Philadelphia Sketch Club, a position he held until his death, although much of these years he and his family spent in travel in the West Indies and Europe in an attempt to improve the artist's failing health.
Although Hilton Kramer has aptly said of Anshutz that he "was at once a socialist and a stuffed shirt, more 'advanced' in his ideas than in his ability to recognize (or willingness) to realize them in his art," he was known as a broad-minded teacher. His tolerance of new techniques and ideas is evident in the range of styles practiced by some of his most prominent pupils, a group which includes Robert Henri, John Sloan, William Glackens, John Marin, Charles Demuth, Arthur B. Carles, Edward Redfield, and Alexander Stirling Calder.
MAL
