79

Thomas Eakins

1844-1916

Series of 7 photographs from the Naked Series, with a male nude figure. Circa 1883.

Albumen prints
With the Olympia Galleries' notation "Eakins / Olympia Galleries, Ltd. / Philadelphia, Cat. #O 3310-31" in ink on the original blue mount verso.
The images approx. 3 x 1 1/4 in. (7.6 x 3.2 cm.), the mount 3 x 10 in. (7.6 x 25.4 cm.)

  • Provenance:
    From a New York Collector
  • Notes:
    A scarce photograph from Eakins' Naked Series.

    The groundbreaking show of Thomas Eakins' photographs exhibited at the Olympia Gallery in 1976 brought to light a small body of superb vintage photographic prints created by the great American painter in 1883.

    Nineteenth-century European painters and sculptors artists regularly sourced photographs of nude models as documentary aids. Eakins, however, created his own photographic images to encourage students to develop a deeper understanding of human anatomy. His experimentation with photography was at the height of the Victorian era, when strictures governing public behavior, especially for women, were rigid. Although art classes were gender segregated, his use of both nude female and male students as models was considered unorthodox if not downright radical.

    Understandably, most of the photographic studies Eakins produced depicted young naked men. By 1886, his nude photographs resulted in a public scandal which forced him to resign from the institution. In addition the controversy resulted in a major setback for his career and a lifelong rift with his in-laws, the MacDowells.
  • Condition: For condition reports, email Deborah Rogal at [email protected]

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February 12, 2026 12:00 PM EST
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