ARTH 409
Homer, Eakins, Sargent: American Painters in a Changing World Fall 2024
Division I W Writing Skills

What is the function of art in a rapidly changing world? Should it celebrate beauty, reveal truth, or describe the nature of modern life? America’s finest painters of the nineteenth century — Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, and John Singer Sargent — did all those things, but in distinctly different ways. Homer transformed himself from a lively sketch artist for Harper’s Weekly to a painter of scenes of sublime nature and heroic individualism. Eakins practiced a determined scientific realism and taught it to his students at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, until scandal led to his dismissal. And Sargent managed to produce the most exquisite fashionplate portraits of the era even as he imaginatively drew on the most progressive currents of contemporary art. This seminar looks at the work of these artists, their engagement with post-Civil War society, and how each of them dealt with profound mid-career crises. Topics to be explored will include different models of artistic education, the role of European travel and training, the art market, changes in public taste, and the rise and fall of critical reputations. There will be a major research paper, several small assignments, and a field trip.