| Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) created elaborate perspective drawings in preparation for finished paintings and sculptures throughout his professional career. This dissertation comprehensively surveys Eakins' perspectival techniques, and considers the principle influences on his spatial compositions: calligraphy, Benjamin Eakins, Central High School, mechanical drawing, Philadelphia, Jean-Leon Gerome, descriptive geometry, photography, and John Gadsby Chapman's American Drawing Book.; While Eakins' drawings have been analyzed by previous scholars, his use of perspective has never been comprehensively interpreted, nor have influences on the artist's methods been identified and evaluated. In accomplishing these goals, this thesis includes detailed analysis of The Pair-Oared Shell (1872), The Championship Single Sculls (1871), The Chess Players (1876), and two relief sculptures: Spinning and Knitting (1883-4). Scholarship by Erwin Panofsky, Martin Kemp, Jonathan Crary, Kathleen A. Foster and Michael Fried is also used to interpret the significance of perspective in the life and art of Thomas Eakins. |
