THE LIFE AND CAREER OF AMERICAN ARTIST THOMAS EAKINS
IS EXPLORED IN "SCENES FROM MODERN LIFE,"
WHYY/PHILADELPHIA'S SPECIAL FOR PUBLIC TELEVISION STATIONS

During his lifetime, Thomas Eakins, the eminent American artist and photographer of the 19th century (1844 - 1916), traveled from his native Philadelphia to Europe to the Badlands of North Dakota in his exploration of life. A century later, a new one-hour special retraces Eakins' steps around the globe. THOMAS EAKINS: SCENES FROM MODERN LIFE, produced by WHYY/Philadelphia, will be broadcast nationally on most PBS stations on Sunday, June 16, at 10 PM.*

In most areas, the documentary will be broadcast in both regular format and in High Definition - a format that can bring to life the individual brushstrokes of this American master. Blythe Danner, the Tony Award-winning stage and screen actress, is the narrator; original music was composed by Philadelphia native Tina Davidson.

WHYY producer Glenn Holsten took his cameras to Paris, France, Seville, Spain, North Dakota and throughout Philadelphia to explore and film the areas and locations where Eakins found inspiration for his work. Fascinated by the rapidly changing world, especially in his hometown - a center of industry, science and culture - Eakins captured the morphing times in which he lived.

"This is a cultural biography, putting Eakins' life in context with where he lived and worked. What we're doing is sifting his life through his work," Holsten said.

The film captures the frank honesty of Eakins' work that many at the time considered nothing more than rebellious and ugly. In recent years, scholars have uncovered a collection of Eakins' paintings and photos, which enabled a richer study of the man and his art, and led to the creation of this film for the world today.

Throughout THOMAS EAKINS: SCENES FROM MODERN LIFE, stills of his works as well as live reenactments of his paintings and photographs are punctuated by footage of the scenery he captured. Interviews with curators and conservators from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, as well as scholars from many universities provide tremendous insight into the work and character of this American original.

Dr. Elizabeth Johns, former chair of the Art History Department at the University of Pennsylvania, accompanied Holsten on his journey to North Dakota to give further insight into the artist whose writings, photographs and artistic style all paint a self-portrait of a man obsessed with perfection to the point of alienation.

"For the public I believe that my life is all in my work," Eakins wrote. And with this idea Holsten is able to show the man as well as what he produced.

The program presents the sketches Eakins did while he was a student at Central High School in Philadelphia, the works he produced at each period of his career all the way to the last work left on his easel in the studio in which he died.

"We see the back-story of Eakins' life through his sketches and work. We see his methodology and we get a picture of a full human being," Holsten explained.

THOMAS EAKINS: SCENES FROM MODERN LIFE coincides with the first major retrospective to be devoted to the artist in 20 years - THOMAS EAKINS: AMERICAN REALIST. Organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, it surveys for the first time the artist's full range of achievements in painting, photography, sculpture and drawing. The exhibition debuted in Philadelphia (October 4, 2001 - January 6, 2002), is at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, France through May and will travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

(The exhibition at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art opens on June 18, 2002 - two days after the national public television broadcast of THOMAS EAKINS: SCENES FROM MODERN LIFE - and continues through September 15, 2002.)

Many consider Eakins to be the greatest American realist painter of all time. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Eakins attended Central High School as an engineering student, later traveling to Paris, France, to study under Jean Leon Jerome. In Paris, Eakins not only learned the finer points of painting, but also learned about the differences in attitudes toward art and artists there and in the United States. In Paris the arts were celebrated, as was the human form. All of the life study was done of models in the nude - the same practice that would find many critics when Eakins returned to Victorian-era Philadelphia.

Eakins settled in Spain for a while where he ventured out of the studio to paint landscapes in natural light, learning the techniques that would contribute to the master works he would later create in North Dakota.

In his time, Eakins' career was marked by controversy. When he left Spain to return home he taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, turning it into the finest training ground for artists in the entire country. He implemented the practice of using nude models for both painting and photography. The Academy directors supported the idea, as long as the male models wore loincloths. Eakins would drop the cloths and eventually the Academy dropped him.

Controversy and scandal developed as a direct result of his teaching methods at PAFA. He had no problem with exposing himself to his classes, having them also model without clothes and directing them to dissect animals and cadavers to understand anatomy.

"Can you imagine, even today, if a young woman were to come home from school with naked pictures of herself, other classmates and even her professor?," Holsten suggested to give a sense of how Eakins' teaching methods were being perceived.

The public's perception of Eakins finally came to a head when his niece committed suicide. Eakins had been her art instructor, and again nudity had been involved. He was charged with corrupting her, and many of his supporters, including prominent Philadelphia physicians suggested that he go away for a while.

Eakins headed for North Dakota to not only paint, but to get back to nature with hard physical work, fresh air and a sort of asceticism, as was the prescription of the day for too much city life.

"In North Dakota, he painted fabulous portraits, peeking into the souls of others, and therefore his own," Holsten said.

With the broadcast of THOMAS EAKINS: SCENES FROM MODERN LIFE, television viewers will get a much deeper look at, and understanding of, Thomas Eakins.

THOMAS EAKINS: SCENES FROM MODERN LIFE was produced by WHYY/TVin Philadelphia along with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the University of Pennsylvania.

THOMAS EAKINS: SCENES FROM MODERN LIFE is made possible by The Pew Charitable Trusts, which support nonprofit activities in the areas of culture, education, the environment, health and human services, public policy and religion. Funding for this program also comes from The Barra Foundation, Inc. Additional support was provided by The Dietrich Foundation.

Press Contacts: April, 2002
Les Schecter
L.S. Public Relations, Inc.
212-586-2600
prschecter@netscape.net

For WHYY:
Art Ellis
215-351-1262
aellis@whyy.org

Nessa Forman
215-351-1265
nforman@whyy.org

*Please check local listings for broadcast date and time in your area.