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Max Schmitt in a boat alone
Thomas Eakins • Painting, 1871, 81.9×117.5 cm
Description of the artwork «Max Schmitt in a boat alone»
In July 1870, Thomas Eakins returns to his native Philadelphia after four years of study at the Beaux arts in Paris. Since that time the artist begins to write often athletes, particularly rowers (1, 2, 3). Eakins's interest in the sport was not accidental – love to exercise in the fresh air (and drawing) instilled in him the father, providing Thomas a very rich childhood. Picture "Max Schmitt in a boat alone" depicts the moment of the regatta held on the Schuylkill river in October 1870, for which Eakins watched with double interest. First, every such competition was a landmark event for the people of Philadelphia, and secondly, in the regatta was attended by his close friend.
Thomas and Max had been friends since school, and have combined their love of the sport. In that time, while Eakins studied in Paris, Schmitt continued to Polish his skills and participated in regattas, winning victory after victory. He had his own single boat, which he gave the name "Josie" in honor of the sisters (in the picture Eakins the name of the boat can be seen under the right arm of the athlete). In his work, the artist captures another with almost photographic accuracy (preserved the Schmittthis confirms), it is not at the time of the race, and during rest after the victory. In addition, Eakins made the painting, and himself: we see him in the boat in the background (the inscription on the Board reads "Eakins 1871"). Later, the artist will repeatedly enter in their work such hidden self portraits.
The painting "Max Schmitt in a boat alone" became the first of nearly thirty works (drawings, watercolors and paintings) dedicated to rowing, which Eakins created over the next four years. During the life of an artist, she exhibited only once and only for four days, leaving critics in slight confusion. Thanks Ikins rowing for the first time became a subject of serious paintings. One critic even called picture challenge traditions. In the end, the artist gave the painting to Schmitt, and in 1934, when Eakins posthumously became a popular artist, the work was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of art.
Author: Eugene Sidelnikov
Thomas and Max had been friends since school, and have combined their love of the sport. In that time, while Eakins studied in Paris, Schmitt continued to Polish his skills and participated in regattas, winning victory after victory. He had his own single boat, which he gave the name "Josie" in honor of the sisters (in the picture Eakins the name of the boat can be seen under the right arm of the athlete). In his work, the artist captures another with almost photographic accuracy (preserved the Schmittthis confirms), it is not at the time of the race, and during rest after the victory. In addition, Eakins made the painting, and himself: we see him in the boat in the background (the inscription on the Board reads "Eakins 1871"). Later, the artist will repeatedly enter in their work such hidden self portraits.
The painting "Max Schmitt in a boat alone" became the first of nearly thirty works (drawings, watercolors and paintings) dedicated to rowing, which Eakins created over the next four years. During the life of an artist, she exhibited only once and only for four days, leaving critics in slight confusion. Thanks Ikins rowing for the first time became a subject of serious paintings. One critic even called picture challenge traditions. In the end, the artist gave the painting to Schmitt, and in 1934, when Eakins posthumously became a popular artist, the work was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of art.
Author: Eugene Sidelnikov
