Thomas Pollock Anshutz (October 5, 1851 – June 16, 1912) was an American painter and teacher. Known for his portraiture and genre scenes, Anshutz was a co-founder of The Darby School. One of

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...

's most prominent students, he succeeded Eakins as director of drawing and painting classes at the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appa ...

Personal life and education

Thomas Anshutz was born in

Newport, Kentucky Newport is a home rule-class city at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking rivers in Campbell County, Kentucky. The population was 15,273 at the 2010 census. Historically, it was one of four county seats of Campbell County. Newport is a majo ...

in 1851. He grew up in Newport and

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...

. His early art instruction took place at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

in the early 1870s, where he studied under

Lemuel Wilmarth Lemuel Everett Wilmarth (November 11, 1835 – July 27, 1918) was an American painter. He was a founder of the Art Students League of New York and a member of the National Academy of Design. He was professor in charge of the schools of the Nation ...

. In 1875, he moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

and studied with Thomas Eakins at the

Philadelphia Sketch Club The Philadelphia Sketch Club, founded on November 20, 1860, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is one of America's oldest artists' clubs. The club's own web page proclaims it ''the'' oldest. Prominent members have included Joseph Pennell, Thomas Eaki ...

, beginning a close association between the two. In 1892 Anshutz married Effie Shriver Russell. The two spent their honeymoon in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, where Anshutz attended classes at Académie Julian. In 1893 they returned to Philadelphia. Later in his life he proclaimed himself a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

. He retired from teaching in the fall of 1911 due to poor health and died on June 16, 1912.

Career

Association with Eakins and ''The Ironworkers' Noontime''

In 1876, Anshutz enrolled as a student at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

, the same year Thomas Eakins began teaching there. Eakins was Chief Demonstrator of

Anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...

and Christian Schussele was Professor of Drawing and Painting. In 1878 Anshutz became Eakins's assistant, eventually succeeding Eakins as Chief Demonstrator when Eakins was promoted to Professor of Drawing and Painting. In 1880, while still a student, Anshutz completed his first major work, '' The Ironworkers' Noontime''. ''The Ironworkers' Noontime'', Anshutz's most well known painting, depicts twenty-or-so workers on their break in the yard of a

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

. Painted near

, it is conceived in a naturalistic style similar to that of Eakins, although Eakins never painted industrial subjects. The piece was exhibited at the Philadelphia Sketch Club in 1881 and compared to Eakins's work by

art critics An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogu ...

. Art historian Randall C. Griffin has written of it: "One of the first American paintings to depict the bleakness of factory life, ''The Ironworkers' Noontime'' appears to be a clear indictment of industrialization. Its brutal candor startled critics, who saw it as unexpectedly confrontational—a chilling industrial snapshot not the least picturesque or sublime." It is now in the collection of the

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...

. Around 1880, Eakins became involved in photography, incorporating it into his classes and using it as a tool for his artwork. Anshutz and other students at the Academy started to make use of the

camera A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...

, posing models and making prints for study. Anshutz participated in Eakins's ''The Naked Series'', photographing nude models in seven pre-defined standing poses. He modeled for Eakins himself, along with colleagues such as J. Laurie Wallace and Covington Few Seiss, who would pose outdoors nude, often

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

Eadweard Muybridge Eadweard Muybridge (; 9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904, born Edward James Muggeridge) was an English photographer known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. He adopted the first ...

eventually made his way to Philadelphia and Anshutz and Eakins helped build Muybridge's

zoopraxiscope The zoopraxiscope (initially named ''zoographiscope'' and ''zoogyroscope'') is an early device for displaying moving images and is considered an important predecessor of the movie projector. It was conceived by photographic pioneer Eadweard Mu ...

Loincloth incident

Eakins was forced to resign from the Academy in an 1886 scandal that was sparked by his use of a fully nude male model in front of either an all-female or a mixed-male-and-female class. Anshutz did not defend his mentor; he co-signed a letter to the

: "''We hereby charge Mr. Thom^s Eakins with conduct unworthy of a gentleman & discreditable to this organization & ask his expulsion from the club.''"

Maturity

Anshutz was promoted to Eakins's position at the Academy. Anshutz would briefly travel to Europe, focusing primarily on his teaching in Philadelphia. Numerous artists studied under Anshutz, including Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones,

George Luks George Benjamin Luks (August 13, 1867 – October 29, 1933) was an American artist, identified with the aggressively realistic Ashcan School of American painting. After travelling and studying in Europe, Luks worked as a newspaper illustrator a ...

Charles Demuth Charles Henry Buckius Demuth (November 8, 1883 – October 23, 1935) was an American painter who specialized in watercolors and turned to oils late in his career, developing a style of painting known as Precisionism. "Search the history of Ame ...

John Sloan John French Sloan (August 2, 1871 – September 7, 1951) was an American painter and etcher. He is considered to be one of the founders of the Ashcan school of American art. He was also a member of the group known as The Eight. He is best known ...

, Charles Sheeler,

Everett Shinn Everett Shinn (November 6, 1876 – May 1, 1953) was an American painter and member of the urban realist Ashcan School. Shinn started as a newspaper illustrator in Philadelphia, demonstrating a rare facility for depicting animated movement, a ...

, John Marin,

William Glackens William James Glackens (March 13, 1870 – May 22, 1938) was an American realist painter and one of the founders of the Ashcan School, which rejected the formal boundaries of artistic beauty laid-down by the conservative National Academy of De ...

Robert Henri Robert Henri (; June 24, 1865 – July 12, 1929) was an American painter and teacher. As a young man, he studied in Paris, where he identified strongly with the Impressionists, and determined to lead an even more dramatic revolt against A ...

and Margaret Taylor Fox. As a teacher, Anshutz, according to art historian Sanford Schwartz, "was known as much for his approachability as his sarcasm, which apparently wasn't of the withering variety."Schwartz, 1982, p. 16 The Anshutz family regularly vacationed in Holly Beach, New Jersey which served as a creative place for the painter. There he experimented with

watercolors Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

, bright color palette, and simple compositions. He also photographed the natural environment, utilizing the images as studies for paintings, specifically Holly Beach and trips down the

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

and

Maurice Maurice may refer to: People * Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr * Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor *Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and ...

rivers. Although Anshutz experimented persistently with landscape painting, he was more well known for his

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this r ...

ure, which won him numerous awards in the 1890s and 1900s. In 1898 he and Hugh Breckenridge co-founded the Darby School, a summer school outside of Philadelphia which emphasized

plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...

painting. At Darby, Anshutz created his most abstract works, a series of bright

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

landscape painting Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compo ...

s that were never exhibited. He continued to participate in the Darby School until 1910. He was elected as an Associate member of the

in 1910. He served as president of the Philadelphia Sketch Club.

Legacy

In 1971 Robert and Joy McCarty, who lived in the home formerly owned by the Anshutz family in

Fort Washington, Pennsylvania Fort Washington is a census-designated place and suburb of Philadelphia in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,446 at the 2010 census. History Prior to the Revolutionary War the Fort Washington area was settle ...

donated A donation is a gift for charity, humanitarian aid, or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including money, alms, services, or goods such as clothing, toys, food, or vehicles. A donation may satisfy medical needs such as bl ...

a portion of letters,

glass negative Photographic plates preceded photographic film as a capture medium in photography, and were still used in some communities up until the late 20th century. The light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts was coated on a glass plate, typically thinn ...

s, and photographs to the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...

. A second donation from the Anshutz family took place in 1971 and 1972. The materials were microfilmed and returned to the family.

Notable collections

*''Boys with a Boat, Ohio River, near Wheeling, West Virginia'', 1880; Smithsonian American Art Museum *''Dissecting Room'', ca. 1879;

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

*''Two Boys by a Boat'', 1895;

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art, is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsbur ...

Gallery

image:Anschutz Thomas P The Farmer and His Son at Harvesting.jpg, ''The Farmer and His Son at Harvesting'', 1879. File:Anschutz Thomas P The Ironworker-s Noontime.jpg, '' The Ironworkers' Noontime'', 1880,

. File:Anshutz landscape with grey sky.jpg, ''Landscape with grey sky File:Anschutz Thomas P Figure Piece.jpg, ''Figurepiece'', 1909. File:Anschutz Thomas P Portrait of Rebecca H. Whelan.jpg, ''Portrait of Rebecca H. Whelan'', c. 1910. File:Thomas P. Anshutz - Woman writting on a table.jpg, ''Woman writing on a table'', c. 1905. File:Anshutz a flowered gown.jpg, ''The flowered gown. File:Thomas P. Anshutz - Portrait of Marthe Hientz.jpg, ''Portrait of Marthe Hientz''

References

Bibliography

*Griffin, Randall C. (2004). ''Homer, Eakins, & Anshutz: The Search for American Identity in the Gilded Age''. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. *Schwartz, Sanford (1982). ''The Art Presence''. New York: Horizon Press. *Sullivan, Mark. "Pennsylvania Impressionism." ''Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia'', online at philadelphiaencyclopedia.org.

External links

*
Thomas Anshutz at American Art Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anshutz, Thomas Pollock 1851 births 1912 deaths People from Newport, Kentucky Artists from Philadelphia 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters Académie Julian alumni American landscape painters American socialists American arts administrators Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts faculty Students of Thomas Eakins Kentucky socialists Pennsylvania socialists West Virginia socialists 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists