May

Today in Smithsonian History: May 24, 1977

Self-portrait, ca. 1902 Thomas Eakins, American, b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1844–1916 Oil on canvas mounted on fiberboard, 20 x 16 1/8 in. (50.8 x 40.9 cm) Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966 Accession Number: 66.1494

May 24, 1977 “The Thomas Eakins Collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden,” the first extensive showing (118 works) of one of the largest Eakins collections in the United States, opens at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. The exhibition opens in conjunction with “Thomas Eakins: A Symposium,” a day-long series of lectures by four leading Eakins scholars.

An American realist painter, photographer, sculptor and educator, Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important artists in American art history.

Portrait of Mrs. Thomas Eakins, (c. 1899)
Thomas Eakins, American, b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1844–1916
Oil on canvas, 20 1/8 x 16 1/8 in. (51 x 40.8 cm)
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966
Accession Number: 66.1522
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Collection

Marey Wheel Photographs of Unidentified Model, (1884)
Thomas Eakins, American, b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1844–1916
Albumen print on paper, 2 1/2 x 3 9/16 in. irreg. (6.3 x 9.1 cm)
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966
Accession Number: 83.60
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Collection

Portrait of William Mac Dowell, (c. 1890)
Thomas Eakins, American, b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1844–1916
Oil on canvas mounted on wood, 15 1/4 x 13 1/8 in. (38.5 x 33.1 cm)
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966
Accession Number: 66.1503
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Collection