The Paris Letters of Thomas Eakins Capa dura - 2009

"William Homer's edition of Thomas Eakins's Paris letters is a welcome contribution to the literature on (and by) one of our greatest painters. Nothing could be more impressive than the sheer imaginative and intellectual energy--also the constant good humor--with which the young Eakins meets the challenge waiting for him in Grme's studio as he takes the first crucial steps toward mastering the art of painting. More than ever, all admirers of Eakins's art are in Homer's debt."--Michael Fried, author of Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before

"This invaluable book at last makes widely available the young Thomas Eakins's extensive correspondence from his years of study in Paris. Longtime Eakins biographer William Homer has edited these letters with illuminating insight and contextual information. Both the artist's own observations and the attendant commentary are likely to be indispensible for all future Eakins publications."--John Wilmerding, professor emeritus of American art, Princeton University

"Long awaited, this valuable collection of letters presents Thomas Eakins in his own words at a formative stage of his career, offering a fascinating record of triumphs and struggles as well as a lively display of the skills, interests, confident opinions, and complex personality of a great American artist."--Kathleen A. Foster, author of Thomas Eakins Rediscovered

"These letters give a fuller view of Thomas Eakins during his formative years as a student in Europe than we have ever had--his developing artistic understanding, his psychological drives, his friendships, his peculiarities and obsessions, and his views about Paris, its culture, and the works of art he saw while living there. This book makes a major contribution."--Elizabeth Johns, author of Thomas Eakins: The Heroism of Modern Life

"This invaluable book provides a useful and entertaining account of the early life and thoughts of one of nineteenth-century America's most significant artists. The hundreds of Eakins's letters gathered here contain a wealth of information about his youthful thought processes, opinions, and artistic development."--Martin A. Berger, author of Man Made: Thomas Eakins and the Construction of Gilded Age Manhood