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 Realism (visual arts), realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artist ...

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

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

Personal life and education

Anshutz was born on October 5, 1851, in

Newport, Kentucky Newport is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city in Campbell County, Kentucky, United States. It is at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Licking River (Kentucky), Licking rivers across from Cincinnati. The population was 14,150 ...

. He grew up in Newport and

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in Ohio County, West Virginia, Ohio and Marshall County, West Virginia, Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The county seat of Ohio County, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mo ...

. 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, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

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 Natio ...

. In 1875, he moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, and studied with Thomas Eakins at the Philadelphia Sketch Club, 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, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where Anshutz attended classes at

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

. In 1893 they returned to Philadelphia. Later in his life he proclaimed himself a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

. 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. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

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

Anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal 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 scien ...

and

Christian Schussele Christian Schussele (born 16 April 1824 – 20 August 1879) was a French-born American visual artist and teacher, and is credited with designing the American Medal of Honor. He was known for his printmaking, drawing, and portrait painting. Schuss ...

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 Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

. 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. FAMSF's combined attendance was 1,1 ...

. 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 instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...

, 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 martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

and

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

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 Movie projector, projection. He ...

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 ...

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 Philadelphia Sketch Club: "''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 Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones (born Elizabeth Huntington Jones; November 8, 1885 – December 26, 1968) was an American painter who lived in New York City, Philadelphia, and Paris, France. She had a successful career as a painter at the turn of the cen ...

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 Amer ...

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 (Ashcan School), T ...

Charles Sheeler Charles Sheeler (July 16, 1883 – May 7, 1965) was an American artist known for his Precisionism, Precisionist paintings, commercial photographer, commercial photography, and the 1921 avant-garde film, ''Manhatta'', which he made in collaboratio ...

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 John Marin (December 23, 1870 – October 2, 1953) was an early American modernist visual artist. He is known for his abstract landscape paintings and watercolors. Early life and education Marin was born on December 23, 1870, in Rutherford, N ...

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 (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the S ...

, bright

color palette In color theory, a color scheme is a combination of 2 or more colors used in aesthetic or practical design. Aesthetic color schemes are used to create style and appeal. Colors that create a color harmony, harmonious feeling when viewed togethe ...

, 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 U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

and

Maurice Maurice may refer to: *Maurice (name), a given name and surname, including a list of people with the name Places * or Mauritius, an island country in the Indian Ocean *Maurice, Iowa, a city *Maurice, Louisiana, a village *Maurice River, a trib ...

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 is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

ure, which won him numerous awards in the 1890s and 1900s. In 1898 he and

Hugh Breckenridge Hugh Henry Breckenridge (1870 – 1937), was an American painter and art instructor, who championed the artistic movements from impressionism to modernism. Breckenridge taught for more than forty years at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, be ...

co-founded the Darby School, a

summer school Summer school (or summer university) is a school, or a program generally sponsored by a school or a school district, or provided by a private company, that provides lessons and activities during the summer vacation. Participation in 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 is c ...

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) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

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

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.

Death and legacy

He died after an illness on June 16, 1912, at his home in

Fort Washington, Pennsylvania Fort Washington is a census-designated place and suburb of Philadelphia in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The CDP, as of 2020, is entirely in Upper Dublin Township. The population was 5,446 at the 2010 census. History Prior ...

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

, donated a portion of letters,

glass negative Photographic plates preceded film as the primary medium for capturing images in photography. These plates, made of metal or glass and coated with a light-sensitive emulsion, were integral to early photographic processes such as heliography, dagu ...

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 Washing ...

. 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 The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

*''Dissecting Room'', ca. 1879;

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

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art is an art museum in the Oakland (Pittsburgh), Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The museum was originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was formerly located ...

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. *Sullivan, Mark W. "The Darby School of Art: A Forgotten Chapter in the History of American Impressionist and Modern Painting" (Havertown, PA: Brookline Books, 2023)

External links

*
Thomas Anshutz at American Art Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anshutz, Thomas Pollock 1851 births 1912 deaths People from Newport, Kentucky Painters 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