THOMAS EAKINS
"The Wrestlers" 1899
Oil on Canvas
62 x 72"
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
Gift of the Cecile and Fred Bartman Foundation
Provenance:
The artist for the National Academy, New York, circa 1899;
Deaccessioned in the 1970s by the National Academy Museum of New York to
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus Ohio, sold 2005 to
Adelson Galleries, New York, sold to
Private Collector, resold to
Adelson Galleries, and thence by sale to
LACMA, 2007 [Source]

Currently on display in the exhibition
"American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765 - 1915"
LACMA
February 28 - May 23, 2010

"American Stories" is a wonderful exhibition and I urge you to go see it, but be forewarned that the crowds here were much bigger on the weekend than at the Renoir show, so plan accordingly.  There are some truly glorious paintings, ones so familiar from Art History 101 and so frequently reproduced you will wonder why you've never paid more attention -- George Caleb Bingham's "French Trader, Half-Breed Son / Fur Traders Descending the Missouri" (1845), for instance, or Eastman Johnson's "Negro Life at the South" (1859) bring back vivid memories of my 7th Grade Scott Foresman American History book from the good old days, but perhaps not any more now that the Texas Board of Education has weighed in on rewriting history, so all the more urgent reason to go see these paintings now. 

Possibly the most astonishing work is John Singleton Copley's "Watson and the Shark" (1778) which a dear friend of mine considers an allegorical work about his own life, and one can easily appreciate why and also how any sensitive viewer would take this monumental work to heart.  It has it all: danger, passion, friends wanting to help, turbulent waters and gaping jaws of death. If, for example, Watson's young pale naked body symbolizes Truth and his panicked companions in the boat represent Concerned Educators, you can easily figure out who the sharks poised to rip Watson to pieces are supposed to be.

Not everyone will feel this way, but I can tell you that this exhibition made me proud to be an American, and this reaction may have had more than a little to do with the extraordinary stories these paintings tell.  Not every picture tells a story, as you know, but these do.  One of my favorites in the exhibition, as you might imagine, is Eakins' "The Wrestlers."  This is an American story, told by an American artist.  This is also another work, like "Watson and the Shark" which tells a story about struggle and pain, except in this case, of course, the real pain and the struggle are internal and off-screen, rather the way the figure in the suit standing next to a young athlete is cropped off at the waist.  What is not said, is being said.  What is not seen, is seen.    
 
You can also see here the influence Eakins' work had on one of my favorite living American artists, Mark Beard, painting as Bruce Sargeant.

I understand LACMA is planning a show titled "Manly Pursuits" which will include a selection of Eakins' sporting paintings, scheduled for July.  Stay tuned.