The Gross Clinic
Thomas Eakins
1875
Oil on Canvas
96" x 78"
Jefferson Medical College
Thomas Jefferson University
(Philadelphia)

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the most famous of Thomas Eakins paintings, The Gross Clinic, was sold for $68 million to The National Gallery in Washington, DC. The sale of painting includes  a stipulation that gives local art institutions and governmental agencies 45 days to match the offer.

Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, has owned the painting since a group of alumni from the university paid $200 in 1878 to purchase the masterpiece. 

The Thomas Jefferson press release states that “Thomas Eakins’ Gross Clinic is a national treasure and there is no way to overstate the importance of this painting in the history of American art,” said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. “When this masterpiece comes to the Gallery, it will join the company of such iconic American paintings as John Singleton Copley’s Watson and the Shark (1778), Rembrandt Peale’s Rubens Peale with a Geranium (1801), James McNeill Whistler’s Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl (1862),and George Bellows’ Both Members of This Club (1909), and it will be seen by millions of visitors from all over the world.”

New York Times article
Thomas Jefferson Univeristy Press Release
PBS on Thomas Eakins

JMG Artblog (Philadelphia) will be in Miami, FL  covering the events at Art Basel Miami Beach (12/1-4/05). Check back often for reviews, interviews, photographs and other musings concerning the art and artists exhibiting at the event.

Art Basel Miami Beach is the American sister event of Art Basel in Switzerland, the most important annual art show worldwide for the past 36 years. Art Basel Miami Beach is a new type of cultural event, combining an international art show with an exciting program of special exhibitions, parties and crossover events including music, film, architecture and design. 195 leading art galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia will exhibit 20th and 21st century artworks by over 2000 artists.

For more information click here.

The Brandywine River Museum is hosting a tremendous exhibition organized by the Currier Museum of Art (Manchester, NH) called Andrew Wyeth: Early Watercolors.

The 50+ watercolor paintings and 2 temperas surprised me in several ways. I wasn't expecting the abstractness, the bold colors or the spontaneity employed by Andrew Wyeth during the 20 year period shown (1930's-1950's).

The array of early paintings reveal glimpses of Wyeth's famous temperas like Christina's World but most are quite different as well. Bold blues, reds and greens are particularly evident in the earlier watercolors. If I had viewed the paintings without the knowledge that they were Wyeth's work I could not have guessed the artist.

Susan Strickler, Director - Currier Museum of Art, compiled a revealing and extremely interesting view into the development of the artist. Her use of many paintings in the artist's personal collection lend a perspective rarely seen concerning Wyeth. I would encourage a visit to this marvelous exhibition.

Details: Brandywine River Museum (click here for directions)
Route 1, Chadds Ford, PA
610-388-2700
9:30 am to 4:30 pm daily through November 20, 2005

Which museum in Philadelphia has the following as part of its collection?

• Manuscripts for such outstanding literary works as James Joyce's Ulysses, Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers, and Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim
• Fine 18th- and 19th-century British and American furniture. Items associated with important authors, including Herman Melville's bookcase and Nathaniel Hawthorne's personal copy of Melville's Moby Dick
• The world's largest collection of portrait miniatures painted in oil on metal
• A selection of John Tenniel's original illustrations for Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Through the Looking-Glass
• The only surviving example of the first printing of Yankee Doodle
• A complete recreation—with the original contents—of poet Marianne Moore's Greenwich Village living room (designated as a national Literary Landmark by Friends of Libraries USA)
• Over 10,000 drawings and manuscripts by acclaimed children's book
  author/illustrator Maurice Sendak

These are but a a few of the treasures found at this museum. Did you guess The Rosenbach Museum & Library?

If you are like me I had never heard of the place before. It is fabulous.

I found out about the museum by reading a post at Roberta Fallon and Libby Rostof's artblog (one of the best art blogs around) where Libby reviewed an exhibition of Girolamo da Carpi's drawings. After reading the post I had to go see the place.