Thomas
Eakins
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A few weeks ago, Yvonne and I paddled to Roger's Rock in the Dacks to do some climbing. A few hours later we paddled back, dragged the boat to the car and left it to drain and dry. Of course, Yvonne couldn't resist to create a colorful arrangement of the boat, rope, paddle and me.
When I saw the picture, I immediately thought of an iconic Soviet sculpture "A Woman With an Oar". Various versions of this triumph of socialist realism art graced numerous parks and beaches spreading across eight thousand miles of my ex-motherland. The original eight meter tall bronze cast was created in mid thirties and proudly stood in the center of Moscow till the Nazis bombed it out of existence. At least something good came out of Hitler's invasion.
Unfortunately, as our beloved president Putin brought Mother Russia up from its knees, the oarish glory was recast and returned to Gorky park in Moscow.
As I was looking at these two images next to each other, I wondered how the father of American realism, Thomas Eakins, would treat such a subject. He was accused of/praised for certain homo-eroticism tendencies. He often chose nature settings for his portraits, painted his subjects dressed in white clothing on lush green background of trees and grass. Except for the bright blue inflatable boat in the front, Yvonne's photograph does have a certain Eakinsonish (Eakinsonian?) feeling to it. Doesn't it?
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