Analysis Of The Gross Clinic By Thomas Eakin

Kelsey Sabara

ART 115

April 20, 2016

Dr. Steven Kerrigan

The Gross Clinic by Thomas Eakins

During the 19th century a large quantity of art pieces were known for their focus on modern day life, of what the average society member would often see on a day to day basis. Thomas Eakins, was a painter commonly associated with realism in the United States during the 19th century, and was harshly viewed on what he would frequently base his painting’s content on. In Eakins's most criticized painting, The Gross Clinic, the content he based his subject matter on was viewed not favorable to the society even with the amount of talent that went into it. The Gross Clinic was debatably one of the best artworks of the time period, but was often looked

The Gross Clinic was seen as gross or disgusting, causing the painting to not be favorable of the people and causing controversy over the content. During this time, there was a lot of fear with surgeons as they usually were sought to use the poor to test surgeries on often leading to amputate the limb instead of trying to stop the disease. While the focus of Eakins painting was to show that Dr. Gross was a doctor that didn’t believe in doing the easiest way,but what was the right way.as. In this painting the surgery that they are performing during this moment was often one that lead to the doctors removing the limbs, but instead Dr. Gross and his crew are working on the patient and the limb. The main point of the painting would often get overlooked by the society, just because of the content that is portrayed rather than the message implied. Leading to why Eakins painting did not make it into the Philadelphia's 1876 Centennial Exhibition, who he initially made the piece for (Foster,

Often the people would just look at the blood on the spectacle and automatically think it was inappropriate to have around, while the intent was to show the honor of Dr. Gross and doctors who were working in the field from Philadelphia. The amount of details and the amount of time also get overlooked because of the content that is involved, as well. The Gross Clinic is a very intriguing to look at when thinking about the success both Dr. Gross and Thomas Eakins have brought to their fields of study.

References

Foster, K. A. (2009). Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic). Retrieved April 15, 2016, from http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/299524.html The Gross Clinic: Thomas Eakins (1844-1916). (1998). The Lancet. Retrieved April 16, 2016. Stokstad, M., & Cothren, M. W. (2008). Art History (5th ed., Vol. 2). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Friedlaender, G. E., & Friedlaender, L. K. (2014). The Gross Clinic. Art in Science. Retrieved April 17,