Mother (Annie Williams Gandy)

Object Details

Artist

Thomas Eakins, born Philadelphia, PA 1844-died Philadelphia, PA 1916

Sitter

Annie Williams Gandy

Luce Center Label

Annie Williams Gandy, affectionately nicknamed “Mother,” was a close friend of Thomas Eakins and his wife. One critic noted Eakins’s ability to capture an expression in which “mere thinking is portrayed without the aid of gesture or attitude.” (Simpson, “The 1880s,” Thomas Eakins, 2002) Here, Eakins enlists the viewer in an intimate, pensive moment, portraying Annie in a morning coat and braids to suggest that she has just risen from bed. While the subject of women lost in reverie was fashionable at the turn of the twentieth century, most artists chose to idealize their sitters. Eakins, on the other hand, did not disguise their blemishes and “worry lines,” and many people considered his portraits to be unflattering. (Perry, Women on the Verge: The Culture of Neurasthenia in Nineteenth-century America, 2004)

Credit Line

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Mrs. Lucy G. Rodman through her sister Miss Helen W. Gandy

ca. 1903

Object number

1961.11.12

Restrictions & Rights

CC0

Type

Painting

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

24 x 20 in. (61.0 x 50.8 cm.)

See more items in

Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection

Department

Painting and Sculpture

On View

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor, 2A

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Topic

Portrait female\bust

Record ID

saam_1961.11.12

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk7f19bcb47-46e7-4765-9d54-91bb831e076b