Taking the Count
1898
Thomas Eakins captures the tense, gritty moment of a boxing match in this 1898 masterpiece, showing the brutal reality of the sport. The standing boxer, chest heaving and gloves raised, watches stoically as the referee counts out his opponent, who is struggling to rise from the canvas. Eakins, a master of American Realism, was obsessed with anatomy and motion, often using photography to study how muscles move under stress. The crowd in the background is a blur of top hats and intense gazes, making you feel the heavy, smoke-filled atmosphere of a late 19th-century sporting event.
- Technique
- Oil on canvas
- Material
- Canvas
Location: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
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