More Sporting Art

Thomas Eakins was a famous artist from Philadelphia who lived from 1844 to 1916. He focused much of his painting on local scenes in and around Philadelphia. Many of his subjects featured sporting themes...a few of these are featured above. One of my particular favorites is the railbird hunting scene above titled: Pushing for Rail. Railbird hunting is a rare and esoteric type of wingshooting and is limited to very select and and specific tidal marsh regions. This unique pursuit will likely be the subject of a future post with some contemporary photos since I will be going railbird shooting this September.

In the meantime, readers and Eakins fans on the West Coast can enjoy a rare exhibition of Eakins Sporting Art at the L.A. County Museum of Art. The current exhibit is entitled: "Manly Pursuits: The Sporting Images of Thomas Eakins."

Eakins did several wondeful scenes of rowing on the Schuylkill river which are some of the most familiar and popular. His boxing scenes from the old Philadelphia Arena are some of my other favorites and capture the tone and tenor of old time boxing.

If you happen to take in the L.A. exhibit...you may see Laguna Beach Trad admiring some of the Sporting canvases as he is rumoured to make his domicile in regions just South.