Study for "The Dancing Lesson": The Boy

probably 1877

Thomas Eakins

Artist, American, 1844 - 1916

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

  • Dimensions

    overall: 53.3 x 23.2 cm (21 x 9 1/8 in.)
    framed: 61.6 x 31 x 3.2 cm (24 1/4 x 12 3/16 x 1 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1985.64.15

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Arthur B. Frost; his son, John Frost; (Joseph Bryant, New York), before 1945; (Harry Shaw Newman, New York), 1945; M. Michelotti; consigned 24 January 1946 to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); purchased 18 February 1946 by (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); sold 15 January 1956 to (Babcock Galleries, New York); Joseph Katz, Baltimore and New York [d. 1958]; his estate, by 1961;[1] his son, Leslie Katz, Brooklyn, by 1963;[2] consigned 13 January 1964 to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); sold 2 January 1965 to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; gift 1985 to NGA.
[1] Thomas Eakins: A Retrospective Exhibition, Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Art Institute of Chicago, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Washington, D.C., 1961, no. 32, lent by the Estate of Joseph Katz.
[2] Leslie Katz showed a photograph of the painting to Lloyd Goodrich 12 December 1963.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1951

  • A Short Survey of American Painting, M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1951, unnumbered list.

1961

  • Thomas Eakins: A Retrospective, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Art Institute of Chicago; Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1961-1962, no. 32.

1964

  • The Portrayal of the Negro in American Painting, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, 1964, no. 53.

1968

  • American Art from Alumni Collections, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, 1968, no. 98, repro.

1986

  • Gifts to the Nation: Selected Acquisitions from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1986, unnumbered checklist

1991

  • Thomas Eakins Rediscovered, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1991-1992, no cat.

2006

  • Young America: Childhood in 19th-Century Art and Culture, Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; Portland (Maine) Museum of Art, 2006-2007, unnumbered catalogue, fig. 6.

2016

  • The Art of American Dance, Detroit Institute of Arts; Denver Art Museum; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, 2016-2017, no. 13, repro.

Bibliography

1930

  • Goodrich, Lloyd. "Thomas Eakins, Realist." Pennsylvania Museum Bulletin 25 (March 1930): 21, no. 67, as Negro Boy Dancing.

1964

  • Kaplan, Sidney. "Notes on the Exhibition." In The Portrayal of the Negro in American Art. Exh. cat. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, 1964: unpaginated, no. 53.

1966

  • Kaplan, Sidney. "The Negro in the Art of Homer and Eakins." Massachusetts Review 7 (1966): repro. 116.

1971

  • Hoopes, Donelson F. Eakins Watercolors. New York, 1971: 44, repro. 48.

1982

  • Goodrich, Lloyd. Thomas Eakins. 2 vols. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1982: 1:repro. 111 (fig. 48).

1988

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 130, repro.

1989

  • Honour, Hugh. The Image of the Black in Western Art. 4 vols. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1989: 4:189.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 166, repro.

1996

  • Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 167-172, color repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20188836

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