Other Works from Thomas Eakins

The Biglin Brothers Racing, 1872

"Ruth"

"The Cello Player"

Facts on Rowing

A few facts about the sport of rowing from usrowing.org:

• Rowing is one of the original sports in the modern Olympic Games.
• Rowers are the third largest U.S. delegation (48 athletes) to the Olympic Games.
• Eight-oared shells are about 60-feet long - that’s 20 yards on a football field.
• Rowing was the first intercollegiate sport contested in the United States. The first rowing race was between Harvard and Yale in 1852.
• Physiologically, rowers are superb examples of physical conditioning. Cross-country skiers and long distance speed skaters are comparable in terms of the physical demands the sport places on the athletes.
• Singles may be as narrow as 10 inches across, weigh only 23 pounds, and stretch nearly 27-feet long.
• The first rowing club in the U.S. was the Detroit Boat Club, founded in 1839.
• The first amateur sport organization was a rowing club - Philadelphia’s Schuylkill Navy, founded in 1858.
• The first national governing body for a sport in the United States was for rowing. Founded as the National Association for Amateur Oarsmen in 1872, it was changed in 1982 to the United States Rowing Association.
• Yale College founded the first collegiate boat club in the U.S. in 1843.
• FISA, the first international sports federation, was founded in 1892.
• Physiologists claim that rowing a 2,000-meter race - equivalent to 1.25 miles - is equal to playing back-to-back basketball games.

Thomas Eakins

Thomas Eakins was born on July 25, 1844. He was not only an artist, he was also an educator. As an artist, he was very much a realist, what he painted was almost exactly like real life. For the most part he painted portraits, mainly of his friends and family, or other people who were well known for their acheivements.


As a teacher, Thomas Eakins was a big influence in American Art Education. Even in his teaching, he stayed true to painting figures and portraits as realistically as possible. Although, his reputation took a turn for the worst when he was kicked out of Pennsylvania Academy due to scandal.


In the 1870's he took an interest in motion photography. In order to create one image, appearing to be in motion, he used a single camera and produced several exposures on one negative. This technique was seen as one of the most innovative art forms of the time.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Eakins

The Biglin Brothers

John Biglin was not only a solo rower, in fact he had a brother. The Biglin Brothers, in the decade after the Civil War, rowed when the sport was at the height of its game. Three of there most well known races were the American Championships held in Poughkeepsie, NY in 1965, Ward v Biglin in 1865 which was a five mile race, and the Schuylkill River race in 1872, where they competed against Henry Coulter and Lewis Cavitt.

Thomas Eakins: John Biglin in a Single Scull