The Gross Clinic
Thomas Eakins, 1875
oil on canvas
‘The Gross Clinic’ will stay in Philadelphia – International Herald Tribune
Apparently the Wal-Mart heiress’ plan to buy the painting by Philadelphia native Thomas Eakins and transplant it to Bentonville, Arkansas (a town of less than 30,000 people, where the museum to house it has not yet been built), has been stymied by outraged Philadelphians.
Why is it that universities are pressured to divest themselves of anything saleable, and possession of a piece of landmark art is seen as an unnecessary luxury? Jefferson University’s president reportedly excused the sale, saying Jefferson isn’t “in the business of art education.” I can’t blame Alice Walton for wanting to decorate her hometown, but pulling a piece of art by a Philadelphian out of the Philadelphia university it depicts (where Dr. Gross taught and Eakins studied), to plunk it in Arkansas? What sense does that make?
Because the National Gallery was to be a partner in the purchase, I infer The Gross Clinic would have resided at least part of the time in DC. That would have been a reasonable move; more people could have seen it there than in Philadelphia, and seen it in a concentrated dose with other great art of the period. But it would have lost its historical context.
In 1878, when Jefferson alumni bought Eakins’ painting for $200 and donated it to the college, The Gross Clinic was hardly considered a museum masterpiece – it was too “gross” for public exhibition. Unlike Alice Walton, the alumni weren’t buying it for the bragging rights. And if, like President Barchi, they thought medical colleges were unsuitable repositories for art, they’d have spent their $200 on dissecting tools and specimen cabinets instead. It seems right that their foresight be respected, and the painting they bought stay put.
The official word from Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia.
I am personally pleased, delighted, and relieved to have the painting remain in Philadelphia. As the author of the widely regarded recent biography of the artist, “The Revenge of Thomas Eakins,” I am keenly aware of the context in which this Eakins masterpiece was created. Eakins has, suffice it to say, exacted his “revenge.” He has become indispensable to the city’s idea of itself as a cultural landmark. In my mind’s eye I can imagine Eakins standing in the Philadelphia traffic circle honoring him, shaking his paint brush at passing cars, and shouting, “There, you see, I told you I was good!â€
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