Arcadia

1870–1916 · Virkested

Philadelphia

1882

Becomes director of the Pennsylvania Academy

Eakins became the Academy's director. His methods were controversial — no drawing from antique casts and no prize competitions, a quick move from charcoal to paint, anatomy through dissection and photography — yet by the early 1880s the course was called the most “liberal and advanced in the world”.

1882

Death of his sister Margaret

Eakins's sister Margaret, who had acted as his secretary and personal servant, died of typhoid; it has been suggested that his marriage two years later was meant to replace her.

1883

Brings Eadweard Muybridge to lecture at the Academy

In the late 1870s Eakins had discovered Eadweard Muybridge's photographic motion studies, especially those of horses; in 1883 he and the University of Pennsylvania trustee Fairman Rogers arranged for Muybridge to lecture at the Academy.

1884

Marries Susan Macdowell

At 40, Eakins married his former pupil, the painter Susan Hannah Macdowell. In their childless marriage she painted only sporadically, supporting her husband's career, shared his passion for photography and stood by him in his difficult years, even when some of her family turned against him.

1884

Works alongside Muybridge

Eakins briefly worked alongside Muybridge in the latter's photographic studio at 36th and Pine streets, then developed his own technique: instead of a battery of cameras, a single camera making a series of exposures on one negative, to measure motion precisely for painting.