moustachu6 - Tumblr blog

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Just right light conditions in this shot.

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sexyasfuck

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Reblog to show your support for NSFW Artists, who deserve better than having their art censored/removed because of a badly thoughtout idea

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just saying © reworkedmale

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Dec 17

What is the point of having a tumbler account if you’re going to so radically suppress how consenting adults feel about pornography and our individual views, on posting, relating and expressing ourselves about our own personal sexuality? If you are one of my followers, or you’re reading this and you agree please hit ❤ and hit reblog 🔄. Let’s make this go viral before December 17th.

NastyDaddy2

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Faun from Pompeii

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Oups 🙊 I missed this one ... #lifestooshort #giverny #americanimpressionism #haystack #paris #parismetro #americanartists #landscape #paintedlandscape (à Gare Saint-Lazare) https://www.instagram.com/p/BogDefog8QL/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=115nwjxwjd77m

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@dannouveau am a big fan of Charles de Sousy Ricketts portrayed here by his lover Charles Haslewwod Shannon. The print I bought it on demand @nationalportraitgallery not sure they carry on doing it. Such a great face #london #queer #beauty #edwardian #aestheticmovementofficial https://www.instagram.com/p/Bod-3rwg48S/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ey8p3w032ze3

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Thomas Eakins returned from a trip to a ranch in the Dakotas in July, 1887 with two horses, Billy and Baldy.  This composite shows Franklin Schenck nude alone with Baldy at top, and standing (also nude) behind Baldy in the lower image while Sam Murray holds the bridle.  Schenck was in the group of members of the Art Students’ League who joined at it’s inception, but were not previously students of Eakins at the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts.  He was almost always penniless and lived rent free in the Art Students’ League location in return for modeling and doing the janitorial work.  Schenck was also handy at setting up equipment and props for various projects.  He spent seven years working with Eakins and Murray, even being named Curator of the Academy at one point, but we know next to nothing about the details of their relationships.

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Some closing notes

Like a lot of great artists, Thomas Eakins was not widely appreciated during his lifetime.  He was known to paint free portraits for Philadelphia notables who would either put them in closets or throw them away because his realistic style showed them as they were, and not as they wished to be.  In the age of Impressionism, much of Eakins’ work was scorned as too harsh and lacking in refinement.  His insistence on using and photographing nude male models to train students of both sexes got him into a world of trouble, but he persisted, and the practice became standard not long after.  The fact that he was probably gay and took a student and fellow artist, Samuel Murray, as a lover was apparently known to some, but kept under wraps for obvious reasons.

But what impresses me most as someone with a keen interest in vintage photography and it’s relationship to art is how Thomas Eakins, Sam Murray, Franklin Schenck, and all the other men in Eakins’ circle helped define modern masculinity.  Their natural acceptance and enjoyment of their bodies was a stark contrast to the Victorian norm.  And finally, as a proud gay man, I am deeply grateful to Mr. Eakins and the others for helping expand the definitions and possibilities who I am and who I can be.  The road to freedom began with people like these.

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Were Thomas Eakins and Samuel Murray lovers?

That is the big question when it comes to these two men.  Sam was the 11th of 12 children from a poor Irish immigrant family and came to the Art Students’ League in the fall of 1886 for its first full school term.  He quickly became a favorite student of Eakins, and then was made his assistant, eventually becoming in instructor for the last term of 1892-93.  The two shared a studio on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, often painting and sculpting from the same model.  They went on excursions camping in the forest and to the seashore together.  In short, they were inseparable.  Their friendship with the known homosexual poet Walt Whitman is described in another text essay in today’s series.

Eakins had faced accusations of homosexuality before he met Murray, and there were others later.  It should be noted, however, that at least some of those accusations were made by persons who had grudges or something to gain from discrediting Eakins.  (Eakins was also accused of abusive and exploitative behavior toward women, for what it’s worth.)  Both men married late in life, Eakins at 40 and Murray at 47, and both marriages were childless.  It was openly said that Eakins’ marriage was not for love, but to replace his sister who died after many years of looking after him domestically.  Murray did not marry until just weeks before the death of Eakins, whom he devotedly took care of until the end.  Several close observers, including some family members, commented that Eakins was closer emotionally to Murray than his wife.  Following the discovery of a large group of Eakins’ personal papers in 1984, more scholars came to acknowledge that Eakins was probably gay, but this is by no means the only opinion on the matter.

Ultimately, it was the accidental discovery of a letter in Eakins’ own handwriting found among his student Charles Bregler’s papers that provides the most convincing evidence.  The salient passage reads, “ … the one I love most lay sleeping by me under the same cover on the cool night. In the stillness of the autumn moonbeams his face was inclined toward me and his arm lies light around my breast–and that night I was happy.“  The dating of the letter also leaves no doubt “the one” was Sam Murray.

So the answer to the question that this piece began with would seem to be “yes.”

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Eakins, Murray, and Walt Whitman as friends

“I never knew of but one artist, and that’s Tom Eakins, who could resist the temptation to see what they think ought to be rather than what is.” - - - Walt Whitman as quoted by Lloyd Goodrich

Thomas Eakins was taken across the Delaware River from Philadelphia to Camden, New Jersey by his journalist friend Talcott Williams and introduced to renowned poet Walt Whitman in 1887.  It was a momentous meeting that led to a strong friendship which lasted until Whitman’s death in 1892.  Samuel Murray had become Eakins’ student, model, protege, and friend in 1886, and it wasn’t long before the two of them were visiting Whitman together on a regular basis.  Both artists did work featuring Whitman, and the poet’s response was favorable.  (See some of today’s photo posts for images of that art.)  

Whitman and Eakins’ bond was probably enhanced by both men’s appreciation of the human body, especially the male, which Whitman’s poetry celebrated and Eakins’ art and photography so realistically depicted.  Whitman was fully aware of the price Eakins paid in Philadelphia social and educational circles for his insistence on making nudity part of his art and teaching curriculum.  Whitman had faced similar circumstances for his boldly erotic poetry decades earlier.  Any notion that Sam Murray was just along for the ride is dispelled by the fact that he was always welcome at Whitman’s home and was allowed to use the great poet as a model.

During this period, Whitman’s personal life also included his companion Bill Duckett, who allowed Eakins to photograph him nude.  Whitman and Duckett’s relationship is described in the caption of those nude photos in today’s series.

Ultimately, Murray and Eakins were regarded as very close to Whitman by all observers.  Whether part of their shared experience included the fact that they were all homosexual men in relationships remains uncertain, but it would certainly fit a pattern that many of us would well recognize.

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Red is on as before but this time with extra 🌈 colours. Bravo @mathias_casado_castro for this great shot (à Paris, France)

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🧡 and respect for #twins always ...and me staying at threshold ... a miracle within two bodies #lamerelachaise 🏳️‍🌈 etc. (à La mère Lachaise)

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As per my post @boringgayman in Advance of Paris Gay Pride 🏳️‍🌈 #lgbt🌈 #gay #pride🌈 (à Ile-de-France, France)

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Just another reclining beauty @museelouvre and you cannot but remember the Venus of Urbino or more « recently » Olympia... anyway here is a portrait of Philippe Chabot, count of Brion, admiral of France #sculpture #frenchrenaissance he was a companion of Francis I (à Musée du Louvre)