Eakins: 1895 1960

Leonard Baskin made this etching, Eakins: 1895, sometime between 1922 and 2000. Can you imagine Baskin with his etching needle, carefully and deliberately scratching the plate? I wonder if he imagined himself as Eakins as he did it? It's like he was trying to conjure Eakins from the darkness, using these tiny marks to pull him into being. See how the hatching on the right side of the face almost disappears into shadow, while the left side is more defined? It gives the portrait an unfinished, vulnerable feeling. Baskin really gets at something essential here. There’s a beautiful tradition of artists drawing other artists; Manet drawing Baudelaire, for instance. It's like they are all in conversation, across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. Baskin's Eakins feels like an homage, a connection between two artists who are both interested in the human form and the human condition.