Mother (Annie Williams Gandy)

Thomas Eakins, Mother (Annie Williams Gandy), ca. 1903, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Mrs. Lucy G. Rodman through her sister Miss Helen W. Gandy, 1961.11.12
Thomas Eakins, Mother (Annie Williams Gandy), ca. 1903, oil on canvas, 2420 in. (61.050.8 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Mrs. Lucy G. Rodman through her sister Miss Helen W. Gandy, 1961.11.12
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Artwork Details

Title
Mother (Annie Williams Gandy)
Date
ca. 1903
Dimensions
2420 in. (61.050.8 cm.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Mrs. Lucy G. Rodman through her sister Miss Helen W. Gandy
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Portrait female — Gandy, Annie Williams — bust
Object Number
1961.11.12

Artwork Description

Annie Williams Gandy, affectionately nicknamed “Mother,” was a close friend of Thomas Eakins and his wife. One critic noted Eakins’s ability to capture an expression in which “mere thinking is portrayed without the aid of gesture or attitude.” (Simpson, “The 1880s,” Thomas Eakins, 2002) Here, Eakins enlists the viewer in an intimate, pensive moment, portraying Annie in a morning coat and braids to suggest that she has just risen from bed. While the subject of women lost in reverie was fashionable at the turn of the twentieth century, most artists chose to idealize their sitters. Eakins, on the other hand, did not disguise their blemishes and “worry lines,” and many people considered his portraits to be unflattering. (Perry, Women on the Verge: The Culture of Neurasthenia in Nineteenth-century America, 2004)

Works by this artist (27 items)

Thomas Eakins, Mother (Annie Williams Gandy), ca. 1903, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Mrs. Lucy G. Rodman through her sister Miss Helen W. Gandy, 1961.11.12
Mother (Annie Williams Gandy)
Dateca. 1903
oil on canvas
On view
Two male nudes, outdoors, one holding a stick, from the…
Date1883, published 1979
black and white photograph
Not on view
Three nude female models, one figure seated at left, one…
Date1883, published 1979
black and white photograph
Not on view
Three standing male models, figure at left in profile, from…
Date1883, published 1979
black and white photograph
Not on view