Giving Compass' Take:

• Henry Adams explains that in the #MeToo era, one difficult reconning is revered historical figures with tainted pasts. Thomas Eakins inspired and awed art critics in the modern age, but his sexual misconduct has been left out of the conversation.

• How can sexual misconduct be brought into the conversation about Eakins, and others who committed similar crimes? What are the consequences of glossing over the sexual misconduct of historical figures? 

• Learn how donors can navigate funding in the #MeToo era. 

Thomas Eakins is one of the most revered 19th-century American artists. His brooding portraits seem to strip his sitters of all pretension, revealing an inner vulnerability.

But over the last few decades, enough evidence has emerged to suggest that Eakins was a sexual predator. Not only did he cross a number of lines with his subjects and students, but a disturbing pattern of alleged abuse has also emerged. Curiously, the very group that one would have expected to speak up – feminist art historians – have been notably silent.

Loosely speaking, the accusations against Eakins fit into two categories.

The first involves nudity. He often undressed in front of his students or inappropriately exposed himself in front of his subjects.

Unpublished notes detail repeated instances in which he pressured women to undress in front of him, from his young female students to the elderly women who posed for his portraits.

The second deals with episodes that are much more troubling and bizarre.

The most disturbing involves Eakins’ niece Ella Crowell. In 1897, she committed suicide with a shotgun. The Bregler Papers revealed that she had once accused Eakins of sexually molesting her and that Ella’s parents believed her account.

There’s the issue of Eakins’ paintings, which are widely regarded as one of the great achievements of American art. No American painter made works that are so extensively autobiographical, and so much a portrait of himself, his family and his intimate circle.

If we’re going to grasp what makes these paintings so tragically powerful, we should be honest and open in examining the man who made them and the impulses that drove him.

Read the full article on Thomas Eakins by Henry Adams at The Conversation.