Portrait of David Wilson Jordan as a Dutchman, Thomas Pollack Anshutz

Artwork Overview

Thomas Pollack Anshutz, Portrait of David Wilson Jordan as a Dutchman
Thomas Pollack Anshutz, Portrait of David Wilson Jordan as a Dutchman
Thomas Pollack Anshutz
Portrait of David Wilson Jordan as a Dutchman
circa 1900
Thomas Pollack Anshutz, artist
1851–1912
Portrait of David Wilson Jordan as a Dutchman, circa 1900
Where object was made: United States
Material/technique: canvas; oil
Dimensions:
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 203 x 101.5 cm
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 79 15/16 x 39 15/16 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 207.5 x 105 x 6.3 cm
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 81 11/16 x 41 5/16 x 2 1/2 in
Credit line: Museum purchase
Accession number: 1971.0017
Not on display
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Label texts

Soundings

David Wilson Jordan (1859–1935) studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins, the unflinching realist among American portraitists of the late 19th century. Jordan, however, was known as a Philadelphia bon vivant who enjoyed a sociable and luxurious lifestyle. He was, at least until his marriage at age 48, an eligible and coveted guest on the local social scene, prized for his conversational and dancing skills. The Dutch clothing in which he poses suggests an artist’s reverence for pictorial tradition, as well as the costumed merrymaking in which Jordan and his peers delighted.
Thomas Anshutz also studied with Eakins. Although he worked in various subjects, including outdoor genre scenes and paintings of mothers and children, he considered formal portraiture his specialty. He was drawn by the challenge of capturing a sitter’s personality, not merely a physical likeness. Anshutz adopted Eakins’s realist style both in his art and in his teaching. When Eakins left the Academy in 1886, Anshutz succeeded him. In that role his solid academic training, coupled with a tolerance for his students’ individual manners, influenced a rising generation of artists. These included young rebellious artists such as Robert Henri and John Sloan, who later defied taste and convention with their depictions of gritty urban life, earning them notoriety and the nickname “Ash Can School.” CCE

Exhibitions

Teaching Gallery: American Art, 1860-1900, Part 2
2012
Soundings
Charles C. Eldredge, curator
2018

Resources

Audio

Didactic – Art Minute
Didactic – Art Minute
Episode 38 Jul-2005, Clair Robertson, History of Art Graduate Student I’m David Cateforis with another art minute from the Spencer Museum of Art. The Spencer’s “Portrait of David Wilson Jordan as a Dutchman,” was painted around 1899 by the Philadelphia artist Thomas Anshutz. In this commanding, lifesize portrait the bearded Jordan wears traditional Dutch garb -- black coat, pants, and hat -- and stares out at the viewer with a self-assured expression. Striking a familiar pose from the history of Dutch painting, Jordan stands with his right arm extended and resting on a cane, while his left arm is akimbo. Looking at his image, you may feel as if you are a part of an audience, awaiting a grand performance. And you may also want to know more about Jordan, and why this American is dressed as a Dutchman. David Wilson Jordan was a landscape painter and colleague of Anshutz, but he is best known today as a model for other artists. The old-fashioned Dutch theme in the Spencer portrait at first appears a puzzling choice for a picture painted at the turn of the twentieth century. However, the period following the American Centennial saw a fixation with all things Dutch - a phenomenon known as “Holland Mania.” And in painting this portrait, Anshutz participated in that trend. With thanks to Clair Robertson for her text, from the Spencer Museum of Art, I’m David Cateforis.