Art-Eakins-The Waterhole TB

I maintain records on my trackables. For a US-based trackable, this one is unusual for its longevity and movement. In the six-year period, 2010-19, the owner released a total of 3,793 trackables in the United States (96%) and Europe (4%). This trackable is one of the 5% of the total that circulated for at least 5 years and had been moved at least 25 times. That is a target rate of at least five drops per year for five years, or a drop every 73 days. The average drop rate of my trackables in the US is 124 days, in Europe it is 71 days. As of 11-Jan-24 this trackable had survived for 10.9 years and had been moved by 48 cachers, for an average drop every 83 days, or 4.4 drops per year. Please keep it moving, then drop it in a safe place!

No permission is needed to leave the U.S. While in the U.S., please drop it at an event, in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban, non-premium cache. Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean and dry, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items. Otherwise, take the trackable anywhere you wish.

This is one of a series of travel bugs made to recognize paintings seen, and admired by the bug owner. A digital copy of this painting was downloaded from the internet. The copy was reduced in size and proportions cropped to accommodate the laminating materials available to the owner. Regrettably these processes diminish the effort of the artist. One truly must see the original in person to fully appreciate the work. The text below is a mixture of my own observations and material gleaned from the internet (mostly Wikipedia and Web Gallery).

Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (1844-1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important artists in American art history.  He worked exactingly from life, choosing as his subject the people of his hometown of Philadelphia. 
 
As an instructor he was a highly influential presence in American art. The difficulties which beset him as an artist were from seeking to paint the portrait and figure realistically and from behavioral and sexual scandals.  While female nudes were common in art work of the time, the studies of nude males (like this example) were scandalous.  Eakins also took a keen interest in the new technologies of motion photography, a field in which he is now seen as an innovator.  His accurate depictions of humans and animals in motion are a product of that study.  This painting was seen at an exhibition of American art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas.