An Actress (Portrait of Suzanne Santje)

Suzanne Santje was a successful actress on the Philadelphia stage around 1900, and Eakins's portrait of her belongs to a series he made of theatrical and artistic women that pushed against conventional expectations of flattering femininity in American portraiture. The title 'An Actress' emphasises professional identity over social status. Eakins was controversial in his lifetime for refusing to idealise female sitters, and portraits like this one were sometimes rejected by subjects who expected something more conventional. The painting now stands as a landmark of American psychological realism, capturing the intelligence and character of a professional woman without concession to sentimentality.

Santje is positioned slightly off-center in a three-quarter view, her gaze direct and composed. Eakins uses a warm, dark ground from which the face and pale blouse emerge with great presence. Paint is applied with controlled economy; the face is the most finely worked area of the canvas.