Thomas Eakins 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. For the length of his professional career, from the early 1870s until his health began to fail some 40 years later, Eakins worked exactingly from life, choosing as his subject the people of his hometown of Philadelphia. He painted several hundred portraits, usually of friends, family members, or prominent people in the arts, sciences, medicine, and clergy. In addition, Eakins produced a number of large paintings which brought the portrait out of the drawing room. These active outdoor venues allowed him to paint the subject which most inspired him: the nude or lightly clad figure in motion. Eakins also took a keen interest in the new technologies of motion photography, a field in which he is now seen as an innovator.