Pushing for Rail

Thomas Eakins

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Eakins enjoyed hunting waterfowl with his father and friends in the tidal marshes of New Jersey’s Delaware River. In addition to a severe case of malaria, the 1873 expeditions resulted in a series of works, including this painting. Hunting for rail—small game birds that populate marshes—is possible only at high tide, when the "pusher" can propel the flat-bottomed boat through the thick reeds. Here, three pairs of sportsmen are shown in a frieze-like composition with nearly microscopic detail. Cleverly, Eakins depicts them in the successive phases of the hunt: loading the gun; steadying the boat and waiting; and taking aim.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art