Join us for conversations that inspire, recognize, and encourage innovation and best practices in the education profession.
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more.
Kuya-Shonin (Saint Kuya)
Artist / Origin: Kosho (Japan, active late 12th–early 13th century)
Region: East Asia
Date: Kamakura Period, early 13th century
Period: 1000 CE – 1400 CE
Material: Wood
Medium: Sculpture
Dimensions: H: 46 in. (117 cm.)
Location: Rokuharamitsuji Temple, Kyoto, Japan
The Thinker: Portrait of Louis N. Kenton
Artist / Origin: Thomas Eakins (American, 1844–1916)
Region: North America
Date: 1900
Period: 1800 CE – 1900 CE
Material: Oil on canvas
Medium: Painting
Dimensions: H: 82 in. (208.3 cm.), W: 42 in. (106.7 cm.)
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit: Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, John Stewart Kennedy Fund
Portraits often convey information about the identity of their subjects through tangible signs and symbols. Clothing, for example, might point to status, or props might indicate profession. Virtues or character are often represented through symbols. But some things are more difficult to represent. How, for instance, do we convey thought or the invisible sound of speech in a portrait? Kosho’s St. Kuya and Eakins’s Thinker offer two solutions.