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For the past 18 years, the Penn Reading Project has showcased books ranging from "Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography" to Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point."
For its 19th year, the Project highlights not a book, but a painting: Thomas Eakins' "The Gross Clinic."
Director David Fox says they chose the painting because it is a major work of art and a document of Philadelphia medical history. Additionally, Eakins was born in Philadelphia and studied and spent most of his career here.
Freshmen will gather with faculty leaders in early September to discuss the work as part of New Student Orientation.
Fox says books will always be the foundation of the project, but working with the Gross Clinic opens doors to other venues. "Specifically, the website we designed for Gross Clinic, which involved collaborative work with Penn faculty and others, is a model for how to work on future PRPs that can involve more than written texts," he says.
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