Listen to a conversation between a student and her art History professor.

Professor: Hi, Lindsey. So, were you able to get to the museum to do the research for the class assignment? Student: Yes, but...um, now I can't find my backpack. Professor: Oh?

Student: The security guard at the museum thinks another student probably picked up mine by mistake since there was a school visiting there that day. Professor: Did it contain anything valuable?

Student: See, that's the thing, Professor. My class presentations on the painter Thomas Eakins. So I had interviewed the museum curator about Eakins, and after the interview, I put my recording device in my bag. Professor: OK?

Student: Then I went upstairs to look at Eakins’ paintings. And I set my bag on long benches, but I got distracted. I spent a lot of time taking notes and wandering through his exhibit. Those paintings were the only thing I actually wrote out notes on. See, I was planning to transcribe the recorded interview later, maybe also play some bits of it during my presentation in class. Uh...what am I supposed to do now? Professor: Hmm, let's see. What do you remember from the interview?

Student: I don't know. The curator had so many great insights, like why Eakins’ work didn't become famous until 40 years after his death. Professor: True. He was a very talented, prolific painter, yet almost nothing sold was even exhibited during his lifetime, if it weren't for his father supporting him financially.

Student: Yeah. And back then, in the late 1800s, early 1900s, when paintings of pretty scenes were fashionable, Eakins, he painted landscapes and portraits totally realistically, flaws and all. He also painted scenes that people didn't want to look at or expect to see in artwork, like a patient undergoing surgery. Professor: Not to mention Eakins’ personality, somewhat offbeat. Yes. Student: Yeah. The curator talked about that too, how it can kind of like, I don't know, a rebel--how he'd show up at a fancy restaurant for a meeting with, with, like, influential members of the art community, and he'd be wearing shabby, worn out clothes.

Professor: So what do you think turn things around as far as his paintings achieving respect and status later on? Student: I guess that was Eakins’ artistic innovation, his ability to shock. This became more popular by the mid 1900s, and the fancy restaurant, I mentioned, incidents like that, became more--art. Audience is kind of expected artists to be edgy and unconventional like that.

Professor: That's exactly my take on it as well. So, seems like you committed a lot of what the curator said to memory. Student: Guess I did. Professor: So why don't you write down what you remember now while it's still fresh? This, plus the notes you took while viewing Eakins’ paintings, seems to me you'll have more than enough to prepare your presentation.