Artists on Artists Lecture Series

Today John Morra gave a wonderful lecture and slide show about Chardin and his influence on 18th century painting. This was the fourth lecture in the Artists on Artists Lecture Series, in which real contemporary artists come talk to us about their favorite historical artists. The lectures are open to the public, and we have cookies! The next one is TBA but I'll let you know ahead of time as soon as we find out.

In September, Sean Forester gave two lectures, the first was about Greek sculpture and it's influence on painting. The second was about 19th century Russian painters. Sean is Director of Art History and Humanities at The Florence Academy of Art.













Laocoön and his sons, also known as the Laocoön Group. Marble, copy after an Hellenistic original from ca. 200 BC.

Both lectures were very interesting and I especially enjoyed the Russians because Sean had these obscure academic drawings and paintings that are nearly impossible to find unless you go to Russia yourself. I have emailed him to see if I can get some of those images for this blog.

Portrait of the painter Ivan Shishkin, by Ivan Kramskoy

Last week, Leonard Porter gave a lecture and slide show about French painter Nicholas Poussin.

Self-Portrait by Nicolas Poussin, 1650, oil on canvas, 98 x 74 cm, Louvre

Night Classes for Figure Sculpture

Night & weekend classes are offered for drawing, painting and sculpture. For more information, click HERE. To sign up, contact Justine at grandcentralacademy@gmail.com

Sarah Lamb at the Spanierman Gallery

Sarah Lamb currently has a solo exhibition at the Spanierman Gallery in New York City. Her paintings will be up from October 10 - November 8. Sarah moved to New York in 1996 in order to study with Jacob Collins at the Water Street Atelier and has also taught workshops at the Grand Central Academy of Art.*
A painter primarily of still lifes, Lamb works in the tradition of the French eighteenth-century painter Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, conveying the sensuous beauty of familiar, everyday objects. Her images counter the glossy seductiveness of today’s sales’ catalogues, in which there is a constant pressure to stress the fresher, more fashionable, and unfamiliar in items offered for sale, with the result that our eyes become trained to consider the known to be ugly while the new is preferred. By contrast, Lamb’s images of glossy mussels, cut prosciutto, gleaming old bottles, cream puffs, and sliced watermelon, and her attention to subtleties of light and texture, allow us to see the beauty in the mundane and relax in an enjoyment of our everyday surroundings, both natural and manufactured, appreciating their rich experiences of form and color in quiet measure.

Sarah Lamb will be teaching a 3 day still life workshop this summer from June 29-July 1. To register, email grandcentralacademy@gmail.com

*In September 2008 Grand Central Academy & The Water Street Atelier merged to create one school.