Becoming An Artist features a remarkable selection of 28 works drawn from the Dahesh Museum of Art's distinguished collection, including paintings, sculptures, and works on paper by well-known academic masters: William Adolphe Bouguereau, Paul Delaroche, Henri Fantin-Latour, and Jean-Léon Gérôme, as well as their lesser-known but equally popular contemporaries.
The exhibition explores the technical and intellectual training offered by the internationally famous Paris art school, the école des Beaux-Arts. The flowering and international influence of the French Academy and the école des Beaux-Arts in the 19th century made Paris the artistic capital of the Western World, and aspiring artists flocked there. Those artists elected to the Academy virtually ruled the French art world, and acceptance at the école was a crucial step to a successful career.
The exhibition highlights the rigorous, broad-based curriculum that attracted students from France and abroad; the competitions that rewarded excellence; the hierarchy of preferred subject matter; and the unexpected variety of artistic expression generated by this exacting system.
WHERE: Grand Central Academy 20 W. 44th St (btw 5/6 ave.) 6th Floor
WHEN: Saturday March 27, 2010
TIME: 9:00am-12:00pm
COST: $5 if you sign up in advance. $9 at the door. (Advance sign-up strongly encouraged)
RSVP: colleenbarry2@gmail.com
The French Academy officially defined the ebauche as:
“The initial stage of the realization of a projected painting; the careful preparation, on broad lines of emphasis, the characteristic masses, forms, action, effect and color-scheme of the scene to be represented.”
-Albert Boime, The Academy & French Painting in the 19th Century
In 19th Century academic practice, the ebauche or lay-in, was considered fundamental to the success of a finished work. With an emphasis on breadth of form, a vigorous handling, and the tout ensemble, a successful ebauche can provide a strong foundation for subsequent re-paintings or stand alone as a finished piece.
Over the course of one week, students will complete a full-length figure painting working in this manner. Finishing area-by-area, students will be taught to observe correct proportion, anatomy, and color with a strong emphasis on form modeling. One-on-one instruction will be accompanied by demonstrations. Visual source material illustrating this technique will be provided.
This is a recently finished painting by GCA instructor Camie Davis. You can read more about the story behind this painting and follow Camie's work on her new blog. Camie teaches in the core program and she also offers a Saturday class on portrait drawing & painting. This summer she will be teaching a portrait drawing & painting workshop (july 19-30).
