GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The Art Students League was founded in 1875 in reaction to the National Academy of Design’s plan to remove life drawing from the curriculum. It grew rapidly in its first year, helmed by Lemuel E. Wilmarth as its first president. The League was funded purely by membership fees, allowing the institution a degree of independence. Life drawing courses were the cornerstone of the curriculum and offered every week day, included dedicated life drawing sessions for women, even instituting the first co-ed life drawing class in 1898.
The League was organized as a collection of studios overseen individually by artists—this organizational structure remains. It has always been run by artists, without degrees or a prescribed curriculum. John Sloan studied with George Bellows; Isabel Bishop with Max Weber; Georgia O’Keeffe with William Merritt Chase and Kenyon Cox. The League integrated as early as 1907 and trained many young African American Artists who came to New York to participate in the Harlem Renaissance. Also in the 1930s, the League invited George Grosz to speak, expediting his emigration from Nazi Germany.
After the second World War, Donald Judd and Robert Rauschenberg were among the thousands of new students who enrolled thanks to the GI Bill. The East Village art scene in the 1980s attracted a new wave of students, including Ai Weiwei. Other faculty members, lecturers, and students have included Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Thomas Eakins, Childe Hassam, Thomas Hart Benton, Alexander Calder, Helen Frankenthaler, Barnett Newman, Norman Rockwell, Winslow Homer, Man Ray, Jackson Pollock, Louise Nevelson, Roy Lichtenstein, Mark Rothko, and Cy Twombly.
Rebecca Singerman, 2018-2019 McDermott Graduate Intern for American Art
Drawn from
- William Rudolph, DMA unpublished material.
- The History of the Art Students League of New York, and Jillian Russo, “A Short History of the Art Students League as an Artistic Community,” The Masters: Art Students League Teachers and their Students (New York: The Art Students League, 2018).
NOTES
Deleted TMS tags for 1910.3; 1933.23; 1935.57; 1945.14; 1945.34; 1952.16; 1960.125; 2003.48;
Rebecca Singerman worked on this note.
Left as #draft and #routed at the end of the D3C project. At Becky's request at the end of her internship, I have read and am marking the note as #complete so that it is available online for her to use as a published essay. (EAS 5/7/2019)
Tennant
Austin
Zorach
Hoffman
Mora
Henri
Hawthorne
Chase
Eisenlohr (summer class at Woodstock, 1909)
Stell
Julian Onderdonk
The story of the genesis of the Art Students League is a partisan one, depending on the teller. What is clear is that the split was provoked when the administration announced that the contract of one of the instructors, Lemuel Wilmarth (1835-1918), would not be renewed and that the Life School would be closed. Because students were expected to complete the life class before entering the final sequence in the Painting School, many of them were, as a result, not at all sure that they would be able to complete their studies.
The new Art Students League stressed life studies from the beginning. The successful student applicant submitted a drawing made either from life or from the antique. After this, for five dollars each month, he or she attended a daily three-hour life drawing class, scheduled for morning or evening, depending on gender. By the second season, when a record 135 students enrolled, the curriculum had expanded to offer two men's life classes in the morning or evening, a woman's life class in the afternoon, and co-ed portrait classes three times a week, in addition to a daily sketch class.
The League's emphasis on drawing from life was in line with modern European methods of instruction—particularly those of the French ateliers then attracting record numbers of American students. In 1878 the newly hired Walter Shirlaw (1838-1909) brought in the influence of Munich, which was strengthened with the appointment, the same year, of William Merritt Chase, probably the most celebrated exponent of the German school, who had created a critical mass of interest, thanks to several dramatic portraits he had sent to New York for exhibition.
Excerpt from
Rudolph, William. Julian Onderdonk and WIlliam Merritt Chase Texas Through the Lens of Long Island in book Julian Onderdonk American Impressionist
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- The Art Students League of New York~Learn more about the history of the Art Students League.
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- When the Art Students League opened in 1875, it cost $5 each month. Students attended a daily three-hour life drawing class: men in the morning, women in the afternoon. The following year, enough students were enrolled that an additional life drawing class was added for men in the evening. There were also co-ed portrait classes three times a week, and a daily sketching class.
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General Description
The Art Students League was founded in 1875 in reaction to the National Academy of Design’s plan to remove life drawing from the curriculum. It grew rapidly in its first year, helmed by Lemuel E. Wilmarth as its first president. The League was funded purely by membership fees, allowing the institution a degree of independence. Life drawing courses were the cornerstone of the curriculum and offered every week day, included dedicated life drawing sessions for women, even instituting the first co-ed life drawing class in 1898.
The League was organized as a collection of studios overseen individually by artists—this organizational structure remains. It has always been run by artists, without degrees or a prescribed curriculum. John Sloan studied with George Bellows; Isabel Bishop with Max Weber; Georgia O’Keeffe with William Merritt Chase and Kenyon Cox. The League integrated as early as 1907 and trained many young African American Artists who came to New York to participate in the Harlem Renaissance. Also in the 1930s, the League invited George Grosz to speak, expediting his emigration from Nazi Germany.
After the second World War, Donald Judd and Robert Rauschenberg were among the thousands of new students who enrolled thanks to the GI Bill. The East Village art scene in the 1980s attracted a new wave of students, including Ai Weiwei. Other faculty members, lecturers, and students have included Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Thomas Eakins, Childe Hassam, Thomas Hart Benton, Alexander Calder, Helen Frankenthaler, Barnett Newman, Norman Rockwell, Winslow Homer, Man Ray, Jackson Pollock, Louise Nevelson, Roy Lichtenstein, Mark Rothko, and Cy Twombly.
Rebecca Singerman, 2018-2019 McDermott Graduate Intern for American Art
Drawn from
- William Rudolph, DMA unpublished material.
- The History of the Art Students League of New York, and Jillian Russo, “A Short History of the Art Students League as an Artistic Community,” The Masters: Art Students League Teachers and their Students (New York: The Art Students League, 2018).
Fun Facts
- When the Art Students League opened in 1875, it cost $5 each month. Students attended a daily three-hour life drawing class: men in the morning, women in the afternoon. The following year, enough students were enrolled that an additional life drawing class was added for men in the evening. There were also co-ed portrait classes three times a week, and a daily sketching class.
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Deleted TMS tags for 1910.3; 1933.23; 1935.57; 1945.14; 1945.34; 1952.16; 1960.125; 2003.48;
Rebecca Singerman worked on this note.
Left as #draft and #routed at the end of the D3C project. At Becky's request at the end of her internship, I have read and am marking the note as #complete so that it is available online for her to use as a published essay. (EAS 5/7/2019)
Tennant
Austin
Zorach
Hoffman
Mora
Henri
Hawthorne
Chase
Eisenlohr (summer class at Woodstock, 1909)
Stell
Julian Onderdonk
The story of the genesis of the Art Students League is a partisan one, depending on the teller. What is clear is that the split was provoked when the administration announced that the contract of one of the instructors, Lemuel Wilmarth (1835-1918), would not be renewed and that the Life School would be closed. Because students were expected to complete the life class before entering the final sequence in the Painting School, many of them were, as a result, not at all sure that they would be able to complete their studies.
The new Art Students League stressed life studies from the beginning. The successful student applicant submitted a drawing made either from life or from the antique. After this, for five dollars each month, he or she attended a daily three-hour life drawing class, scheduled for morning or evening, depending on gender. By the second season, when a record 135 students enrolled, the curriculum had expanded to offer two men's life classes in the morning or evening, a woman's life class in the afternoon, and co-ed portrait classes three times a week, in addition to a daily sketch class.
The League's emphasis on drawing from life was in line with modern European methods of instruction—particularly those of the French ateliers then attracting record numbers of American students. In 1878 the newly hired Walter Shirlaw (1838-1909) brought in the influence of Munich, which was strengthened with the appointment, the same year, of William Merritt Chase, probably the most celebrated exponent of the German school, who had created a critical mass of interest, thanks to several dramatic portraits he had sent to New York for exhibition.
Excerpt from
Rudolph, William. Julian Onderdonk and WIlliam Merritt Chase Texas Through the Lens of Long Island in book Julian Onderdonk American Impressionist
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