Guarisco Gallery 2012

Academic Art he term Academic denotes a traditional style of painting based on the realistic interpretation of subject matter, and specifically references the highly finished style of painting taught at the official art academies of Europe. Admission to the academies was highly competitive and artists had to follow a rigorous course of training based on drawing. The 19 th century was the “golden age” of academies and witnessed the fullest expression of Academic art. In France, talented Academic painters were exhibited at the official Salon in Paris where they might receive subsequent endorsement by the state through awards or purchase of their artwork. omen were excluded from the formal academies of Europe and from many private training studios as well. It was not until the last quarter of the 19 th century that the Académie Julian, a private studio in Paris, followed by the École des Beaux-arts, allowed women to enroll. T W CHARACTERISTICS: * Precision and technical skill based on fundamental drawing. * Complete and well-balanced compositions, often panoramic, but always with a foreground, middleground, and background, composed to converge in the center of the picture. * Blending colors on the palette before applying to the canvas. * Applying these blended colors in multiple layers rather than as flat single layer surfaces. This technique is called glazing. * Painting indoors in an atelier, or studio, after intense studying of and preparation for the subject. * Strict and well-defined dark outlines of subject matter. At the end of the 19th century the realistic style of painting, or Realism, was perfected. A perfect picture included outstanding technical skill and craftsmanship, an exceptional and well-balanced composition, and the depiction of natural light. These elements combined produced the most perfect examples of 19th-century Academic painting.