Classical Realism

This article refers to the art movement. For information on Classical Realism in International Relations, see Realism (international relations)

Classical Realism (also referred to as "New York Classicism") refers to an artistic movement in late 20th Century painting that places a high value upon skill and beauty, combining elements of 19th Century Neoclassicism and Realism.

Classical Realist painters have attempted to revive methods of artistic training and techniques that pre-date Modern Art. To this end, they seek to create paintings with a high degree of craftsmanship. Popular subject matter within this genre includes figurative and still life paintings.

A central idea of Classical Realism is the belief that the Modern Art movements of the 20th century caused a disruption in the understanding of art production as it was first conceived in the Classical period, resurrected in the Renaissance, and carried down through the academies to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

History

Origins

The term "Classical Realism" was originally used in the title of a 1982 exhibition by Richard Lack, a pupil of R. H. Ives Gammell (1893-1981). The movement traces its lineage from Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904) through William Paxton (1869-1941) of the Boston school.

By 1985 Richard Lack had begun publishing Classical Realism Quarterly, with articles written by Lack and his students, aiming to inform the public about traditional realist painting.

Style

Classical Realist style is characterized by a love for the visible world and the great traditions of Western art, including Classicism, Realism and Impressionism. The movement’s aesthetic is Classical in that it exhibits a preference for order, beauty, harmony and completeness; it is Realist because its primary subject matter comes from the representation of nature based on the artist’s observation.

Schools

The Classical Realist movement is currently sustained through art schools based on the Atelier Method. Richard Lack is generally regarded as the founder of the contemporary atelier movement. His school, Atelier Lack, was founded in 1969 and became a model for similar schools. These modern ateliers are founded with the goal of revitalizing art education by reintroducing rigorous training in traditional drawing and painting techniques, employing teaching methodologies that were used in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. These schools pass on a method of instruction which melds formal Academic art training with the influence of the French Impressionists.

Under the atelier model, art students study in the studio of an established master to learn how to draw and paint with realistic accuracy and an emphasis on rendering form convincingly. The foundation of these programs rests on an intensive study of the human figure, renderings of plaster casts of classical sculpture, and the emulation of their instructors. The goal is to make students adept at observation, theory, and craft while absorbing classical ideals of beauty.

Atelier schools founded in this tradition include (in chronological order of founding):

• The Atelier Studio Program of Fine Art, Minneapolis (1971)
• Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, Old Lyme, Connecticut (1976)
• Charles H. Cecil Studios, Florence (1983)
• Gage Academy of Art, Seattle (1989)
• Florence Academy of Art, Italy (1991)
• School of Representational Art, Chicago (1991)
• Studio Escalier, Argenton-Chateau, France (2001)
• Grand Central Academy of Art, New York (2006)

Major Artists

• Aviano, Michael (1927 -)
• Cecil, Charles H. (1945- )
• Collins, Jacob (1964 - )
• Graves, Daniel (1949 - )
• Grimaldi, Michael (1971 - )
• Jacobs, Ted Seth (1927 - )
• Lack, Richard (1928 -)
• Parrish, Graydon (1970 - )
• Ryder, Anothony (1957 - )

External links

• Open Directory Project listing of Classical Realist painters
• The Legacy of Richard Lack
• Slow Painting: A Deliberate Renaissance (Oglethorpe University Museum of Art, 2006)
• The New Old School, by James Panero
• The Art Renewal Center