Old Masters Academy

Posts Tagged "realistic"

Realist Artist in the Studio

Realist Artist in the Studio

Sir John Everett Millais was an English painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Millais’ Christ In The House Of His Parents was highly controversial because of its realistic portrayal of a working class Holy Family labouring in a messy carpentry workshop. All early works were painted with great attention to detail, often concentrating on the beauty and complexity of the natural world. In paintings such as Ophelia Millais created dense and elaborate pictorial surfaces based on the integration of naturalistic elements. This approach has been described as a kind of “pictorial eco-system”. This style was promoted by the critic John Ruskin, who had defended the Pre-Raphaelites against their critics. Millais’ friendship with Ruskin introduced him to Ruskin’s wife Effie. Soon after they met she modelled for…

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The Famous Fine Artist and his Muse

The Famous Fine Artist and his Muse Emma Zorn. Emma Zorn (née Lamm, 1860-1942) came from a well-to-do middle class Stockholm family. Her father, Martin Lamm, was a wholesale textile merchant and her mother, Henriette, had the maiden name of Meyerson. They had three children Herman, Anna and Emma. The family, which was of Jewish descent, had very pronounced cultural interests and conducted an intense social life. There were many artists in their circle of friends and it was also through such an acquaintance that Emma met Anders Zorn who was of the same age. She happened to be babysitting for her nephew Nils when he was to be painted by Zorn in the winter of 1881. It turned out to…

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Victorian Classical Realist Painter

An English Classical Realist painter and sculptor. Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, an English Classical Realist painter and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical and classical subject matter. The Classical Realist movement is currently sustained through art schools based on the Atelier Method.  These 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…

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