Art Renewal Center

A Shot in the Arm

2009-10-28T02:08:00.000-07:00

Your site is AWESOME! Such a shot in the arm for those of us who are excited to see the resurgence of Classical Realism.

Thanks!

Joan Landes

http://joanlandes.wordpress.com/

Painting Identification Contest with $1000 Prize

2009-10-28T00:43:00.001-07:00

Who can identify the artist who painted this Impressionist work?

The painting on the right was created at the dawn of the Impressionist movement in 1875. Is it French, English, American, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, or something else? Feel free to write in and share your thoughts and take a wild guess or if you’re good at guessing authorship in fine art, take an educated guess. Identify the artist and win the $1,000 prize.

Conditions: ARC Staff members and anyone who owns or has owned the painting or has discussed it with any of us in the past few months are disqualified. One entry per person. The first to send the correct answer wins! The contest will end at midnight on November 15 if nobody guesses correctly. Send your answers to contest@artrenewal.org

Identify this painting and win $1,000!

ARC Salon™ Catalogues Available as a Set

2009-10-19T13:19:00.000-07:00

All four ARC Salon™ Catalogues are now available as a set.
Click here to take advantage of this opportunity to purchase these beautiful full-color exhibition books of all the Winners and Finalists from the 2008-09, 2007, 2006 and 2005 International ARC Salon™ Competitions.

New Article: 'Classical Realism' by Stephen Gjertson

2009-10-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

ARC Living Master™ Stephen Gjertson defines the term and origins of Classical Realism, a movement which continues today.

Click Here to read the article:
Classical Realism
by Stephen Gjertson

Click Here to Order
the Richard Lack biography by Stephen Gjertson

Richard Lack Public Memorial

2009-10-06T08:52:00.001-07:00

Public Tribute, Memorial Service and Exhibition:

Sunday, November 1, 2009
2:00 to 5:00 p.m.
The Landscape Arboretum
3675 Arboretum Drive
Chaska, Minnesota 55318
952-443-1400

"Richard F. Lack is one of the most significant artists of the second half of the 20th century. While the non-traditional artistic endeavors of his contemporaries drew attention from the artistic and public press, Lack passionately pursued his career within the great tradition of Western art. His work exhibits to a high degree those qualities that characterize notable works of the past: sensitive rendering of the phenomena of the visible world, balanced and harmonious composition and skillful craftsmanship. Lack spent his lifetime endeavoring to achieve these qualities in his work. In the process he created an art of immense richness and beauty.

Richard Lack was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on March 26, 1928..."
Click here to read the rest of this tribute to Richard F. Lack by Stephen Gjertson, author of: Richard F. Lack: An American Master.

ARC Living Masters Ted Seth Jacobs and Dan Thompson at BACAA

2009-10-06T08:13:00.001-07:00

Danae by Ted Seth Jacobs
Restructured Realism with ARC Living Master™ Ted Seth Jacobs
ARC Approved™ Atelier: BAACA 30 minutes south of San Francisco
November 9–December 18, 2009 January 4-Feb 12. 2010
Click here to sign up for: Two Six week or One 3 Month program.
ARC Living Master™Dan Thompson Figure Drawing Workshop
October 26 - October30, 2009 Click here to sign up.

Max Ginsburg Workshop at Salmagundi Club

2009-10-06T07:44:00.000-07:00

Max Ginsburg, a finalist and winner of the Chairman's Choice award in the 2008-09 ARC Salon for his Tire Swing will be holding a workshop at the Salmagundi Club this month.
"Painting a Head From Life" Workshop with Max Ginsburg
October 24-25 9:30 - 4:00
Salmagundi Club 47 5th Avenue NYC
212-255-7740

Technical Column by ARC Master™ Virgil Elliott

2009-10-05T13:13:00.000-07:00

ARC Master Virgil Elliot has updated his Technical Column on ARC.
" Since I wrote my previous technical column, several important discoveries have been made that serious oil painters should know about. "
Click here for this new information.

Virgil Elliott is author of:
Traditional Oil Painting
Advanced Techniques and Concepts from the Renaissance to the Present

"Traditional Oil Painting"
by Virgil Elliot
Click Here to order yours now.

Richard F. Lack Has Passed Away

2009-10-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

Thoughts on Richard Lack

I'm so very sad to hear this.

Richard more than any other single artist and teacher picked up the torch when Ives Gammell passed away in 1981.

I know the entire community of traditional and classically trained artists will mourn his passing.

It's so ironic that only a few days before Richard Lack passed away, (Lack was Ives Gammell's most influential student), I just discovered the letter Ives Gammell sent to me in 1981 in which he demonstrated his support for the programs and projects we were working on that lead to the Art Renewal Center®.
- ARC Chairman, Fred Ross

Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness regarding the legacy of Richard Lack. Lack along with R H Ives Gammell gave themselves so totally to the cause of reestablishing the very high standards of painting that today we are seeing the results of this huge undertaking. They trained only a handfull of students at a time for several years and began from the very beginning with the study of antique casts to figure drawing and still life, never to rush ahead, until each were mastered sufficiently. They never compromised in the wake of contemporary critics with modernist viewpoints where discipline or standards mattered little.

His leadership cannot be overstated. Even as students would leave and move along in their own careers Lack once again took up the challenge of organizing the artists into a cohesive body
and eventually coigned the tag 'Classical Realism'. His personal charm and dedication molded the group for years to follow, bringing together talented people of many other areas to organize museum and gallery shows and publish written material in newsletters and books. He took great pride in the accomplishments of his many students and the mutual respect of the artists that today enjoy the benefits of his labors.

Lastly, along with these important efforts by Richard Lack and R H Ives Gammell, it took the business savvy of Fred Ross and his own tireless efforts, as a collector and champion of bringing back
recognition of academic painting, to help reshape a renewed interest in these high standards of painting. His own personal interest in making sure art of such great painters like Bouguereau, Gerome, Lefebvre and many others of the 19th century never go unnoticed again. To this end Fred Ross has given much needed support and encouragement through ARC. where several of Richard Lack's former pupils shine as artists within a legacy.

Richard Lack will be greatly missed. His legacy and example will be an inspiration for all of us.

Allan

(ARC Living Master, Allan Banks)

About Richard Lack:

Richard Lack was a man of courage willing to stand up and be counted during the height of academic and critical pressures condemning realism. He created the name Classical Realism. This name has been gratefully taken up and proudly carried forth by those of us trying to keep the flame of realism ever brighter. Richard Lack gathered up almost dying embers so that we had access to blowing our creativity upon them and nurturing them back into accessible brilliance. Thank you, Richard Lack.

David Hardy

(ARC Living Master)

Painting Identification Contest with $1,000 Prize

2009-10-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

Who can identify the artist who painted this Impressionist work?

Identify this painting and win $1,000!

Richard Lack Biography by Stephen Gjertson

2009-10-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

Richard F. Lack passed away on September 22, 2009. The Art Renewal Center® has decided to make the Richard Lack biography by ARC Master Stephen Gjertson available through the ARC Store for those who would like to know more about this highly influencial artist/teacher.

Click Here to Order

Lost Ives Gammell Letter Found

2009-09-30T23:35:00.000-07:00

"It’s so ironic that only a few days before Richard Lack passed away, (Lack was Ives Gammell’s most influential student), I just discovered the letter Ives Gammell sent to me in 1981 in which he demonstrated his support for the programs and projects we were working on that lead to the Art Renewal center."

--Fred Ross from his article about the rediscovery of the lost letter from Ives Gammell

Click here to read the rest of the article and see the letter.

Richard Lack Obituary

2009-09-28T13:20:00.001-07:00

Richard Lack founded Classical Realist style
MARY ABBE, Star Tribune

Twin Cities artist Richard F. Lack, who launched a national renaissance in traditional drawing and painting, died Tuesday at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park from complications due to pneumonia. He was 81 and lived in Minnetonka.

The death was announced Wednesday by family members.

Known for his warm, dignified portraits, floral still lifes and landscapes, Lack was a champion of old-school artistic values -- illusionistic perspective, accurate modeling and naturalistic color -- at a time when avant-garde iconoclasm dominated the art world.

His portrait commissions included six members of the Kennedy family, Minnesota governors Wendell Anderson and Albert Quie, as well as prominent Minneapolis businessmen and educators. One of his most enjoyable commissions came in 1989 from the future Earl of Wilmot, an Englishman who provided Lack and his wife, Katherine, with a chauffeur and lodging for two months in the Wilmots' London townhouse while Lack painted Diana, the earl's young wife.

"At first I was a little uneasy," Lack told his biographer, because Wilmot ancestors had been painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir Godfrey Kneller, two of the greatest portraitists of the 18th century. But the portrait was a success and "we were quite pampered," he said.

In the Twin Cities, he is best known as the founder of Atelier Lack, a studio-school he ran in the Hennepin-Lake neighborhood from 1969 until his retirement in 1992. Modeled on 19th-century French academic principles combined with Boston-style impressionism, the school offers a four-year program of day and evening classes in figure studies, portraiture, color theory and anatomy. It is now run by two former pupils who renamed it the Atelier and moved it to northeast Minneapolis.

"He was a fantastic teacher who gave us the eyes to see and the knowledge, tools and skills to be professional artists," said Stephen Gjertson, a former pupil who taught at Atelier Lack for 16 years and wrote Lack's 2001 biography.

Born March 26, 1928, in Minneapolis, Lack graduated from Roosevelt High School. He studied briefly at the Minneapolis School of Art, now the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, before heading to New York and then Boston in search of more traditional instruction. From 1950 to 1956 he studied with R. H. Ives Gammell, a legendary Boston art educator. During that period he also spent two years in the U.S. Army and met his future wife, Katherine Vietorisz, a Hungarian-born graphic designer and jewelry maker.

Lack exhibited widely throughout the United States, including at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 1990 and the Maryhill Museum of Art in Goldendale, Wash., which staged a retrospective in 1988. A prolific writer of reviews and instructional essays, he coined the term "Classical Realism" in 1982 to differentiate his approach from other styles, and helped found the American Society of Classical Realism to further the cause.

His last exhibition, at the Bloomington Art Center in January, included a series of monumental imaginative paintings on Jungian themes that he had worked on for more than 20 years. "He was a seminal force in the revival of interest in academic art, and his paintings have such personal meaning that they will have a lasting influence for years to come," said Gabe Weisberg, a University of Minnesota art history professor.

Besides his wife and daughter, Lack is survived by sons Michael and Peter. Memorial service arrangements are pending.

Grand Central Academy Fall Classes

2009-09-28T10:52:00.000-07:00

Visit grandcentralacademy.classicist.org/
For Details of Fall Classes at
ARC Approved Grand Central Academy in NYC.

LAAFA Registration: Classes Start January 4, 2010

2009-09-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

ARC Approved LAAFA is now accepting applications for their Winter Atelier Program
Classes start January 4th, 2010. Application deadline is October 23rd, 2009.
LAAFA offers a realist diploma program to Atelier students.
Now, in addition to the complete linear progression of classes provided in the regular curriculum for Atelier students, all Atelier students also have unlimited access to all LAAFA sessions classes and workshops.
The student may customize the program to his/her own interests and artistic goals.
Visit the LAAFA Website: www.laafa.org

Music Renewal?

2009-08-16T01:09:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr Ross,

I wanted to write to thank you for your website, Art Renewal Center. I have long been disappointed in much contemporary art, and have always been attracted to the beauty of the old masters (and now, through your website, learned of living ones!). I am not a visual artist, however, but a musical one. Reading your articles, I felt very much at home as, similarly, much contemporary 'classical' music has been a let-down, to say the least. Indeed, as a composer, I have felt continual pressure not to write tonal music, but to go the atonal route of modern composers. While I do not discount all this music, and have come to see more value in it than I did, say, 10 years ago as an undergraduate student, my masters will always be Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, and many others; craftsmen in their field: not simply pseudo-artists trying to do something weird or new for weirdness or newness' sake.

Your site has encouraged me to continue to compose as I see fit, and has reminded me that it is perfectly OK to love beautiful art and beautiful music.

Sincerely,

Stephen Pompa

The Committee to Write the Catalogue Raisonne on William Bouguereau has finished its work.

2009-07-27T13:43:00.000-07:00

Catalogue Raisonne Update: The Committee to Write the Catalogue Raisonne on William Bouguereau 1825-1905 has completed its work; the committee will accept no further additions to the publication.

This Herculean effort spanning 30 years was undertaken by a determined team of 19th Century Art experts, set to fill the void of information on Bouguereau, one of history’s greatest masters.

The contents are now in the publisher's hands. The Antique Collector's Club will be giving us the release date as soon as possible. The announcement will be forthcoming.

The Catalogue Raisonne which is due to be jointly published by Art Renewal Center® and the Antique Collectors Club, includes information on all of William Bouguereau's 826 known paintings, as well as the entire 600 page biography written by Damien Bartoli, along with an introduction by Fred Ross, ARC Chairman and President of the Bouguereau Committee.

You may still pre order a Bouguereau Catalogue Raisonne or pay the balance on your deposit at ARC Store, the e-commerce site for Art Renewal Center, a 501c3 Educational Foundation.
Click here for articles and more information on William Bouguereau.

ARC Approved BACAA Drawing and Painting Workshop

2009-07-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

ARC Approved Atelier™ Bay Area Classical Artist Atelier is very proud to announce:
Jon deMartin: Life drawing from the figure and the head
August 31-September 4, 2009Application for Jon deMartin Life Drawing Workshop
Application for Michael Grimaldi Figure Painting Workshop 8/17-28/09
Click here for more information about BACAA.

Julie Reclining
by Jon deMartin

New Joaquin Sorolla y Batista Exhibition Catalog

2009-07-27T10:52:00.000-07:00

Joaquin Sorolla y Batista Exhibition Catalog
A new 536 - page hardcover catalog has been published and printed in Spain for the opening of the Sorolla Exhibition at the Prado May 26, 2009.

This new volume is rendered with the highest quality materials in both printing and binding. The English edition, 9 1/2" x 12" also includes 300 images in full color. Sorolla's daughter Maria graces the dust jacket.

The price is $119, plus USA shipping.

Click here to order.

Call for Entries: International 2009/2010 ARC Salon 6th Annual Competition

2009-07-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

Call for Entries
The Art Renewal Center's
International 2009/2010 ARC Salon™

Win International Recognition Overnight
Have your work seen by 5.5 Million Yearly Visitors
More than $48,000 in Awards
Now with more Awards and the newly added Category of Animal Art
Award Winners and Finalists will be featured on the
Art Renewal Center website and in our full color catalogue.

Awards
Best in Show: $10,000 cash award plus gallery space in the Museum section of the ARC’s website. Gallery space will include the artist’s biographical information accompanied by 1 to 5 web pages of the artist’s finest works. The winner will also gain automatic acceptance as an ARC Approved Artist with exemption from the application process and $150 application fee..

The William Bouguereau Award - Emotion, Theme, and the Figure: $3,000

6 First Place Awards: $2,500 awarded in each category
6 Second Place Awards: $1,000 awarded in each category
6 Third Place Awards: $500 awarded in each category

Chairman's Choice Award: 2 Awarded at $500 each

ARC Staff Award: 4 Awarded at $100 each

Minimum of $10,000 in Purchase Awards
Works do not have to be for sale to be eligible for the competition. Purchase awards will be chosen from the finalists by our four judges and awarded at the sole discretion of the ARC's Chairman, Fred Ross.

30 Honorable Mentions: Award winners will receive an Award Certificate and have their winning artwork accompanied by their name displayed on the ARC website.

Top 100 Finalists will have their entry accompanied by their name displayed on the ARC website and will also be featured in the 2009/2010 ARC Salon™ Catalog.

You can download entry forms in either PDF or Microsoft Word format.

For more details click here for the ARC Salon Prospectus section.

Entry Deadline: Entries must be postmarked no later than October 31, 2009

"Traditional Oil Painting" by Virgil Elliot is now available through ARC

2009-07-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

Art Renewal Center® is pleased to offer:

"Traditional Oil Painting"
Advanced Techniques and Concepts from the Renaissance to the Present

by ARC Living Master™ Virgil Elliot.
Click Here to order yours now.

ARC Museum: 10 New Images Added

2009-07-22T16:23:00.000-07:00

Ten new works of art have been added to the ARC Museum so far today, including pieces by the following artists:

Frederick Hendrik Kaemmerer
Henriette Ronner-Knip
Ferdinand Carl Sierig
Jan Zoetelief Tromp
Jacobus Van Der Stok
Salomon Leonardus Verveer
Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch
George Pieter Westenberg

More new works of art are scheduled to be added each day this week. Be sure to check back soon.

Urban Larsson is now an ARC Living Artist™

2009-07-22T13:51:00.001-07:00

Urban Larsson studied Art History at the University of Stockholm, Architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, then Drawing and Painting in Florence, Italy, at the Studio Cecil & Graves. After his studies in Florence, he moved to Amsterdam to settle as a painter. His portraits are painted only from life through sittings and in a tradition that has evolved over more than four centuries – sight-size.

Click here to view the Urban Larsson Gallery.

Spanish Woman
by Urban Larson

ARC Museum: 14 New Images Added

2009-07-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

Fourteen new works of art have been added to the ARC Museum so far today, including pieces by the following artists:

Edward Burne-Jones
William Callow
James Charles
Sir George Clausen
Walter Crane
Myles Birket Foster, R.W.S.
Frederick Daniel Hardy
Henry Moore
Charles Rossiter
John William Waterhouse

More new works of art are scheduled to be added today.

This post will be updated throughout the day as more images are made available, so check back soon!

Frank Mason Has Passed Away

2009-07-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

Frank Mason, legendary artist and instructor passed away on the morning of June 16th, 2009. The funeral service was held at Grace Church in New York on Saturday, June 27th.

Frank was an ARC Living Master™ and has continuously placed in the International ARC Salon.

All of us here at ARC extend our sincerest condolences to Ann Mason and their family.

For more information about the life and work of Frank Mason click here.

Amy
by Frank Mason