Art Renewal Center^®

Leading the Revival of Realism

Leading the revival of realism in the visual arts, the Art Renewal Center® (ARC), a 501(c)(3), non-profit, educational foundation, hosts the largest online museum dedicated to representational art and includes works by the old masters, 19^th century, and 21st Century Artists as well as articles, letters and other online resources. The ARC is the foremost and only vetting service for representational art schools ensuring that the teaching curricula and quality of teacher and student work meet our strict standards to become ARC ApprovedR. The ARC also runs the ARC Salon Competition, which is the largest and most prestigious competition in the world for realist artists painting, sculpting and drawing today with eleven categories and thousands of works competing, culminating in a live exhibition of many of the winning works. The ARC works with other ARC Allied OrganizationsTM, artist groups, museums, and publications to become a central news hub for the 21^st Century Representational Art Movement. Read the ARC Philosophy written by ARC Chairman, Frederick C. Ross, to learn why ARC is so passionately dedicated to representational art.

Most Recent Blog

Cropsey, Wyeth, and the American Landscape Tradition Published on 5 December, 2025

A stunning example of Gilded Age patronage, Jasper Francis Cropsey’s Autumn in the Ramapo Valley, Erie Railway of 1873, has been in private British collections since it was commissioned the same year by Irish-American railroad magnate James McHenry. Seen by the public for the first time since 1873, the painting will be at the heart of a special exhibition, Cropsey, Wyeth, and the American Landscape Tradition.

Alongside this exceptional large-format Cropsey, additional works by Cropsey, Alfred Thompson Bricher, Albert Bierstadt, William Trost Richards, John Frederick Kensett, Mary Blood Mellen, Martin Johnson Heade, and more survey the nineteenth-century boom in landscape painting in the United States and the relationship to industry that was a key context at the heart of this movement. The exhibition continues through key works in the Brandywine and Wyeth Foundation collections, a clear line of descent traces the further development of American landscape art, via Homer, Bellows, and N.C. Wyeth to an especially rich flowering in the works of Andrew Wyeth.

The exhibition runs from October 4, 2025 - May 31, 2026 at the Brandywine Museum, 1 Hoffman's Mill Road, Chadds Ford, PA 19317.

Click here for more information.

Visit the ARC Calendar for more exhibitions.

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Museum

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The ARC Museum is the largest online museum dedicated completely to realist art work. It contains tens of thousands of images by thousands of artists and includes works by 19^th century and old master artists through our general search pages, as well as 21^st century realist works by our ARC Affiliated ArtistsSM.

News

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Our news section consists of two parts, the first being our News Blog where we post daily to keep our viewers informed on relevant topics about realist art and the second is our Events Calendar which is an interactive calendar listing of all the exciting realist art events taking place around the world including: exhibitions, lectures, open houses, competitions, artist demonstrations, video and podcast releases, publication releases, enrollment dates and more. The calendar can also be viewed in three ways, as a calendar, a general listing, or as a world map.

Education

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As a non-profit educational foundation, education is one of our primary goals. Here is where you can find our ARC ApprovedR School listing, ARChives where we have our articles, letters and more, The Da Vinci Initiative which focuses on skill-based learning in K-12 classrooms, artist interviews, artist demonstrations, podcasts, self help books and more.

About Us

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Find out more about the ARC and its staff. Learn about our mission and ARC philosophy. Find information on ARC Allied Organizations and how to contact us.

Competitions

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View the results of past and current ARC competitions or submit your entries here. The ARC holds two types of competitions. The ARC Scholarship Competition, held every May, gives thousands of dollars in direct financial aid to students attending ARC ApprovedR Schools. The International ARC Salon, the most prestigious realist art competition in the Americas and perhaps the world, offers over $100,000 in cash awards and International recognition through partnerships with prestigious magazines, galleries, museum exhibitions, and a strong online presence.