Atelier is the French word for "workshop" or "studio"; in English it is
used primarily for the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in
the fine or decorative arts, where a principal master and a number of
assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing pieces of
fine art or visual art released under the master's name or supervision.
This was the standard vocational practice for European artists from the
Middle Ages to the 19th century, and common elsewhere in the world. In
medieval Europe such a way of working and form of visual or fine art education
was often enforced by local guild regulations, of the painters' Guild of
Saint Luke, and those of other guilds for other crafts. Apprentices usually
began young, working on simple tasks, and after some years became journeymen,
before becoming masters themselves. The system was gradually replaced as the
once powerful guilds declined, and the academy became a favored method of
training, although many professional artists continued to use students and
assistants, some paid by the artist, some paying fees to learn.
In art, the atelier consists of a master artist, usually a professional painter,
sculptor, or from the mid-19th century a fine art photographer, working with a
small number of students to train them in visual or fine arts. This very word
has also taken on other similar meanings, indicating a place of work and
study of the haute couture fashion designer, hair stylist and artists in
general. Atelier schools can be found around the world, particularly in North
America and Western Europe. Although the methods vary, most painting
ateliers train students in the skills and techniques associated with creating
some form of representational art, the making of two-dimensional images that
appear real to the viewer. They traditionally include sessions for
drawing or painting nude art. Methods
= Sight-Size= Sight-Size is a method of drawing and
painting an object exactly as it appears to the artist, on a one-to-one scale.
The artist first sets a vantage point where the subject and the drawing
surface appear to be the same size. Then, using a variety of measuring
tools—which can include levels, mirrors, plumb bobs, strings, and sticks—the
artist draws the subject so that, when viewed from the set vantage point, the
drawing and the subject have exactly the same dimensions. When properly done,
sight-size drawing can result in extremely accurate and realistic
drawings. It can also be used to draw the exact dimensions for a model in
preparation for a painting. Ateliers following the sight-size method
generally agree that the practice of careful drawing is the basis of
painting, teaching a form of realism based upon careful observations of
nature with attention to detail. Using this method, students progress through a
series of tasks such as cast drawing, cast painting, drawing and painting from
the live model, and still life. Students must complete each task to the
instructor's satisfaction before progressing to the next. This system is
referred to as "systematic progression" or "systematic teaching and learning".
Atelier students often begin this progression by drawing plaster casts.
These casts are usually faces, hands, or other parts of the human anatomy.
Plaster casts provide some of the benefits of live, human models, such as
the presence of natural shadows. They also have their own distinct advantages:
they remain perfectly still and their white color allows the student to focus
on the pure, grayscale tones of shadows. One goal for sight-size students is to
gain enough skill to transfer an accurate image to the paper or canvas
without the aid of a mechanical device. Contemporary realist painter Adrian
Gottlieb notes that "while professional painters pursuing a full-time career
will develop an 'eye' that precludes the need for measuring devices and plumb
lines, the observation method itself is not abandoned - instead it becomes
second nature. Sight-size can be taught and applied in conjunction with a
particular sensitivity to gesture to create life-like imagery; especially
when applied to portraiture and figurative works."
Darren R. Rousar, former student of Richard Lack and Charles Cecil as well
as the author of Cast Drawing Using the Sight-Size Approach, agrees and defines
measuring in broad terms. He says that "a fully trained artist who uses
Sight-size might never use a plumb line or even consciously think about literal
measuring. He or she will strive toward achieving the same retinal impression in
the painting as is seen in nature." Art school owner Charles H. Cecil
writes: In reviving the atelier tradition, R. H.
Ives Gammell adopted sight-size as the basis of his teaching method. He founded
his studio on the precedent of private ateliers, such as those of Carolus-Duran
and Léon Bonnat. These French masters were accomplished sight-size
portraitists who conveyed to their pupils a devotion to the art of
Velázquez. It should be noted that Sargent was trained by both painters and
that, in turn, his use of sight-size had a major influence in Great Britain and
America. Art from ateliers using the sight-size
method is often reminiscent of Greek and Roman sculpture from classical
antiquity, such as the Apollo Belvedere. Paintings may favor the visual imagery
of the Neoclassical art of the mid-18th to 19th century. The sight-size method
also lends itself to styles of portraiture in which the artists desires
an accurate, natural, true to life or even near photographic image of the
sitter as is evident in the work of Bouguereau.
= Comparative measurement= The comparative measurement method
requires proportional accuracy, but allows the artist to vary the size of
the image created. This technique broadly encompasses any method of
drawing that involves making accurate measurements primarily using the naked
eye. In the early training period students may be aided by a pencil, brush
or plumb line to make comparisons, but there is no transfer of 1:1 measurements
from subject directly to paper. Schools that teach this method include The Water
Street Atelier and The Swedish Academy of Realist Art.
In his essay, "The Sight-size Method and its Disadvantages", the painter and
instructor Hans-Peter Szameit, of the Swedish Academy of Realist Art,
discusses the disadvantages of sight-size, describing it as essentially
the making of a mechanically produced image limited to one size, the "sight
size". = Illusion=
Another traditional atelier method incorporates the use of illusions that
fool the viewer into believing an image is accurate. This method is most often
taught in conjunction with advanced compositional theory. Since it is not
necessary to copy the subject accurately to achieve a successful illusion, this
method allows the artist to experiment with many options while retaining what
appears to be a realistic image. In one example, the Study of a male
figure, for Mercury descending, in The Education of Marie de' Medici), Rubens
has obscured the point where the legs attach to the torso. This is one factor
that contributes to the ease in which he is able to successfully experiment with
a variety of dramatically different leg placements. At least three sets of feet
are visible. The viewer is not disturbed by an illogical attachment if the
attachment is not visible and the resulting two-dimensional image is
pleasing to the eye. This allows the artist to choose from a great number of
very different alternatives, making his selection based on personal preference
or aesthetics rather than accuracy. In the referenced exercise it is possible
to experiment with numerous manipulations regarding the size and
placement of each part of the body while at the same time using a collection of
two-dimensional foreshortening illusions to retain the appearance of realism.
In addition to body parts, artists may rely on the manipulation of many other
elements to achieve a successful illusion. These can include: the
manipulation of color, value, edge characteristics, overlapping shapes, and
a number of different types of paint applications such as glazing and
scumbling. Work developed this way would not begin with a drawing, but rather the
placement of all relevant elements necessary for the success of the
illusions as well as the composition as a whole.
Many of the illusions designed to mimic reality also speed the painting process,
allowing artists more time to design and complete complex large scale works.
Individual students of this method study a diverse selection of old masters,
although many begin their studies with the High Renaissance, Mannerist,
Baroque, and Impressionist painters, including Leonardo da Vinci, Degas,
Michelangelo, Raphael, Rubens, and Titian. However, because the emphasis is
on creativity, it is often the design of the composition and the application and
use of materials that is studied with less focus on reproducing a particular
style or subject. Students of these ateliers will
therefore exhibit a wide range of personal styles and increasing amounts
of creative experimentation. The result is a group whose art is highly
individualized, with each student pursuing their own individual interests.
There was great diversity at the atelier of Léon Bonnat. Julius Kaplan
characterised Bonnat as "a liberal teacher who stressed simplicity in art
above high academic finish, as well as overall effect rather than detail."
Some of Bonnat's more notable students include: Fred Barnard, Georges Braque,
Gustave Caillebotte, Suzor-Coté, Raoul Dufy, Thomas Eakins, Aloysius O'Kelly,
John Singer Sargent, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Marius Vasselon
Gallery See also
Art Renewal Center Art Students League of New York
Eyebeam Art and Technology Center Hybrid image
National Academy of Design New York Academy of Art
Notes and references