Monday Morning Museum: Academic Art

Academic Art – Especially the French Academy and Nineteenth century art salons

Academic art is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. Specifically, academic art is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts. – Wikipedia.org

In addition to Jean-Léon Gérôme (see art example below), another prominent Academic Art practitioner is Adolphe-William Bouguereau.

La Nuit, circa 1850-1855, by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904)

Pour un plafond de chambre à coucher. Par son iconographie "La nuit", correspond peut-être à "Phoebé" exposé à Vésoul en 1897 à l'exposition locale des Beaux-Arts. Il semblerait être en rapport avec la décoration de la maison de l'acteur Jules François Got qui comportait 4 panneaux illustrant les saisons, exécutée par 4 artistes néo-grecs, dont Gérôme responsable de "l'Eté". Le thème de la nuit était peut-être un complément de ce décor. - Musée d’Orsay

Approximate translation:

For a bedroom ceiling. By iconography "Night" is perhaps "Phoebe" exhibited at Vesoul in 1897 at the local exhibition of Fine Arts. It seems to be related to the decoration of the house of the actor Jules François Got that included four panels depicting the seasons, executed by four neo-Greek artists, including Gérôme responsible for the "Summer". The theme of the night was perhaps a complement to this set.

Last Monday’s Art – Color Field Painting
Next Monday’s Art – Regionalism

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Monday Morning Museum: Adolphe-William Bouguereau

Self-Portrait, 1879 by Adolphe-William Bouguereau

Adolphe-William Bouguereau – Wednesday 30 November 1825 La Rochelle, France to Saturday 19 August 1905 La Rochelle, France

French Academic Painter

Breton Brother and Sister, 1871

“Bouguereau made his fortune by producing idyllic images of women and children for enthusiastic American collectors. As a critic of the time explained, "Whoever gets a picture by Bouguereau gets the full worth of his money, in finished painting, first-rate drawing, and a subject and treatment that no well-bred person can…fault."

This picture is one of several works that the artist based on sketches made while summering in Brittany in the late 1860s. It was completed in his studio in 1871; Catharine Lorillard Wolfe’s father, the real estate and hardware baron John David Wolfe (1792–1872), purchased the painting from the New York gallery M. Knoedler & Co. in November of that year, just six months before his death.” – Metropolitan Museum of Art

Last Monday’s Artist – Jules Bastien-Lepage
Next Monday’s Artist – James Abbott McNeill Whistler

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