Académie Carmen, also known as Whistler's School, was a short-lived Parisian art school founded by

James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

. It operated from 1898 to 1901.

History

The school opened in October 1898 in a large house and stable at No. 6 Passage Stanislas, near the Rue Notre Dame du Champs. The business side of the school was handled by Whistler's former model Carmen Rossi, for whom the school was named, and her musician husband. The number of students was limited to forty, most of whom were women.Elizabeth R. & Joseph Pennell, "The Académie Carmen," in ''The Life of James McNeill Whistler'' (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1911), pp. 373-8

/ref> More than half of them were American, "with several also coming from England, Ireland, and Scotland." Instructors for the first year were Whistler (painting) and American sculptor Frederick William MacMonnies (life drawing). Whistler taught without pay as a "visiting professor," and appeared once a week to offer criticism. Initially, all the students met in a single class. Whistler made his first appearance at the beginning of the second week, and, at his insistence, the students were separated into women's and men's classes. Experienced students were appointed teaching assistants. The women's class was led by Irish painter Inez Eleanor Bate for the length of the school's tenure. The men's class was led by a series of assistants—American painter Earl Stetson Crawford, Czech painter Alphonse Mucha, Italian painter Cyrus Cuneo, and lastly, American painter

Clifford Addams Clifford Isaac Addams (May 25, 1876 – November 7, 1942) was an American painter and etcher, and a protégé of James McNeill Whistler. Biography Addams was born in Woodbury, New Jersey, the son of Quaker wool merchant Wellington Isaac Add ...

. With a dearth of sculpture students, MacMonnies left after the first year. In a 1906 magazine article, Cuneo described Whistler's eccentricities, his inability to communicate effectively as a teacher, and his strong favoritism toward the women's class:Cyrus Cuneo, "Whistler's Academy of Painting, Some Parisian Recollections," ''The Pall Mall Magazine'', vol. 38, no. 163 (November 1906), pp. 531-4

/ref> "Instead of sitting down in the usual French fashion and giving each pupil in turn a clear and matter-of-fact criticism, Whistler airily picked his way amongst the easels, glancing here and there, ignoring some canvases altogether, greeting others with 'Yes—yes.' " "Whistler's methods and manner confused the average students who came, but his faith in his system was as great as the students' unbelief." Despite the prestige of his fame and reputation, many of the students dropped out. The frustration of the male students was expressed in a poem Whistler found scrawled on a wall of the men's studio:

''I bought a palette just like his,
His colours and his brush.
The devil of it is, you see,
I did not buy his touch.''

The frustration turned to resentment in the second year. Whistler's apprentice Inez Eleanor Bate recalled: " the latter part of the season he often refused to criticize in the men's class at all. He would call sometimes on Sunday mornings

hen the school was empty Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway * Hen, Buskerud, a village in Rin ...

and take out and place upon easels the various studies that had been done by the men the previous week, and often he would declare that nothing interested him among them and that he should not criticize that week, that he could not face the 'blankness' of the ''atelier''." By the third year, the men's life class was cancelled due to lack of students. Whistler was not always in good health, which may have accounted for many of his absences. His doctors recommended convalescence in a warmer climate, and he sent New Year's greetings for 1901 to the students from

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

. The school continued to struggle, and descended into quarrels and mistrust. "In the end, the want of confidence in him, his illness, and his absence broke up the school." Whistler announced its closing in a letter sent from Corsica, and read aloud to the students on April 6, 1901.Robyn Asleson, "The Idol and His Apprentices: Whistler and the Académie Carmen of Paris," in Linda Merrill, et al., ''After Whistler: The Artist and His Influence on American Painting'' (Atlanta, GA: High Museum of Art, 2003), pp. 74-84. Whistler's hopes of establishing an art school in London under the management of apprentices Inez Eleanor Bate and Clifford Addams, who married in 1900, were defeated by his continued poor health. He died in London on July 17, 1903, at age 69.

Students

*Lucien Abrams *

(tutor) * Alice Pike Barney *

Frederic Clay Bartlett Frederic Clay Bartlett (June 1, 1873 – June 25, 1953) was an American artist and art collector known for his collection of French Post-Impressionist and modernist art. Bartlett was committed to promoting the work of fellow contemporary artists ...

*Inez Eleanor Bate (tutor) *Carlotta Blaurock *

Simon Bussy Albert Simon Aimé Bussy (30 June 1870 – 22 May 1954) was a French painter who married the English novelist Dorothy Bussy. He knew and painted many members of the Bloomsbury circle. Biography Bussy was born in Dole and came from a family ...

*Blendon Reed Campbell * Alson S. Clark *Earl Stetson Crawford (tutor) *Cyrus Cuneo (tutor) *Edward Dufner *

Mary Foote Mary Foote (1872–1968) was an American painter and producer of notes of Carl Jung's seminars. As an artist, she lived and worked in New York's Washington Square Park, Washington Square, Paris and Peking. From 1928 to the 1950s she lived i ...

* Frederick Carl Frieseke *

Louise Elizabeth Garden MacLeod Louise Elizabeth Garden–MacLeod (1857–1944) English-born American artist and arts educator. In 1887, she co-founded the Los Angeles School of Art and Design with Mrs. J. Dalton Bond, this was the first art school in the area. History Lou ...

* Lillian Genth *Mary Hughitt Halliday * Paul Henry *Ilka Howells *Henry Salem Hubbell *Louise Williams Jackson * John Christen Johansen * Gwen John *

Lydia Longacre Lydia Eastwick Longacre (September 1, 1870 – June 19, 1951) was an American painter known especially for her portrait miniatures. Born in New York City, Longacre was the granddaughter of James Barton Longacre and the daughter of Reverend An ...

Will Hicok Low Will Hicok Low (March 31, 1853November 27, 1932) or Will Hicock Low was an American artist, muralist, and writer on art. Biography He was born at Albany, New York. In 1873 he entered the atelier of Jean-Léon Gérôme in the École des Beaux Art ...

*Alphonse Mucha (tutor) *

Mary Augusta Mullikin Mary Augusta Mullikin (born 1874 in Ohio; died 1964) was an American painter who spent almost 30 years in China from 1920 to the end of World War II. Member of the American Federation of Art. Joint author with Anna Hotchkis, also a painter, of ...

* Ida Nettleship * Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva * Lawton S. Parker *

Ambrose McCarthy Patterson Ambrose McCarthy Patterson (29 June 1877 – 26 December 1966) was a painter and printmaker. Life Patterson was born in Daylesford, Victoria. He studied at the Melbourne Art School under E. Phillips Fox and Tudor St. George Tucker, at the Nati ...

Hugh Ramsay Hugh Ramsay (25 May 1877 – 5 March 1906) was an Australian artist. Early life and education Ramsay was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 25 May 1877, the son of John Ramsay. He moved with his family to Melbourne in 1878. He was educated at Esse ...

Gwen Salmond Mary Gwendoline Salmond, also known as Gwen Salmond (1877–1958), was a 19th-century British artist. She was the daughter of Major General William Salmond and wife of Sir Matthew Smith. Early life Salmond was the daughter of Major General ...

*William Otis Swett *Nell Marion Tenison *

Eugene Paul Ullman Eugene Paul Ullman (March 27, 1877 in New York City – April 30, 1953 in Paris, France) was an American Impressionist painter. Biography He was the youngest of the five children of chemist and manufacturer Sigmund Ullman and Pauline Wimpfheimer. ...

*Mary van der Veer *Hans Albrecht von Harrach *Marie von Rietgenstein *

Emmi Walther Emmi Louise Walther (30 October 1860, Hamburg - 11 September 1936, Dachau) was a German painter, graphic artist and watercolorist. Most of her works are in the Art Nouveau or Symbolist styles. Biography She was born to a middle-class family ...

*Charles Henry White *

Alice Woods Alice Woods or Alice Augusta Woods (6 August 1849 – 7 January 1941) was a British educationist and college head. She was an advocate for co-education. Life Woods was born in Walthamstow on 6 August 1849 and she was brought up as a Quaker. Her ...

File:James McNeill Whistler - Rosa y oro la napolitana.jpg, ''La Napolitana'' – ''Carmen Rossi'' (1897) by James Whistler File:James McNeill Whistler 2.jpg, ''James Whistler'' (1898) by Alice Pike Barney File:Mary Foote, Oriental Girl with Doll, Oil on Canvas, 21.5 x 13.25 inches, c.1898-01.jpg, ''Japanese Girl with Doll'' (1898-1901) by Mary Foote File:AlfonsSelf.jpg, ''Self-Portrait'' (1899) by Alphonse Mucha File:Gwen John - Self-portrait (1900).jpg, ''Self-Portrait'' (1900) by Gwen John File:Hugh-ramsay-nude.jpg, ''Nude'' (1900) by Hugh Ramsay File:Self-Portrait, 1901, Frieseke.jpg, ''Self-Portrait'' (1901) by Frederick Carl Frieseke File:Eugene paul ullman, ritratto di madame fisher, 1904 ca.jpg, ''Madame Fisher'' (1904) by Eugene Paul Ullman

References

{{coord missing, France Art schools in Paris Educational institutions established in 1898 Educational institutions disestablished in 1901 James Abbott McNeill Whistler 1898 establishments in France 1901 disestablishments in France