An atelier () is the private workshop or

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

of a professional artist in the

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or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or visual art released under the master's name or supervision. Ateliers were the standard vocational practice for European artists from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, and common elsewhere in the world. In medieval Europe this way of working and teaching was often enforced by local guild regulations, such as those of the painters' Guild of Saint Luke, and of other craft guilds. Apprentices usually began working on simple tasks when young, and after some years with increasing knowledge and expertise became journeymen, before possibly becoming masters themselves. This master-apprentice system was gradually replaced as the once powerful guilds declined, and the academy became a favored method of training. However, many professional artists continued using students and assistants as they had been in ateliers; sometimes the artist paid the student-assistants, while sometimes they paid the artist fees to learn.Diana Davies (editor), ''Harrap's Illustrated Dictionary of Art and Artists'', Harrap Books Limited, (1990) In art, the atelier consists of a master

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

, usually a professional

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, sculptor, or architect—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. An atelier can also be the work and study space of a

haute couture ''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became th ...

fashion designer, hair stylist, or artists more generally. Atelier schools can be found around the world, particularly in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

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

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, 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 Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, ...

is the basis of painting, teaching a form of

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

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 The human body is the structure of a human being. It is composed of many different types of cells that together create tissues and subsequently organ systems. They ensure homeostasis and the viability of the human body. It comprises a he ...

. 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 (tools necessary during the training period), 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

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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 Robert Hale Ives Gammell (1893 – 1981) was an American artist best known for his sequence of paintings based on Francis Thompson's poem " The Hound of Heaven". Gammell painted symbolic images that reflected his study of literature, mythol ...

(1893–1981) 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 Charles Auguste Émile Durand, known as Carolus-Duran (Lille 4 July 1837 – 17 February 1917 Paris), was a French painter and art instructor. He is noted for his stylish depictions of members of high society in Third Republic France. Biograph ...

and

Léon Bonnat Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat (20 June 1833 – 8 September 1922) was a French painter, Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur and professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Early life Bonnat was born in Bayonne, but from 1846 to 1853 he lived in Ma ...

. These French masters were accomplished sight-size portraitists who conveyed to their pupils a devotion to the art of Velázquez. 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 William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female ...

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

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres - Sketch for Madame Moitessier - Google Art Project

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'' (c. 1613–1614 (drawn), 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 (1490s–1527), Mannerist (1520–1580),

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

(1600–1725), and

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

(1870s–1880s) painters, including Leonardo da Vinci, Degas,

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

, Raphael,

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

, 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 placed 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

(1846–1855). 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 Frederick Barnard (16 May 1846 – 28 September 1896) was an English illustrator, caricaturist and genre painter. He is noted for his work on the novels of Charles Dickens published between 1871 and 1879 by Chapman and Hall. Life and work ...

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...

Gustave Caillebotte Gustave Caillebotte (; 19 August 1848 – 21 February 1894) was a French painter who was a member and patron of the Impressionists, although he painted in a more realistic manner than many others in the group. Caillebotte was known for his early ...

, Suzor-Coté, Raoul Dufy, Thomas Eakins,

Aloysius O'Kelly Aloysius O'Kelly (3 July 1853 in Dublin – 12 January 1936) was an Irish painter. Early life Aloysius was born to John and Bridget O'Kelly in Peterson's Lane (now Lombard Street East), Dublin 3 July 1853. He was the youngest of four boys ...

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...

, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and

Marius Vasselon Marius Vasselon (1841–1924) was a French painter. He was the son of the painter Edouard Vasselon (1814–1884) and the brother of the painter Alice Vasselon. He would have been educated under Leon Bonnat Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish ...

Bonnat
Encyclopædia Britannica

Gallery

Image:Nicolas Poussin - L'Enlèvement des Sabines (1634-5).jpg,

Nicolas Poussin Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for a ...

, ''The Rape of the Sabine Women'' (1637) Metropolitan Museum of Art File:Gustave Caillebotte - Paris Street; Rainy Day - Google Art Project.jpg,

, ''

Paris Street, Rainy Day ''Paris Street; Rainy Day'' (french: Rue de Paris, temps de pluie) is a large 1877 oil painting by the French artist Gustave Caillebotte (1848–1894), and is his best known work.Hagen, 624 It shows a number of individuals walking through the Pla ...

'' (1877),

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

(Albi) La modiste, Melle Louise Blouet dite d'Enguin 1900 - Toulouse-Lautrec, MTL.212.jpg, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, ''The Milliner'' (1900) Image:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Before The Bath (1900).jpg, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, ''Before the Bath'' (1900) Image:Léon Bonnat - Job.jpg,

, ''Job'' (1880)

Notes and references