The New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture at 8 West 8th Street, in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. sta ...

is an

art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-second ...

formed in 1963 by a group of students and their teacher,

Mercedes Matter Mercedes Matter (née Carles; 1913 – December 4, 2001) was an American painter, draughtswoman, and writer. She was a founding member of the American Abstract Artists, and the Founder and Dean Emeritus of the New York Studio School. ...

, all of whom had become disenchanted with the fragmented nature of art instruction inside traditional art programs and universities. Today it occupies the

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and func ...

that previously housed the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

. From its start, the Studio School was founded on the principle that drawing from life should form of the basis of artistic development. Furthermore, rather than attending a series of disjointed classes, students were encouraged to develop their artistic practice along lines similar to the "atelier" approach favored by European art schools. Faculty has included painters Charles Cajori, Louis Finkelstein,

Philip Guston Philip Guston (born Phillip Goldstein, June 27, 1913 – June 7, 1980), was a Canadian American painter, printmaker, muralist and draftsman. Early in his five decade career, muralist David Siquieros described him as one of "the most promising ...

, Rosemarie Beck,

Alex Katz Alex Katz (born July 24, 1927) is an American figurative artist known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints. Early life and career Alex Katz was born July 24, 1927, to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, as the son of an émigré who ...

, Earl Kerkam, George McNeil, and

Esteban Vicente Esteban Vicente Pérez (January 20, 1903 – January 10, 2001) was an American painter born in Turégano, Spain. He was one of the first generation of New York School abstract expressionists. He identified as an antifascist. Early life Esteban ...

; sculptors Peter Agostini,

Sidney Geist Sidney Geist (April 11, 1914 – October 18, 2005) was an American artist. He was known for his sculpture and his art criticism. Biography Geist was born April 11, 1914, in Paterson, New Jersey, and graduated from Eastside High School (Paterson ...

, Ophrah Shemesh,

Reuben Nakian Reuben Nakian (August 10, 1897, College Point, New York – December 4, 1986, Stamford, Connecticut) was an American sculptor and teacher of Armenian extraction. His works' recurring themes are from Greek and Roman mythology. Noted works inc ...

, and George Spaventa.

Nicolas Carone Nicolas Carone (June 4, 1917 – July 15, 2010) belonged to the early generation of New York School Abstract Expressionist artists. Their artistic innovation by the 1950s had been recognized internationally, including in London and Paris. New ...

and Mercedes Matter focused on drawing instruction and

Meyer Schapiro Meyer Schapiro (23 September 1904 – 3 March 1996) was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for developing new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art. An expert on earl ...

and

Leo Steinberg Leo Steinberg (July 9, 1920 – March 13, 2011) was a Russian-born American art critic and art historian. Life Steinberg was born in Moscow, Russian SFSR, the son of Isaac Nachman Steinberg, a Jewish lawyer and Socialist Revolutionary Party polit ...

taught art history. Former deans of the school have included the renowned composer Morton Feldman and artist/critic/curator Robert Storr. The present dean, since 1988, is the British-born painter

Graham Nickson Graham Nickson (born 1946) is a British artist known for large-scale figurative paintings and drawings. He was born in Knowle Green, United Kingdom. He has lived in New York City since 1976 and he has been Dean of the New York Studio School since ...

who instituted the two-week intensive Drawing Marathon, staged twice a year ahead of each semester and which is now fixture of the academic program. When founded, the school did not—by intention—offer formal degrees. However, today, students are able to obtain a Master of Fine Arts. The MFA program's first graduating class was in 2005. The School presents an Evening Lecture Series in the Fall and Spring semesters, generally twice a week, featuring an international roster of speakers including artists talking on their own work and critics and scholars covering a range of historic subjects. The School's exhibition program, in its committed gallery space, was described by critic Mario Naves in the New York Observer as "one of the city's most significant venues for contemporary art." In 2005, the school was among 406 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the

Carnegie Corporation The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...

, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a c ...

History of the building

In 1914, in one of the many

properties

Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (January 9, 1875 – April 18, 1942) was an American sculptor, art patron and collector, and founder in 1931 of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. She was a prominent social figure and hostess, ...

and her husband owned, Gertrude Whitney established the ''Whitney Studio Club'' at 8 West 8th Street in

, next to her own MacDougal Alley studio., p. 54. The club was intended as a facility where young artists could exhibit their works. When the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

rejected her offer in 1929 of a gift of new artworks, Whitney established the

, and in 1931 had architect Auguste L. Noel convert the three row houses at 8–12 West 8th Street into the museum's first home, as well as a residence for Whitney. In 1954, the museum moved uptown to new quarters, and the buildings, with the addition of #14, became the New York Studio School.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Art schools in New York City Private universities and colleges in New York City