Famous Artists School is an

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

correspondence course Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

institution, in operation since 1948. The school was founded by members of the New York

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. History Founding The Society of Illustrators was founded on ...

, principally Albert Dorne and

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

History

The Famous Artists School was founded in 1948 in Westport,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

U.S.A. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

The idea was conceived by members of the New York

(SOI), but due to the Society's legal status, could not be operated by it. SOI member Albert Dorne led the initiative to set up a separate entity, and recruited the support of

, who was also an SOI member. For the founding faculty, Dorne recruited John Carlton Atherton, Austin Briggs,

Stevan Dohanos Stevan Dohanos (May 18, 1907 – July 4, 1994) was an American artist and illustrator of the social realism school, best known for his ''Saturday Evening Post'' covers, and responsible for several of the ''Don't Talk'' set of World War II propagan ...

Robert Fawcett Robert Fawcett (1903–1967) was an English artist. He was trained as a fine artist but achieved fame as an illustrator of books and magazines. Born in England, he grew up in Canada and later in New York. His father, an amateur artist, encou ...

, Peter Helck,

Fred Ludekens Fred Ludekens (1900–1982) was an American artist and illustrator. He was born in Hueneme, California, on May 13, 1900, and grew up in California. He worked on fishing boats for a while, and then moved to San Francisco at the age of 20. Although ...

, Al Parker,

, Ben Stahl, Harold von Schmidt,

Jon Whitcomb Jon Whitcomb (1906–1988) was an American illustrator. He was well known for his pictures of glamorous young women. He was born in Weatherford, Oklahoma and grew up in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. He attended Ohio Wesleyan University and graduated ...

, and

Dong Kingman Dong Kingman (, 31 March 1911 – 12 May 2000) was a Chinese American artist and one of America's leading watercolor masters. As a painter on the forefront of the California Style School of painting, he was known for his urban and landscape ...

. By 1960, annual revenue of $7 million was eight times the sales of 1950. In the 1960s, the growth continued with the addition of Famous Photographers and an especially popular course, Famous Writers. European sales grew rapidly. By 1967, one officer said "we will soon have an empire on which the sun never sets." But acquisitions unrelated to art swelled the company's indebtedness, and a savage article by Jessica Mitford ripped Famous Writers for deceptive advertising and overblown promises. In 1972 the company filed for bankruptcy. The Famous Artists School was acquired by Cortina Learning International of

Wilton, Connecticut Wilton is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 18,503. In 2017, it was the sixth-wealthiest town per capita in Connecticut, the wealthiest U.S. state per capita. Officially reco ...

, in 1981. In 2014 the archives were donated to the

Norman Rockwell Museum The Norman Rockwell Museum is an art museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, dedicated to the art of Norman Rockwell. It is home to the world's largest collection of original Rockwell art. The museum also hosts traveling exhibitions pertaining to ...

. According to a message displayed on the school's website, the school closed as of December 31, 2016. Textbooks are still offered for sale.

Original courses

The original course offered in 1948 was Illustration & Design, with Painting and Cartooning added in the 1950s. The Painting and Illustration & Design courses, which are still offered, consisted of 24 lessons, with a new lesson mailed to the student upon completion of the previous lesson. When a student completed and returned the assignment, it was critiqued by a professional artist who sent suggestions to the student. The original 1948 price for the three-year course was $200, payable at once or in monthly installments, and veterans could use the GI Bill. By the 1950s the price was $300, plus an estimated $11.55 for basic

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

supplies. Extract archived online; search "Famous" for cited pp. 72-73:

References

External links

*
Old URL
* *. Sample pages and discussion of volume 24 of the 1960 (second) edition of the Famous Artists Course, ''Television art'', written by former

Disney Studios The Walt Disney Studios is an American film and entertainment studio, and is the Studios Content segment of the Walt Disney Company. Based mainly at the namesake studio lot in Burbank, California, the studio is best known for its multifacete ...

animator and first (1938) television commercial producer,

Chad Grothkopf Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic t ...

. * {{Authority control Art schools in Connecticut Distance education institutions based in the United States Education companies established in 1948 Educational institutions established in 1948 1948 establishments in Connecticut Wilton, Connecticut

History

Original courses

See also

References

External links