Famous Artists School
Famous Artists School has offered correspondence courses in art since it was founded in 1948 in Westport, Connecticut, U.S.A. The idea was conceived by Albert Dorne as a result of a conversation with Norman Rockwell. For the founding faculty, Dorne recruited John Atherton, Austin Briggs, Stevan Dohanos, Robert Fawcett, Peter Helck, Fred Ludekens, Al Parker, Norman Rockwell, Ben Stahl, Harold von Schmidt and Jon Whitcomb. All were making more than US$ 50,000 a year at the time, roughly equivalent to US $425,000 in 2006.[1] Later faculty included cartoonists Al Capp, Milt Caniff and Rube Goldberg. Advisory faculty for the school later included Stuart Davis, Ben Shahn, Fletcher Martin, Ernest Fiene, Arnold Blanch and Doris Lee.
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[edit] Original 1948 courses
The original courses offered in 1948 were Painting, Illustration/Design and Cartooning. The Cartooning course was dropped in the 1980s. The Painting and Illustration & Design courses are still offered. Each course consists of 24 lessons, with a new lesson mailed to the student upon completion of each lesson. When a student completed and returned the assignment, it was critiqued by a professional artist who sent suggestions back to the student. The original 1948 price for the two-year course was $300, payable in monthly installments, plus an estimated $11.55 for basic oil painting supplies.[2]
[edit] Current courses
As of 2007, the school offered four courses: Acrylic Painting; Oil and Watercolor Painting; Illustration & Design; and a Course for Talented Young People. Cartoonists Lyman Anderson, Jay Disbrow, Graham Ingels and Bernie Wrightson are alumni of the school, as are artists and illustrators Mark English, Bernie Fuchs, Robert Heindel, Franklin McMahon, Charles Reid, Dolph LeMoult and Hank McLaughlin.
The Famous Artists School was acquired by Cortina Learning International of Weston, Connecticut in 1981.[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ ASIFA
Marling
Inflation Calculator - ^ ASIFA
CHS
Marling - ^ CHS
[edit] References
- ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive - Chad's Design For Television (1960)
- CHS - The Connecticut Historical Society - Famous Artists School
- Marling, Karal Ann. "Hyphenated Culture: Painting by Numbers in the New Age of Leisure" (Relevant information more than half-way down the page)
