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The current Atelier Method is a form of fine art instruction often modeled after the private art studio schools of 15th to 19th century Europe. Taking its name from the French word for "artist's studio," an Atelier consists of an artist, usually a professional painter, working with a small number of students to train them in art. Atelier schools can be found around the world, particularly in North America and Western Europe.

Although the methods vary, most Atelier’s 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 a nude model.

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 strings, sticks, mirrors, levels, and plumb-bobs -- 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 subject in preparation for a painting.

Ateliers following the sight-size method generally agree that the practice of careful drawing is the basis of painting, teaching a form of realism 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."

File:Mimsariadnecast.jpg

Student sight-size Cast Drawing after Ariadne.^[1]

Atelier students often begin this progression by drawing plaster casts. These casts are usually faces, hands, or other parts of the human anatomy. 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. This is the method that contemporary painter Jacob Collins pursues at his schools, the Water Street Atelier and the Grand Central Academy.

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 Charles Cecil 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."^[2]

Charles H. Cecil, founder of Charles H. Cecil Studios, an atelier located in Florence Italy writes:

Fundamental to the teaching is the practice of drawing and painting from life with no recourse to photography. The sight-size technique is taught at Charles H. Cecil Studios whereby subject and image are depicted to scale as seen from a given distance. When properly understood, sight-size is not a mere measuring technique, but a philosophy of seeing. The method was used by many of the finest painters in oil since the seventeenth century, including Reynolds, Lawrence and Sargent.

In reviving the atelier tradition, R. H. Ives Gammell (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 and Léon Bonnat. These French masters were accomplished sight-size portraitists who conveyed to their pupils a devotion to the art of Velázquez. It should be noted that Sargent was trained by both painters and that, in turn, his use of sight-size had a major influence in Great Britain and America.

Charles Cecil is committed to the belief that the atelier tradition is invaluable for a renewal in figurative art...^[3]

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.

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.

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 disadvantageous of sight-size, describing it as essentially the making of a mechanically produced image limited to one size, the "sight size."

Mr. Szameit also convincingly demonstrates that the sight-size method does not have deep historical roots. He explains that those claiming past masters used the sight-size method are incorrect, basing their claims on a misunderstanding of the definition of the sight-size method.

Illusion

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 for Mercury Descending by Peter Paul Rubens, 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. ^[4]

In addition to parts of the body, 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, Mannerist, Baroque, and Impressionist painters, including Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Rubens and Degas. 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 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. Notice the great diversity found at the Atelier of Léon Bonnat (1846-1855). Bonnat "was 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: Gustave Caillebotte, Suzor-Coté, Georges Braque, Thomas Eakins, Raoul Dufy, Marius Vasselon, Fred Barnard, Aloysius O'Kelly, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and John Singer Sargent.

As with sight-size and comparative measurement, this method requires the artist to constantly back up to view the work. The reason for this is demonstrated by a very successful illusion image created to look like Marilyn Monroe from a distance and Albert Einstein up close. Since images look entirely different at different distances, the artists backs up to view the work at the distance where the final picture will be viewed. If the work is large, constantly pacing back to a distance relatively far from the painting is crucial to the success of the work.

Notes and references

^ Mims Studios School of Fine Art", mimsstudios.com. Retrieved 7 September 2008.
^ "Sight-Size Misconceptions", sightsize.com. Retrieved 7 September 2008.
^ "Atelier tradition", charlescecilstudios.com. Retrieved 7 September 2008.
^ "Creative Foreshortening Exercise", Simon, Trinka Margua (2008). The Art of Composition. ISBN 978-0-615-23934-7

External links to sight-size Ateliers endorsed by the Art Renewal Center

[1] Mims Studios School of Fine Art", mimsstudios.com. Retrieved 7 September 2008.

[2] "Sight-Size Misconceptions", sightsize.com. Retrieved 7 September 2008.

[3] "Atelier tradition", charlescecilstudios.com. Retrieved 7 September 2008.

[4] "Creative Foreshortening Exercise", Simon, Trinka Margua (2008). The Art of Composition. ISBN 978-0-615-23934-7

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+[[Image:École des beaux-arts (from the live).jpg|thumb|right|400px| French Atelier]]
-[[Image:mimsariadnecast.jpg|thumb|300px|''Student sight-size Cast Drawing after Ariadne''.<ref>[http://www.mimsstudios.com Mims Studios School of Fine Art"], mimsstudios.com. Retrieved [[7 September]] [[2008]].</ref>]]
-The '''Atelier Method''' is a method of fine art instruction modeled after the private art [[studio]] schools of 15th to 19th century  Europe. Taking its name from the [[French language|French]] word for "artist's studio," the Atelier Method is a form of private instruction in which an [[artist]], usually a professional [[Painting|painter]], works closely with a small number of students to progressively train them. Atelier schools can be found around the world, particularly in [[North America]] and [[Western Europe]].
+The current '''Atelier Method''' is a form of fine art instruction often modeled after the private art [[studio]] schools of 15th to 19th century Europe. Taking its name from the [[French language|French]] word for "artist's studio," an Atelier consists of an [[artist]], usually a professional [[Painting|painter]], working with a small number of students to train them in art. Atelier schools can be found around the world, particularly in [[North America]] and [[Western Europe]].
+Although the methods vary, most Atelier’s 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 a nude model.
-==Philosophy==
-Atelier programs teach a form of [[Realism (arts)|realism]] based upon careful observations of nature with attention to detail. A series of tasks (cast drawing, cast painting, drawing and painting from the live model, and still life, for example) are done by the student. 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." The methods used by Atelier instructors may vary greatly from one studio to another; however, artists using the "Atelier" approach tend to be united in their desire to reintroduce [[Classicism|classical]] methods and techniques to modern painting.
 ==Methods==
+===Sight-Size===
-Because they lack a central governing body, Atelier instructors are free to teach whatever methods they wish. However, there are several methods that are common to most Atelier schools.  Atelier schools and teachers generally agree that the practice of careful [[drawing]] is the basis of [[painting]].
+'''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 strings, sticks, [[mirrors]], [[Spirit level|levels]], and [[plumb-bob]]s -- 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 [[subject]] in preparation for a painting.
+Ateliers following the sight-size method generally agree that the practice of careful [[drawing]] is the basis of [[painting]], teaching a form of [[realism]] 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."
+[[Image:mimsariadnecast.jpg|thumb|300px|''Student sight-size Cast Drawing after Ariadne''.<ref>[http://www.mimsstudios.com Mims Studios School of Fine Art"], mimsstudios.com. Retrieved [[7 September]] [[2008]].</ref>]] [[Image:Belvedere Apollo Pio-Clementino Inv1015.jpg|thumb|right|100px|Apollo Belvedere, 350-325BC,Vatican Museums]] [[Image:Nicolas Poussin 072.jpg|thumb|right|250px|''The Rape of the Sabine Women'' by Nicolas Poussin, 1637, oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art]] [[Image:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Before The Bath (1900).jpg|thumb|right|100px||Before The Bath (1900) by Bouguereau]]
+Atelier students often begin this progression by drawing [[Plaster#Use in sculptural arts|plaster]] casts. These casts are usually faces, hands, or other parts of the [[human anatomy]]. 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.  This is the method that contemporary painter [[Jacob Collins]] pursues at his schools, the Water Street Atelier and the Grand Central Academy.
+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 Charles Cecil 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."<ref>[http://www.sightsize.com/misconceptions.html "Sight-Size Misconceptions"], sightsize.com. Retrieved [[7 September]] [[2008]].</ref>
 Charles H. Cecil, founder of Charles H. Cecil Studios, an atelier located in Florence Italy writes:
@@ Line 15: / Line 24: @@
 :Charles Cecil is committed to the belief that the atelier tradition is invaluable for a renewal in figurative art...<ref>[http://www.charlescecilstudios.com/html/philosophy/atelierTradition.html "Atelier tradition"], charlescecilstudios.com. Retrieved [[7 September]] [[2008]].</ref>
+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.
-===Drawing and painting from plaster casts===
+===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.
+In his essay, [http://www.atelierstockholm.se/index.asp?id=64&parentid=64&lang=1 The Sight-size Method and its Disadvantages], the painter and instructor Hans-Peter Szameit, of the Swedish Academy of Realist Art discusses the disadvantageous of sight-size, describing it as essentially the making of a mechanically produced image limited to one size, the "sight size."
-Atelier students often begin to draw or paint using [[Plaster#Use in sculptural arts|plaster]] casts as subjects. These casts are usually faces, hands, or other parts of the [[human anatomy]]. 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.  This is the method that contemporary painter [[Jacob Collins]] pursues at his schools, the Water Street Atelier and the Grand Central Academy.
+Mr. Szameit also convincingly demonstrates that the sight-size method does not have deep historical roots. He explains that those claiming past masters used the sight-size method are incorrect, basing their claims on a misunderstanding of the definition of the sight-size method.
-===Sight-size drawing and painting===
-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 strings, sticks, [[mirrors]], [[Spirit level|levels]], and [[plumb-bob]]s -- 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 [[subject]] in preparation for a painting.
+===Illusion===
-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."
+[[Image:Tizian 041.jpg|right|thumb|100px|Titian]] [[Image:Lautrec_the_modiste_1900.jpg|right|thumb|100px|Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]] [[Image:Gustave Caillebotte - La Place de l'Europe, temps de pluie.jpg|180px|right|thumb|Gustave Caillebotte. ''[[Paris Street, Rainy Day]]'', 1877. [[Art Institute of Chicago]].]] 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 for Mercury Descending by Peter Paul Rubens, 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. <ref>[http://www.trinkamarguasimon.com/Creative_Foreshortening_Exercise.pdf "Creative Foreshortening Exercise"], Simon, Trinka Margua (2008). The Art of Composition. ISBN 978-0-615-23934-7</ref>
-Darren R. Rousar, former student of Richard Lack and Charles Cecil 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."<ref>[http://www.sightsize.com/misconceptions.html "Sight-Size Misconceptions"], sightsize.com. Retrieved [[7 September]] [[2008]].</ref>
+In addition to parts of the body, 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, Mannerist, Baroque, and Impressionist painters, including Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Rubens and Degas. 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 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. Notice the great diversity found at the Atelier of  [[Léon Bonnat]] (1846-1855). Bonnat "was 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: [[Gustave Caillebotte]], [[Suzor-Coté]], [[Georges Braque]], [[Thomas Eakins]], [[Raoul Dufy]], [[Marius Vasselon]], [[Fred Barnard]], [[Aloysius O'Kelly]], [[Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]], and [[John Singer Sargent]].
+As with sight-size and comparative measurement, this method requires the artist to constantly back up to view the work. The reason for this is demonstrated by a very successful illusion image created to look like [http://www.123opticalillusions.com/pages/albert-einstein-marilyn-monroe.php Marilyn Monroe from a distance and Albert Einstein up close]. Since images look entirely different at different distances, the artists backs up to view the work at the distance where the final picture will be viewed. If the work is large, constantly pacing back to a distance relatively far from the painting is crucial to the success of the work.
-However, the painter and educator Hans-Peter Szameit, of the Swedish Academy of Realist Art, takes a less broad and more critical view of the sight-size method in his essay, [http://www.atelierstockholm.se/index.asp?id=64&parentid=64&lang=1 The Sight-size Method and its Disadvantages].  Mr. Szameit notes that because many sight-size advocates use the term "sight-size" rather broadly, the definition becomes too comprehensive and therefore unclear. He argues that the definition of the sight-size method is defined by how it is taught to students as a mechanical measuring process. He argues in his essay that the sight-size method is limiting, by definition, in that the images produced using the method can only be "sight size" and that the means of producing them is essentially mechanical - all disadvantageous for the student.  Mr. Szameit also convincingly demonstrates that the sight-size method does not have deep historical roots and that the claims made of past masters having used the sight-size method are incorrect and based on a misunderstanding of the definition of the sight-size method.
 ==See also==
 *[[Art Students League of New York]]
@@ Line 35: / Line 53: @@
 {{reflist}}
-==External links==
+==External links to sight-size Ateliers endorsed by the [[Art Renewal Center]] ==
 *[http://www.georgetownatelier.com/  Georgetown Atelier of Drawing and Painting, Seattle -- traditional Atelier and mini Atelier offered]
 *[http://www.gageacademy.org/ Gage Academy of Art, Seattle -- traditional Atelier programs offered]
@@ Line 58: / Line 76: @@
 *[http://www.ateliermexico.com/ Atelier Sonorense]
 *[http://www.lafayetteatelier.org/ Lafayette Atelier, Lafayette Indiana -- traditional Atelier programs offered]
-[[Category:Artistic techniques]]
+[[Category:Painting techniques]]
 [[Category:Art education]]