The Early Atelier Model
Throughout history, artistic training has followed a tradition of mentorship, where knowledge and skills are passed down from master to apprentice. In ancient Greece, sculptors took on apprentices, while medieval Europe formalized this process into guilds where small groups of students lived, studied and worked under a master artist. By the mid-1600s, France established the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, later replaced by the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Over time, the Ecole’s rigid parameters concerning what constituted “official” art led to students searching out alternative training methods. Ateliers offered advanced students the opportunity to study under a specific master whom they admired. This period marked a pinnacle in Western Art.
The beginning of the 20th century marked a period of great worldwide upheaval. Governments collapsing, class strife, rising secularism, communism, World War I and flu epidemics were among the events that led to a desire for massive change. Modernism emerged in response to this chaos in all of the arts, but was most detrimental to the visual arts. Classical education was abandoned and traditional artists fell out of favor. By mid-century, only a handful of artists had the expertise and desire to teach and pass on the knowledge to the next generation.
R.H. Ives Gammell, who trained in both America and Paris under renowned masters, was one such artist. Concerned about the decline of Western Art following World War I, he wrote against modernism and taught students of his own, including Richard Lack. Lack went on to found Atelier Lack in Minneapolis where Jeffrey T. Larson studied from 1980-1984. At that time, it was one of the few schools worldwide still offering such classical training.
Today, the Atelier movement is experiencing a resurgence and is beginning to take root once again. Young, aspiring artists now have a number of options to apprentice with well-trained, representational painters. Jeffrey T. Larson is proud to be a part of this movement and has dedicated his life to upholding these timeless traditions as a classically based artist.
