During the Renaissance, the first European fine art academies were established in Italy and would guide the style and standards of visual culture in the following centuries. Academic art became dominant across the continent in the 17th century, with artists coming together to offer instruction in this style of painting and sculpture.
The academic art period represented a significant change from the previous era when painters, sculptors and other artists were part of guilds and seen more as artisans than purveyors of culture. While patronage from the elite and the church remained pivotal, young artists were able to support themselves for the first time through academic exhibitions and an independent marketplace. The leading academies included the French Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture founded in Paris in 1648 (which became the Académie des Beaux-Arts after the French Revolution) and the London Royal Academy of Arts formed in 1768 under the inaugural leadership of painter Joshua Reynolds.
Academy students sketched drawings based on prints, sculptures and, finally, live models. Movements including neoclassicism and romanticism were particularly popular in these art schools and institutions where the influence of Raphael and Nicolas Poussin was prominent. Beaux Arts architecture and furniture design drew on these movements, too, and, as they also originated at the Académie des Beaux-Arts, the disciplines share common ground with academic painting and sculpture.
Although academic art was a major shift for artistic status when it began, by the middle of the 19th century it was viewed as stodgy and resistant to new ideas, with the subject matter of artists such as William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Jean-Léon Gérôme generally limited to allegorical or mythological themes. Impressionism, realism and the other movements that engaged with contemporary issues that followed were direct reactions to the academic tradition, although it continued to inform the avant-garde as artists like Gustav Klimt and Pablo Picasso started their practices as academic realists.
Find a collection of academic paintings, sculptures, prints and more art on 1stDibs.
$760Sale Price|20% Off
“Le Crepuscule”
Located in Southampton, NY
Original photogravure of a young woman in the garden. Original painting was done by Jean Louis Harmon in 1857. Condition is very good. Le Crepuscule is the French word for twilig...
Archival Paper, Photogravure
Rescued - Archival fine art print, Black white, Montreal, City Vintage photo
Located in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona
An archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag® Baryta 315 g/m² paper, a photography of a street scene featuring a man on a Side-car, in Montreal cerca 1930 entitled ' Rescued ' ....
Black and White, Giclée, Pigment, Archival Pigment, Digital Pigment
$1,012Sale Price|30% Off
Benoit Fils - Archival fine art print, Black white, Montreal, Clydesdale truck
Located in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona
An archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag® Baryta 315 g/m² paper, a photography of a delivery of foodstuffs from a shop of seeds, flour and provisions in Montreal cerca 1920 ...
Black and White, Giclée, Pigment, Archival Pigment, Digital Pigment
Relaxing - people walking , Panoramic Archival fine art print, Black white photo
Located in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona
An archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag® Baryta 315 g/m² paper of a photograph by Harry Sutcliffe (1878- 1942) entitled ' Relaxing ' Scene of a riverside stroll near a po...
Black and White, Giclée, Pigment, Archival Pigment, Digital Pigment
$2,400
H 13 in W 19 in
Office Party, New York, Photograph Edition, Black and White, 1966, Signed
Located in New york, NY
Office Party by Leonard Freed is a 13" x 19" limited-edition photograph. The print Ed. 4/5 is signed verso (back of photo) by Brigitte Freed (wife of the ...
Photographic Film, Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital, Archival Pigme...
$1,500
H 22 in W 30 in
Cuban artist original hand signed photo-engraving n6 22x30 in.
Located in Miami, FL
Juan Carlos Alom (Cuba, 1964) 'Tarjetas postales', 2004 photoengraving on paper 22.1 x 30 in. (56 x 76 cm.) Edition of 99 ID: ALO1534-006 Hand-signed ...
Paper, Photogravure, Engraving
$2,600
H 19 in W 13 in
Black and White Photography, Wall Street, New York City, Limited Edition, 19x13
Located in New york, NY
Leonard Freed's photographic career is punctuated by epic documentary photo essays with many works from New York City. Wall Street is one of the photographer's iconic 1950s images. ...
Photographic Film, Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital, Archival Pigme...
$2,500
H 19 in W 13 in
Children in Harlem, New York, Signed Archival Pigment Print, 19x13, Edition 7/10
Located in New york, NY
Children, Harlem, New York, USA 1963 by Leonard Freed is a 19" x 13" signed archival pigment print in an edition of 10. Signed by the estate on back of photograph by Freed's widow Brigitte Freed. Available: 7/10. Provenance: Freed estate *** Artist’s Bio: Leonard Freed (1929-2006) was an American photographer from Brooklyn, New York. His "Black in White America" series made him known as a documentarian. Freed worked as a freelance photographer from 1961 onwards and as a Magnum photographer Freed traveled widely abroad and, in the US, photographing African Americans (1964-65), events in Israel (1967-68, 1973), and the New York City police department...
Photographic Film, Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital, Archival Pigme...
$2,100
H 13 in W 9 in
New York City, USA, 1954, Limited Edition Baryta Print, Signed Photograph Ed 1/5
Located in New york, NY
New York City, USA, 1954 is a 13" x 9" archival pigment print (baryta) in a limited edition of 5. Signed verso (back of photo) by Brigitte Freed (wife of the photographer), with Leon...
Photographic Film, Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital, Archival Pigme...
Untitled No. 51
By Mark Beard
Located in New York, NY
Polaroid transfer on Rives BFK paper Signed, dated, and numbered in pencil, recto Also blindstamped, l.r. 22 x 15 inches, sheet 10 x 8 inches, image This artwork is offered by Clam...
Photogravure
$150
H 11.13 in W 8.13 in
School Children, L'Ile Saint Louis, Paris — Mid-Century Photogravure
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Rémy Duval, 'School Children, L'ile Saint Louis, Paris', photogravure, 1946. A fine, richly-inked impression in warm black ink, on cream wove B.F.K. Rives p...
Photogravure
BEFORE THE WHITE MAN CAME - PALM CANYON
Located in Santa Monica, CA
EDWARD CURTIS (1868 - 1952) BEFORE THE WHTE MAN CAME - PALM CANYON, 1924 Photogravure. Printed title along with 1924 copyright line. Photogravure Suffolk Eng. Co., Cambridge Mass...
Photogravure
$3,000
H 19 in W 13 in
Handcuffed, New York, Black and White Photography, Limited Edition 1/10, 1978
Located in New york, NY
The iconic image appears in Leonard Freed's seminal book "Police Work," published in 1980. Handcuffed (or Arrested), New York City, 1978 by Leonard Fre...
Photographic Film, Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital, Archival Pigme...
Untitled (Male Nude in Shadow)
By Mark Beard
Located in New York, NY
Polaroid transfer on Rives BFK paper Signed, dated, and inscribed (AP) in pencil, recto Also blindstamped, l.r. 22 x 15 inches, sheet 10 x 8 inches, image This artwork is offered b...
Photogravure
Untitled (Stooped Man with Bowl of Fruit)
By Mark Beard
Located in New York, NY
Polaroid transfer on Rives BFK paper Signed, dated, and numbered (5/6) in pencil, recto Also blindstamped, l.r. 22 x 15 inches, sheet 8 x 10 inches, image This artwork is offered b...
Photogravure
$2,400Sale Price|20% Off
H 20 in W 16 in
St. Peter's Square, Rome, Italy, Black and White Photo, Signed, Edition, 20x16
Located in New york, NY
St. Peter's Square, Rome, Italy, 1958 by Leonard Freed is a black and white photograph of two figures (priests) dressed in black on a snowy afternoon, contrasting the falling snow an...
Photographic Film, Archival Ink, Digital, Archival Pigment, Digital Pigment
Sold
H 10.5 in W 10.5 in
"Group Image" George Avakian, Group Photo of Artists, Artist Portrait, Fluxus
Located in New York, NY
George Avakian Group Image of Merce Cunningham, John Cage, M.C. Richards, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg 1958 Signed and dedicated on verso Silver Gelatin Print 10 1/2 x 10 ...
Silver Gelatin
Sold
H 11.75 in W 15.75 in
Rare Vintage Original Photo from the Court of The Lubavitcher Rebbe 770 Chabad
Located in Surfside, FL
These are very rare original vintage silver gelatin prints from the 1970s, Most probably from the touring exhibit. they are all stamp signed by the photographer verso. Levi Yitzchak...
Silver Gelatin
Sold
H 11.75 in W 15.75 in
Rare Vintage Original Photo from the Court of The Lubavitcher Rebbe 770 Chabad
Located in Surfside, FL
These are very rare original vintage silver gelatin prints from the 1970s, Most probably from the touring exhibit. they are all stamp signed by the photographer verso. Levi Yitzchak...
Silver Gelatin