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Academic Portrait Photography

ACADEMIC STYLE

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. 

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Style: Academic
On a Ferris wheel - Archival fine art print, Black white, graphical 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 ' On a Ferris wheel ' Graphic scene taken on a Fer...
Category

1910s Academic Portrait Photography

Materials

Black and White, Giclée, Pigment, Archival Pigment, Digital Pigment

"Robert Rauschenberg" Christopher Felver, Portrait of Famous Artist
By Christopher Felver
Located in New York, NY
Christopher Felver Rauschenberg Photo, 2003 Signed, dated and titled on verso Photography 13 3/4 x 10 3/4 inches Provenance Estate of Carolyn Brown, New York 2025. Mary Caroline (...
Category

Early 2000s Academic Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Luzi Girl Papago The North American Indian, Edward S. Curtis, Photogravure, 190
Located in Phoenix, AZ
LUZI GIRL PAPAGO, 1907 Portfolio 2, Plate 53 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN BY EDWARD S. CURTIS Image size 15.5 x 10 1/4 inches, Excellent condition. This is an original photogravur...
Category

Early 20th Century Academic Portrait Photography

Materials

Photogravure

Beaty - Archival fine art print, Black white photo, Portrait of a young woman
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 ' Beaty ' Portrait of a young woman created cerca ...
Category

1910s Academic Portrait Photography

Materials

Black and White, Giclée, Pigment, Archival Pigment, Digital Pigment

"Carolyn at the Stevensons" Remy Charlip, 4 Portraits of Carolyn Brown, Nature
Located in New York, NY
Remy Charlip 4 Photos of Carolyn at the Stevensons, 1955 Inscribed by Carolyn Brown on verso Photograph 10 x 8 1/4, 6 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches Provenance Estate of Carolyn Brown, New York 2025. Remy Charlip was born in January 1929 and raised by his Lithuanian Jewish parents in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York. He showed a natural talent for the visual arts and became known as the “official” school artist, decorating the classrooms for his favorite holidays, Valentine’s Day and Thanksgiving. Although he had aspirations to become both a farmer and a clown, his mother recognized his artistic talent and thought it was more practical for him to attend Strabenmuller Textile High School where learned to design fabrics. This led him to being accepted into The Cooper Union School of Fine Arts where he received his BFA in 1949. After graduating and feeling he had nothing to say as a painter, he decided to become a dancer because he saw them as free spirits. He accepted a fellowship at Reed College to work with choreographer Bonnie Bird designing sets and costumes for The Marriage at the Eiffel Tower by Jean Cocteau. It was during that summer at Reed College he met and fell in love with composer Lou Harrison who composed music for the summer productions that were Remy’s first dance performances. After traveling across the country with Harrison, they settled back in New York where Remy began taking classes from The New Dance Group. This led to him dancing in Donald McKayle’s first piece, Games, at the Ziegfield Theater, for which he also designed costumes. Remy met John Cage and Merce Cunningham through Harrison and, due to his masterful calligraphy skills, was asked to design a flyer for an upcoming program. Cunningham then invited him to take dance classes with him and it wasn’t long before Remy began dancing with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. He became a founding member of the company and did publicity and designed flyers as well as danced with them. For the first eight years with the company he also designed costumes and collaborated with Robert Rauschenberg on the productions of Springweather and People and Minutiae. As a member of the company he was also an artist-in-residence at Black Mountain College in Asheville, North Carolina, where he met many influential artists and thinkers of the time. He joined the extended family and befriended some of the most brilliant culture makers of the 20th Century including artists Josef and Annie Albers, Franz Klein, Cy Twombly, Willem and Elaine DeKooning, Jacob Lawrence, Arthur Penn, Ben Shahn, Ruth Asawa, Norman Soloman, Ray Johnson and Nicolas Cernovich; poets Charles Olsen, Robert Creely and M.C. Richards; musicians John Cage, Morton Feldman, David Tudor, and Earl Brown; architect Buckminster Fuller and children’s book author Vera Williams. Working as a dancer, director, choreographer, illustrator, author, costume and set designer provided opportunities to work with many notable artists and venues in New York’s avant-garde. Judith Malina and Julian Beck...
Category

1950s Academic Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Qahatika Girl, The North American Indian, Edward S. Curtis, Photogravure, 1907
Located in Phoenix, AZ
QAHATIKA GIRL Portfolio 2, plate no. 56 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN BY EDWARD S. CURTIS SHIPPING CHARGES INCLUDE SHIPPING, PACKAGING & INSURANCE Considered by art collectors as extr...
Category

Early 20th Century Academic Portrait Photography

Materials

Photogravure

Portrait of Bertold Brecht
By Josef Breitenbach
Located in New York, NY
Silver print Stamped in black ink, verso This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. Josef Breitenbach (1896-1984) was a German photographer and member of the Su...
Category

Mid-20th Century Academic Portrait Photography

Materials

Black and White

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Academic portrait photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Academic portrait photography available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 20th Century, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including and Josef Breitenbach. Not every interior allows for large Academic portrait photography, so small editions measuring 11 inches across are also available. Prices for portrait photography made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $3,500 and tops out at $3,500, while the average work sells for $3,500.

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