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.
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...
Photogravure
$1,683
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 ...
Black and White, Giclée, Pigment, Archival Pigment, Digital Pigment
$799Sale Price|30% Off
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...
Black and White, Giclée, Pigment, Archival Pigment, Digital Pigment
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...
Black and White
"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 (...
Photographic Paper
Emma in Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, April 1984
Located in New York, NY
Emma in Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, 1984 Pão de Açucar, (Sugarloaf Mountain), Rio’s defining landmark looms in the background. Photographed by Jonathan Becker Contemporary 14" x 14.5...
Platinum
Untitled Portrait
By Seydou Keïta
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes framing with UV Plexi ($900 value), free shipping, and a 14-day return policy. Seydou Keïta Untitled Portrait, 1952 - 1955 (02158) 23...
Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
$6,000
H 17 in W 14 in D 2 in
Joan Didion, Hollywood, 1968 (22-2) Three Quarters Portrait
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes framing with UV plexiglas. Joan Didion by Julian Wasser Silver gelatin print Image Size: 11 x 8 inches Frame Size: 17 x 14 x 2 inches Edition 11 of 15 Signed on verso by Julian Wasser Please note the frame is in good condition. The print is in mint condition. Artist Biography - Julian Wasser started his career in photography in the Washington DC bureau of the Associated Press where he met and accompanied the famous news photographer Weegee – who would become a lasting influence on him. In the mid-60s Wasser moved to Los Angeles as a contract photographer for TIME, LIFE, and FORTUNE magazines and becoming internationally known as the go to guy for getting candid but memorably composed photographs. (His iconic images of Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston; Marcel Duchamp and Eve Babitz...
Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment
$3,000
H 13 in W 19 in
1960s Limited Edition Black and White Photograph, Martin Luther King, MLK, 13x19
Located in New york, NY
Martin Luther King (MLK), 1964 by Leonard Freed is an iconic black and white documentary photograph, a portrait of one of the most influential African American personalities and civi...
Photographic Film, Archival Ink, Digital, Archival Pigment, Digital Pigment
$2,650
H 19 in W 13 in
Muscle Boy Photograph, Limited Edition 11/15, Harlem, New York City 1963, Signed
Located in New york, NY
Muscle Boy is an iconic image by Leonard Freed who was a pioneer in documentary photography. In this photo a boy flexes his muscles for the camera perhaps making a statement about...
Photographic Film, Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital, Archival Pigme...
$2,925
H 20 in W 16 in
Muscle Boy, New York, Signed Archival Iris Print, Harlem, 1963, Edition 25/100
Located in New york, NY
Muscle Boy, Harlem, 1963 by Leonard Freed is a signed and numbered archival Iris print. The edition 25/100 was in a planned edition of 100 and halted at 25 prints (as annotated on ve...
Black and White, Archival Pigment, Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital...
$2,350
H 13 in W 9 in
Williamsburg, New York City, Jewish, Street Photography 1950s, Limited Edition
Located in New york, NY
Capturing the Jewish diaspora and the Hasidic community in Brooklyn, New York in the 1950s, this is a subject which Jewish American photographer Leonard Freed from Brooklyn widely co...
Photographic Film, Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital, Archival Pigme...
Dive Tulum, Mexico
By Lloyd Ziff
Located in Hudson, NY
Listing is for UNFRAMED print. Inquire within for framing. Edition 1 of 10. If the exhibition piece is sold or the customer orders a different print size, the photograph is p...
Giclée
$1,500
H 20 in W 16 in D 1 in
MAN RAY (1890-1976), SIDE PORTRAIT, 1926 Photogravure, FIRST EDITION
By Man Ray
Located in Pembroke Pines, FL
Artist: Man Ray (American born, 1890 - 1976) Title: SIDE PORTRAIT Date Of Negative: 1926 Type Of Print: Authentic Vintage Sheet Fed Photogravure/Heliogra...
Photogravure
$5,000
H 11 in W 14 in
Eve Babitz and Marcel Duchamp playing chess during Duchamp's Pasadena Art Museum
Located in New York, NY
Listing is for an unframed print and includes free shipping to the continental US and 14-day return policy. Julian Wasser Eve Babitz and Marcel Duchamp pl...
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Joan Didion, Hollywood, 1968 (Frame 33a.)
Located in New York, NY
This is a limited edition 16 x 20 inch print of Joan Didion by photographer Julian Wasser shot for her iconic interview with TIME in 1968. Listing includes free shipping to the continental US and a 14-day return policy. Please inquire for framing options or international shipments. We offer framing services through our New York location. Joan Didion by Julian Wasser Gelatin Silver Print Paper Size: 16 x 20 inches Image Size: 11.5 x 17.5 inches Edition 9 of 15 Signed and on the back by Julian Wasser and editioned on adhesive certificate History Behind the Photograph - Julian Wasser started his career in photography in the Washington DC bureau of the Associated Press where he met and accompanied the famous news photographer Weegee – who would become a lasting influence on him. In the mid-60s Wasser moved to Los Angeles as a contract photographer for TIME, LIFE, and FORTUNE magazines and becoming internationally known as the go to guy for getting candid but memorably composed photographs. (His iconic images of Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston; Marcel Duchamp and Eve Babitz...
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
$3,000
H 20 in W 16 in
Fire Hydrant, Harlem, New York Summer, Signed Black and White Photograph, 1963
Located in New york, NY
Punctuated by documentary photo essays such as Black in White America, Fire Hydrant is one of Leonard Freed's most iconic in his Harlem series. In the image of Fire Hydrant, two ch...
Archival Paper, Photographic Film, Digital, Archival Pigment, Digital Pi...
Sold
H 10 in W 8.25 in
"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...
Photographic Paper
Untitled (Andy Warhol)
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 ClampArt, located in New York City. Mark Beard writes: “Andy Warhol was everywhere. At one of the similar yet different events at ‘Area Club...
Photogravure