Kewaunee Academy Students study Master painters at New York’s Hispanic Society of America
Six students of the Kewaunee Academy of Fine Art accepted a special invitation offered by Sr. Vincente Criado, Publication Manager to “copy” paintings by Joaquin Sorolla Y Bastista, Master nineteenth/ twentieth century oil painter and fifteenth century artist Diego Velasquez in the Spanish Society museum in New York. The Hispanic Society owns 800 paintings, 15,000 watercolors, 175,000 photographs, 250,000 books and 6,000 objects of art—-from the collection of Archer Milton Huntington (1870-1955) who founded the Hispanic Society Museum.
The students, “copyistas”, spent two days studying and copying with oil paints, original works of Joaquin Sorolla (1863-1923) and Diego Velazquez (1599-1660). They were allowed to set up immediately in front of the painting they were studying and a few mentioned some knee chattering moments when they were within inches of the master works. Since the 16th Century, “copying” the works of Master painters has been a principal method of learning. Intimate contact the students have with the original art work helps them to understand the composition and brush work, in fact all of the technical aspects that were used by the Master. The student work is never the same size as the original work and is stamped on the back of the canvas as a “Study.”
The painters paid $10.00 registration fee to the museum and we paid $100 between us to provide a guard for the room where we painted, which is normally closed on Sundays. We brought easels and canvas glued on 18” x 24” boards which we transported in a custom made box shipped on the plane. We brought drop cloths and all of our painting supplies. We ordered a small quantity of Gamsol and Liquin in advance, that was delivered to the hotel before we arrived. All oil colors were shipped with the appropriate MDS sheets and had no problem with airport inspections. We followed the same procedures we established for our China Trips which is described on our website www.chinaaccess.com and the travel was trouble free.
The Kewaunee Academy students stated, “I had studied and sketched the paintings we copied, but the level of understanding I had after painting them was totally different”. “There is no substitute for being surrounded by a half dozen Sorollas while you are painting- humbling and a bit overwhelming”. “I wanted to read the brush strokes and learn from what Sorolla did”. “No colors appear to be the same when repeated on the canvas. The old adage, less is more, now has meaning for me. I am amazed at all of the colors”. “I had no idea that Sr. Criado and his staff would take such good care of us”. “It was great to see and have the freedom to paint work by Francisco de Goya, Diego Velazquez, Mariano Fourtney and more—they have 800 paintings”. And on and on. “When we visited the Met and the Frick I saw 1/3rd of all the Vermeers in existence”. “Zabar’s deli and grocery was within walking distance of our great hotel and should not be missed”. “Dim sum in China town-hot pastrami in a Jewish deli- nova and bagels- albondigas soup-was all part of the fare”. “We took the subway to Times Square”.
The students included Suzanne Barnes, DePere, WI, David Kapszkiewicz, Appleton, WI, Zachary McClendon, Forrest City, AR, Molly Overstreet, Minneapolis, MN, Mara Pionek, Green Bay, WI, and Academy Graduate, Pamela Clausen, Kewaunee, WI.
Norma Bell, owner of The Academy, stated her gratitude for the special invitation extended by Sr. Criado and noted that the students also had the opportunity to spend several hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick Museum, The Jewish Museum and the Museum of Natural History while they were in New York.
The mission of the Kewaunee Academy of Fine Art is to enable students to gain the knowledge they’ll need to achieve their goals as representational artists, to learn to see, to develop skills and apply them to personal imagery.
October 2, 2009
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