Editing Academic art (section)

==Development of the academic style==

===Early challenges: the Enlightenment and Romanticism===
[[File:Denis Diderot by Louis-Michel van Loo.jpg|thumb|left|Despite being challenged by most, some [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] figures like [[Diderot]] ([[Portrait of Denis Diderot|portrayed]], 1767) subscribed to much of the academic ideal.]]

Even with its wide spread, the academic system began to be seriously challenged through the actions of intellectuals linked to the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. For them, academicism had become an outdated model, excessively rigid and dogmatic; they criticized the methodology, which they believed produced an art that was merely servile to ancient examples, and condemned the institutional administration, which they considered corrupt and [[Despotism|despotic]].<ref name="Schwarcz">Schwarcz, Lilia Moritz. ''O Sol do Brasil: Nicolas-Antoine Taunay e as desventuras dos artistas franceses na corte de d. João'' {{in lang|pt}}. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2008. {{p.|70–72}}</ref> However, an important Enlightenment figure like [[Diderot]] subscribed to much of the academic ideal, supported the [[hierarchy of genres]] (''see below''), and said that "the imagination creates nothing".<ref>Ledbury, Mark. ''Denis Diderot''. In Murray, Chris. ''Key Writers on Art: From antiquity to the nineteenth century''. Routledge, 2003. {{p.|108–109}}</ref> At the end of the 18th century, following the turmoil of the [[French Revolution]], a real campaign was mounted against the teaching of the Academy, which was identified as a symbol of the [[Ancien Régime]]. In 1793, the painter [[Jacques-Louis David]], closely linked to the revolutionaries, took over the direction of the artistic affairs of the [[French First Republic|new republic]] and, after complying with the request of numerous artists dissatisfied with the institution's bureaucracy and system of privileges, dissolved the Parisian academies and all the other royal academies in the countryside. However, the extinction of the old schools was temporary, as a Committee for the Arts was subsequently organized, which led to the founding in 1795 of a new institution, the [[Institut de France]], which included an artistic section and was responsible for reorganizing the national arts system.<ref name="Schwarcz" />

The challenges to academicism in France, however, were more nominal than real. Art courses returned to operating in broadly the same way as before, the hierarchy of genres was resurrected, the awards and salons were maintained, the branch in Rome remained active, and the State continued to be the biggest sponsor of art. [[Quatremère de Quincy]], the secretary of the new Institut, which had been born as an apparatus of revolutionary renewal, paradoxically believed that art schools served to preserve traditions, not to found new ones.<ref name="Schwarcz" /> The greatest innovations he introduced were the idea of reunifying the arts under an atmosphere of egalitarianism, eliminating honorary titles for members and some other privileges, and his attempt to make administration more transparent, eminently public and functional. In reinterpreting the [[Plato]]nic theory that the arts are questionable because they are imperfect imitations of an abstract [[idealism (art)|ideal reality]], he considered this idea only in a moral sphere, politicized and republicanized it, relating the truth of the arts to that of social institutions. He also claimed that the political reality of the republic was a reflection of the republic of the arts that he sought to establish. But beyond the ideas, in practice, [[authoritarianism]], which was one of the reasons given for the extinction of the royal academies, continued to be practiced in the republican administration.<ref>Lavin, Sylvia. [https://books.google.com/books?id=oQTYfRtWbioC&dq=academy+%22history+of+architecture%22&pg=PA15 ''Quatremère de Quincy and the invention of a modern language of architecture'']. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1992. {{p.|159–167}}</ref>

[[File:Thomas Jones The Bard 1774.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Thomas Jones (artist)|Thomas Jones]], ''The Bard'', 1774. A prophetic combination of [[Romanticism]] and [[nationalism]].]]

Another attack on the academic model came from the early [[Romanticism|Romantic]]s, at the turn of 18th to 19th centuries, who preached a practice centered on individual originality and independence. Around 1816, the painter [[Théodore Géricault]], one of the exponents of French Romanticism, stated:
{{Blockquote|These schools keep their pupils in a state of constant emulation... I note with sadness that, since the establishment of these schools, there has been a great effect: they have given service to thousands of mediocre talents... Painters enter there too young, and therefore the traces of individuality that survive the Academy are imperceptible. One can see, with real chagrin, about ten or twelve compositions every year that are practically identical in execution, because in their quest for perfection, they lose their originality. One way of drawing, one type of color, one arrangement for all systems...<ref>Schwarcz, Lilia Moritz. ''O Sol do Brasil: Nicolas-Antoine Taunay e as desventuras dos artistas franceses na corte de d. João'' {{in lang|pt}}. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2008. {{p.|118–119}}</ref>}}

===Stylistic trends and contradictions===
Since the onset of the Poussiniste-Rubeniste debate, many artists worked between the two styles. In the 19th century, in the revived form of the debate, the attention and the aims of the art world became to synthesize the line of [[Neoclassicism]] with the color of Romanticism. One artist after another was claimed by critics to have achieved the synthesis, among them [[Théodore Chassériau]], [[Ary Scheffer]], [[Francesco Hayez]], [[Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps]], and [[Thomas Couture]]. [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]], a later academic artist, commented that the trick to being a good painter is seeing "color and line as the same thing". Thomas Couture promoted the same idea in a book he authored on art method—arguing that whenever one said a painting had better color or better line it was nonsense, because whenever color appeared brilliant it depended on line to convey it, and vice versa; and that color was really a way to talk about the "value" of form.

====Historicism====
[[File:Jacques-Louis David, Le Serment des Horaces.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|[[Jacques-Louis David]], ''[[Oath of the Horatii]]'', 1784. A typical historical work of the [[Neoclassicism|neoclassical]] period, politically and ethically engaged.]]

Another development during this period, called [[historicism (art)|historicism]], included adopting historic styles or imitating the work of historic artists and artisans in order to show the era in history that the painting depicted. In the [[history of art]], after Neoclassicism which in the Romantic era could itself be considered a historicist movement, the 19th century included a new historicist phase characterized by an interpretation not only of [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[classicism]], but also of succeeding stylistic eras, which were increasingly respected. This is best seen in the work of Baron [[Jan August Hendrik Leys]], a later influence on [[James Tissot]]. It is also seen in the development of the [[Neo-Grec]] style. Historicism is also meant to refer to the belief and practice associated with academic art that one should incorporate and conciliate the innovations of different traditions of art from the past.

====Allegory in art====
[[File:Thomas_Cole_-_Architect’s_Dream_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Thomas Cole]], ''[[The Architect's Dream]]'', 1840. An [[allegory|allegorical]] illustration of [[Historicism]] inspiring art.]]

The art world also grew to give increasing focus on [[allegory]] in art. Theories of the importance of both line and color asserted that through these elements an artist exerts control over the medium to create psychological effects, in which themes, emotions, and ideas can be represented. As artists attempted to synthesize these theories in practice, the attention on the artwork as an allegorical or figurative vehicle was emphasized. It was held that the representations in painting and sculpture should evoke [[Platonic form]]s, or ideals, where behind ordinary depictions one would glimpse something abstract, some eternal truth. Hence, [[John Keats|Keats']] famous musing "Beauty is truth, truth beauty". The paintings were desired to be an "idée", a full and complete idea. [[Adolphe William Bouguereau|Bouguereau]] is known to have said that he would not paint "a war", but would paint "War". Many paintings by academic artists are simple nature allegories with titles like ''Dawn'', ''Dusk'', ''Seeing'', and ''Tasting'', where these ideas are personified by a single nude figure, composed in such a way as to bring out the essence of the idea.

====Idealism====
[[File:Alexandre Cabanel - The Birth of Venus - Google Art Project 2.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|''[[The Birth of Venus (Cabanel)|The Birth of Venus]]'', [[Alexandre Cabanel]], 1863. An idealistic and sensual form of classical imagery.]]

Stylistically, academic art cultivated the ideal of perfection and at the same time selective imitation of reality ([[mimesis]]), which had existed since [[Aristotle]]. With perfect mastery of color, light and shadow, forms were created in a quasi-photorealistic manner. Some paintings have a "polished finish" where no brushstroke can be recognized on the finished work. After the oil sketch, the artist would produce the final painting with the academic "fini", changing the painting to meet stylistic standards and attempting to idealize the images and add perfect detail. Similarly, [[perspective (visual)|perspective]] was constructed geometrically on a flat surface and was not really the product of sight.

The trend in art was also towards greater [[idealism (arts)|idealism]], which is contrary to [[realism (arts)|realism]], in that the figures depicted were made simpler and more abstract—idealized—in order to be able to represent the ideals they stood in for. This would involve both generalizing forms seen in nature, and subordinating them to the unity and theme of the artwork.

====Hierarchy of genres====
[[File:Makart hans der einzug karls v in antwerpen.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Hans Makart]], ''The Entry of Charles V into Antwerp'', 1878. An illustrative work of the prestigious "historical genre".]]

The representation of the various emotions was codified in detail by academicism<ref>Barasch, Moshe. [https://books.google.com/books?id=n07eWPU1RnAC&dq=%22academic+art%22&pg=PA316 ''Theories of Art: From Plato to Winckelmann'']. Routledge, 2000. {{p.|333–334}}</ref> and the artistic genres themselves were subjected to a scale of prestige. Because history and mythology were considered plays or [[dialectic]]s of ideas, a fertile ground for important allegory, using themes from these subjects was regarded as the most serious form of painting. This hierarchy of genres, originally created in the 17th century, was highly valued, where [[history painting]] (also known as the "grande genre")—classical, religious, mythological, literary, and allegorical subjects—was placed at the top, followed by "minor genres"—[[portrait]]ure, [[Genre works|genre painting]], [[Landscape painting|landscape]]s, and [[still-life]]s.<ref name="Hierarchy">[http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/hierarchy-of-genres.htm ''Hierarchy of the Genres'']. Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art</ref><ref name="Kemp">Kemp, Martín. [https://books.google.com/books?id=95J-ppmZmt8C&dq=%22academic+art%22&pg=PA218 ''The Oxford history of Western art'']. Oxford University Press US, 2000. {{p.|218–219}}</ref>

The historical genre, the most appreciated, included works that conveyed themes of an inspirational and ennobling nature, essentially with an ethical background, consistent with the tradition founded by masters such as Michelangelo, [[Raffaello Santi|Raphael]] and [[Leonardo da Vinci]]. [[Paul Delaroche]] is a typifying example of French history painting and [[Benjamin West]] of the [[British America|British-American]] vogue for painting scenes from recent history. Paintings by [[Hans Makart]] are often larger than life historical dramas, and he combined this with a [[historicism (art)|historicism]] in decoration to dominate the style of 19th-century [[Vienna]] culture. Portraits included large-format depictions of people, suitable for their public glorification, but also smaller pieces for private use. Everyday scenes, also known as genre scenes, portrayed common life in a symbolic manner, landscapes offered perspectives of idealized virgin nature or city panoramas, and still-lifes consisted of groupings of diverse objects in formal compositions.<ref name="Hierarchy" /><ref name="Kemp" />

The justification for this hierarchization lay in the idea that each genre had an inherent and specific moral force. Thus, an artist could convey a moral principle with much more power and ease through a historical scene than, for example, through a still-life. Furthermore, following Greek concepts, it was believed that the highest form of art was the ideal representation of the human body, hence landscapes and still-lifes, in which man did not appear, had little prestige. Finally, with a primarily social and didactic function, academic art favored large works and large-format portraits, more suitable for viewing by large groups of spectators and better suited to decorating public spaces.<ref name="Hierarchy" /><ref name="Kemp" />

All of these trends were influenced by the theories of the [[German philosophy|German philosopher]] [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|Hegel]], who held that history was a [[dialectic]] of competing ideas, which eventually resolved in synthesis.

===Maturation: an increasingly bourgeois art form===
[[File:Lille PdBA lemaire napoleon.JPG|thumb|[[Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire]], ''Napoleon, protector of industry'', 1854. A symbol of glorified "civilizing imperialism".]]

[[Napoleon]] was the "[[swan song]]" of the concept of art as a vehicle of moral values and a mirror of [[virtue]]. He actively patronized and employed artists to portray his personal glory, that of his Empire and of his political and military conquests. After him, the fragmentation and weakening of ideals began to become visible and irreversible.<ref>Rosenblum, Robert. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ugP_jMmel98C&dq=%22academic+art%22&pg=PA104 ''Transformations in late eighteenth century art'']. Princeton University Press, 1970. {{p.|102–103}}</ref> With the cooling of the [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] ardor of the first Romantics, with the final failure of Napoleon's imperialist project, and with the popularization of an eclectic style that blended Romanticism and Neoclassicism, adapting them to the purposes of the [[bourgeoisie]], which became one of the greatest sponsors of the arts, the emergence of a general feeling of resignation appeared, as well as a growing prevalence of individual bourgeois taste against idealistic collective systems. Soon the preferences of this social class, now so influential, penetrated higher education and became worthy objects of representation, changing the hierarchy of genres and proliferating portraits and all the so-called minor genres, such as everyday scenes and still-lifes, which became more pronounced as the century progressed.<ref>Schwarcz, Lilia Moritz. ''O Sol do Brasil: Nicolas-Antoine Taunay e as desventuras dos artistas franceses na corte de d. João'' {{in lang|pt}}. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2008. {{p.|117–118, 142–144}}</ref>

[[File: "Le Crabe" by William-Adolphe Bouguereau.jpg|thumb|left|[[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]], ''The Crab'', 1869. Scenes from common life as a subject worthy of academic representation.]]

The bourgeoisie's support for academies was a way of demonstrating education and acquiring social prestige, bringing them closer to the cultural and political elites. Finally, [[Neo-Gothic]] revivalism, the development of a taste for the [[picturesque]] as an autonomous aesthetic criterion, the revival of [[Greek art|Hellenistic]] [[Eclecticism in art|eclecticism]], the progress of [[Medievalism|medievalist]], [[Orientalism|orientalist]] and [[Folklore|folkloric]] studies, the growing participation of women in art production, the valorisation of [[handicraft]]s and [[applied arts]], opened up other fronts of appreciation for the visual arts, finding other truths worthy of appreciation that had previously been neglected and relegated to the margins of official culture.<ref name="Tanner, Jeremy 2003"/><ref>Collingwood, W. G. ''The Art Teaching of John Ruskin''. Read Books, 2008. {{p.|73–74}}</ref><ref>Doy, Gen. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FGTF47gkM78C&dq=%22academic+art%22&pg=PA3 ''Hidden from Histories: women history painters in the early ninetheenth-century France'']. In Denis, Rafael Cardoso & Trodd, Colin. ''Art and the academy in the nineteenth century''. Manchester University Press, 2000. {{p.|71–85}}</ref> As a result of this great cultural transformation, the academic educational model, in order to survive, had to incorporate some of these innovations, but it broadly maintained the established tradition, and managed to become even more influential, continuing to inspire not only Europe, but also America and other countries colonized by Europeans, throughout the 19th century.<ref name="Kaufmann">Kaufmann, Thomas DaCosta. ''Toward a geography of art''. University of Chicago Press, 2004. {{p.|54–55}}</ref>

Another factor in this academic revival, even in the face of a profoundly changing scenario, was the reiteration of the idea of art as an instrument of political affirmation by nationalist movements in several countries.<ref name="Kaufmann" />

===Apotheosis: Parisian salons and further influence===
[[File:Charles X distribuant des récompenses aux artistes exposants du salon de 1824 au Louvre, le 15 Janvier 1825 (by François Joseph Heim).jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|''[[Charles X Distributing Awards to Artists]]'' for the [[Paris Salon of 1824]]. An 1827 painting by [[François Joseph Heim]], now in the [[Louvre]].]]

The 19th century was the heyday of the academies, in the sense that their output became extremely well accepted among a much wider—but often less cultured and less demanding—public, giving academic art a popularity as great as that enjoyed today by [[Cinematography|cinema]], and with an equally popular theme, covering everything from traditional historical subjects to comic vignettes, from sweet and sentimental portraits to medievalist or picturesque scenes from exotic Eastern countries, something unthinkable during the Ancien Régime.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kino|first=Carol|title=Returning the gaze|work=[[The National (Abu Dhabi)]]|date=4 March 2004|archive-date=26 April 2024|url=http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090821/REVIEW/708209994/1008|archive-url=http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20090821%2FREVIEW%2F708209994%2F1008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

By the second half of the 19th century, academic art had saturated European society. Exhibitions were held often, with the most popular exhibition being the [[Paris Salon]], and beginning in 1903, the [[Salon d'Automne]]. These [[Salon (gathering)#Public salons|salons]] were large scale events that attracted crowds of visitors, both native and foreign. As much a social affair as an artistic one, 50,000 people might visit on a single Sunday, and as many as 500,000 could see the exhibition during its two-month run. Thousands of paintings were displayed, hung from just below eye level all the way up to the ceiling in a manner now known as "Salon style". A successful showing at the salon was a seal of approval for an artist, making his work saleable to the growing ranks of private collectors. [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau|Bouguereau]], [[Alexandre Cabanel]] and [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]] were leading figures of this art world.<ref>Patricia Mainardi: ''The End of the Salon: Art and the State in the Early Third Republic'', [[Cambridge University Press]], 1993</ref><ref>Fae Brauer, ''Rivals and Conspirators: The Paris Salons and the Modern Art Centre'', Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars, 2013</ref>

During the reign of academic art, the paintings of the [[Rococo]] era, previously held in low favor, were revived to popularity, and themes often used in Rococo art such as [[Eros (god)|Eros]] and [[Psyche (mortal)|Psyche]] were popular again. The academic art world also admired Raphael, for the idealism of his work, in fact preferring him over Michelangelo.

====England====
In England, the influence of the Royal Academy grew as its association with the State consolidated. In the first half of the 19th century, the Royal Academy already exercised direct or indirect control over a vast network of galleries, museums, exhibitions and other artistic societies, and over a complex of administrative agencies that included the [[List of British monarchs|Crown]], [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|parliament]] and other state departments, which found their cultural expression through their relations with the academic institution.<ref name="fyfe">Fyfe, Gordon. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FGTF47gkM78C&dq=%22academic+art%22&pg=PA3 ''Auditing the RA: official discourse and the ninetheenth-century Royal Academy'']. in Denis, Rafael Cardoso & Trodd, Colin. ''Art and the academy in the nineteenth century''. Manchester University Press, 2000. {{p.|117–128}}</ref><ref name="barlow">Barlow, Paul. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FGTF47gkM78C&dq=%22academic+art%22&pg=PA3 ''Fear and loathing of the academic, or just what is it that makes the avant-garde so different, so appealing?''] in Denis, Rafael Cardoso & Trodd, Colin. ''Art and the academy in the nineteenth century'']. Manchester University Press, 2000. {{p.|17}}</ref> The [[Royal Academy Summer Exhibition]] gained momentum at the time and has been staged annually without interruption to the present day.

[[File:Frith A Private View.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|''[[A Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881]]'' by [[William Powell Frith]], depicting [[Oscar Wilde]] and other Victorian worthies at a [[private view]] of the [[Royal Academy Summer Exhibition|1881 exhibition]]]]

As the century progressed, challenges to this primacy began to emerge, demanding that its relations with the government be clarified, and the institution began to pay more attention to market aspects in a society that was becoming more heterogeneous and cultivating multiple aesthetic tendencies. Subsidiary schools were also opened in various cities to meet regional demands. By the middle of the 19th century, the Royal Academy had already lost control over British artistic production, faced with the multiplication of independent creators and associations, but continued, facing internal tensions, to try to preserve it. Around 1860, it was again stabilized through new strategies of monopolizing power, incorporating new trends into its orbit, such as promoting the previously ignored technique of [[Watercolor painting|watercolor]], which had become vastly popular, accepting the admission of women, requiring new members in an enlarged membership to renounce their affiliation to other societies and reforming its administrative structure to appear as a private institution, but imbued with a civic purpose and a public character. In this way, it managed to administer a significant part of the British artistic universe throughout the 19th century, and despite the opposition of societies and groups of artists such as the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Pre-Raphaelite]]s, it managed to remain a disciplinary, educational and consecrating agency of the greatest importance, able to largely accompany the progress of [[modernism]], contradicting a common view that academies are invariably reactionary.<ref name="fyfe" /><ref name="barlow" />

====Germany====
[[File:Peter von Cornelius 001.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Peter von Cornelius]], of the [[Nazarene movement|Nazarene]] group: ''The Parable of the Wise Virgins and the Foolish Virgins'', {{circa|1813}}, reverting to [[Renaissance]] patterns]]

In Germany, the academic spirit initially encountered some resistance to its full implementation. Already at the end of the 18th century, theorists such as [[Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten|Baumgarten]], [[Schiller]] and [[Kant]] had promoted the autonomy of Aesthetics through the concept of "[[art for art's sake]]", and had emphasized the importance of the artist's self-education, against the [[Mass culture|massification]] imposed by [[civilization]] and its institutions, seeing the collectivizing structure and impersonal nature of academia as a threat to their desires for creative freedom, [[Individualism|individualistic]] inspiration, and absolute originality. In this vein, [[art criticism]] began to take on distinctly [[Sociology|sociological]] colors.<ref>Tanner, Jeremy. ''The sociology of art: a reader''. Routledge, 2003. {{p.|5–7}}</ref>

Part of this reaction was due to the activity of the [[Nazarene movement|Nazarene]]s, a group of painters who sought a return to a Renaissance style and medieval practices in a spirit of austerity and fraternity. Under their influence, masterclasses were introduced—paradoxically within the academies themselves—which sought to group promising students around a master, who was responsible for their instruction, but with much more concentrated attention and care than in the more generalist French system, based on the assumption that such more individualized treatment could provide a stronger and deeper education. This method was first instituted at the [[Düsseldorf]] Academy and progressed slowly, but over the course of the 19th century, it became common to all German academies, and was also imitated in other northern European countries. Interesting results of the masterclasses were the beginning of a tradition of large-scale mural painting and the steering of the local [[avant-garde]] along less [[Iconoclasm|iconoclastic]] lines than the Parisian ones.<ref>Vaugham, William. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FGTF47gkM78C&dq=%22academic+art%22&pg=PA3 ''Cultivation and Control: the "Masterclass" and the Düsseldorf Academy in the nineteenth centrury'']. Denis, Rafael Cardoso & Trodd, Colin. ''Art and the academy in the nineteenth century''. Manchester University Press, 2000. {{p.|150–152}}</ref>

====United States====
The influence of the Royal Academy extended across the ocean and strongly determined the foundation and direction of American art from the end of the 18th century until the middle of the 19th century, when the country began to establish its cultural independence. Some of the leading local artists studied in London under the guidance of the Royal Academy and others, who settled in England, continued to exert influence in their home country through regular submissions of works of art. This was the case with [[John Singleton Copley]], the dominant influence in his country until the beginning of the 19th century, and also with [[Benjamin West]], who became one of the leaders of the English neoclassical-romantic movement and one of the main European names of his generation in the field of history painting. He made a number of fellow disciples, such as [[Charles Willson Peale]], [[Gilbert Stuart]] and [[John Trumbull]], and his influence was similar to that of Copley on American painting.<ref>Jaffee, David. [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/arid/hd_arid.htm ''Art and Identity in the British North American Colonies, 1700–1776'']. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000</ref>

[[File:Bierstadt - Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains - 1868.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|[[Albert Bierstadt]], ''[[Among the Sierra Nevada, California|Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains]]'', 1868. The landscape as a [[Patriotism|patriotic]] celebration.]]

The first academy to be created in the United States was the [[Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts]], founded in 1805 and still active today. The initiative came from the painter [[Charles Peale]] and the sculptor [[William Rush (sculptor)|William Rush]], along with other artists and traders. Its progress was slow, and its peak was only reached at the end of the 19th century, when it began to receive significant financial support, opened a gallery and formed its own collection, becoming an anti-modernist bastion.<ref>Hamilton, John McLure. ''Men I Have Painted''. London: T. Fisher Unwin Ltd., 1921, {{p.|176–180}}</ref> The most decisive step toward the formation of an American academic culture was taken when the [[National Academy of Design]] was founded in 1826 by [[Samuel F. B. Morse]], [[Asher B. Durand]], [[Thomas Cole]], and other artists dissatisfied with the orientation of the Pennsylvania Academy. It soon became the most respected artistic institution in the country.<ref>Jaffee, David. [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pram/hd_pram.htm ''Post-Revolutionary America: 1800–1840'']. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.</ref><ref>Dulap, William. ''A History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States''. C. E. Goodspeed & Co., 1918. Vol. 3, {{p.|52–57}}</ref> Its method followed the traditional academic model, focusing on drawing from classical and live models, in addition to offering lectures on anatomy, perspective, history and mythology, among other subjects. Cole and Durand were also the founders of the [[Hudson River School]], an aesthetic movement that began a great painting tradition, lasting for three generations, with a remarkable unity of principles, and which presented the national landscape in an epic, idealistic and sometimes fanciful light. Its members included [[Albert Bierstadt]] and [[Frederic Edwin Church]], the most celebrated landscape painters of their generation.<ref>Avery, Kevin J. [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hurs/hd_hurs.htm ''The Hudson River School'']. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.</ref><ref>Caffin, Charles H. ''The Story of American Painting''. Kessinger Publishing, 1999. {{p.|76–77}}</ref>

[[File:LincolnMemorialStatueNight.JPG|thumb|[[Daniel Chester French]], ''[[Statue of Abraham Lincoln (Lincoln Memorial)|Abraham Lincoln]]'', 1920, in the [[Lincoln Memorial]], [[Washington, D.C.]]]]

In the field of sculpture, however, the greatest influence came from the Italian academies, especially through the example of [[Antonio Canova]], who was the main figure of European neoclassicism, educated in part at the [[Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia|Venice Academy]] and in Rome.<ref>Carmel-Arthur, Judith. [https://books.google.com/books?id=56km1pKXy6cC&dq=%22antonio+canova%22&pg=PA8 ''Canova and Scarpa in Possagno'']. In Bryant, Richard; Carmel-Arthur, Judith & Scarpa, Carlo (eds). ''Carlo Scarpa: Museo Canoviano, Possagno''. Volume 22 de ''Opus Series''. Axel Menges, 2002. {{p.|6–12}}</ref><ref>Cicognara, conde Leopoldo. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ljUGAAAAQAAJ ''Biographical Memoir'']. In Bohn, Henry G. (ed). ''The Works of Antonio Canova, in Sculpture and Modelling, engraved in Outline by Henry Moses; with Descriptions by Countess Albrizzi, and a Biographical Memoir by Count Cicognara''. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1823. Vol. I, pp. i-vi</ref> Italy offered a historical and cultural backdrop of irresistible interest to sculptors, with priceless monuments, ruins and collections, and working conditions were infinitely superior to those of the [[New World]], where there was a shortage of both marble and capable assistants to help the artist in the complex and laborious art of stone carving and bronze casting. [[Horatio Greenough]] was just the first in a large wave of Americans to settle between Rome and Florence. The most notable of these was [[William Wetmore Story]], who after 1857 assumed leadership of the American colony that had been created in Rome, becoming a reference for all newcomers. Despite their stay in Italy, the group continued to be celebrated in their country, and their artistic achievements received continuous press coverage until the neoclassical vogue dissipated in North America from the 1870s onwards. By this time, the United States had already established its culture and created the general conditions to promote consistent and high-level local sculptural production, adopting an eclectic synthesis of styles.<ref>Tolles, Thayer. [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ambl/hd_ambl.htm ''American Neoclassical Sculptors Abroad'']. In ''Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History''. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000</ref><ref>Tolles, Thayer. [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/abrc/hd_abrc.htm ''American Bronze Casting'']. In ''Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History''. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000</ref><ref>Peck, Amelia. [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/revi/hd_revi.htm ''American Revival Styles, 1840–1876'']. In ''Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History''. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000</ref> These sculptors also strongly absorbed the influence of the French Académie, several of them were educated there, and their production populated most public spaces and the facades of major American buildings, with works of strong civic and great formalism that became icons of local culture, such as the [[Statue of Abraham Lincoln (Lincoln Memorial)|statue of Abraham Lincoln]] by [[Daniel Chester French]] and the [[Robert Gould Shaw Memorial|memorial to Robert Gould Shaw]] by [[Augustus Saint-Gaudens]].<ref name="Scott & Rutkoff">Scott, William B. & Rutkoff, Peter M. [https://books.google.com/books?id=YgALtJ2GKIUC&dq=%22academic+art%22&pg=PA7 ''New York Modern: The Arts and the City'']. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. {{p.|8–9}}</ref>

In 1875, the [[Art Students League]] took over as the leading American art academy, founded by students inspired by the model of the French Académie, establishing the guidelines for national art education until [[World War II]], while also opening its classes to women. Offering better working conditions than its Parisian model, the League was created by artists who saw in the French academic environment an appeal to culture and civilization and believed that this model would discipline the national [[Democracy|democratic]] impulse, transcending regionalisms and social differences, refine the taste of [[Capitalism|capitalist]]s and contribute to elevating society and improving its culture.<ref name="Scott & Rutkoff" />

====Other countries====
Academic art not only held influence in Western Europe and the United States, but also extended its influence to other countries. The artistic environment of Greece, for instance, was dominated by techniques from Western academies from the 17th century onward: this was first evident in the activities of the [[Ionian school (painting)|Ionian school]], and later became especially pronounced with the dawn of the [[Greek academic art of the 19th century|Munich school]]. This was also true for [[Latin America]]n nations, which, because their revolutions were modeled on the [[French Revolution]], sought to emulate French culture. An example of a Latin American academic artist is [[Ángel Zárraga]] of [[Mexico]]. Academic [[art in Poland]] flourished under [[Jan Matejko]], who established the [[Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts|Kraków Academy of Fine Arts]]. Many of these works can be seen in the [[Sukiennice Museum|Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art at Sukiennice]] in [[Kraków]].