Metropolitan Museum Visit

On a recent visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jeffrey Mims met with long time artist friends Cheryl Wheat and Edward Schmidt, who helped found the NY Academy of Art in the 1980s.  It was during this period,  while Mims was living in Rome and Schmidt was at the American Academy, that they met.

Schmidt discussing with Mims the Master Copy program at the Metropolitan Museum, which he developed for the New York Academy of Art.

A visit with Veronese in preparation for an upcoming lecture series on Venetian artists.

Where to Study?

In the May 2008 issue of The Artist’s Magazine, Mims Studios is featured in an article by Robert K. Carsten about choosing art schools.  This article advises prospective students to select an environment where they can learn most readily, and consider what options are available.  The point is made with images included in the piece juxtaposing Mims Studios with two very different alternatives at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Cooper Union School (below).

April Newsletter Online

Click here for the Mims Studios Spring Newsletter

Exhibition: Poussin and Nature: Arcadian Visions

 

 ”This is the first exhibition to examine the landscapes of this great painter. It brings together about 40 paintings, ranging from his early, lyrical, Venetian-inspired pastorals to his grandly structured and austere works in which the artist meditated upon Nature, its transformations and its renewals. An equal number of drawings are on view, the most luminous of which were done en plein air.”

For more information visit the Exhibition Webpage.

Winter Lecture Series: Manneriest Artists

 

The focus of this winter’s lecture series is on the generation of Mannerist artists working in Italy during the time of Michelangelo.   In these weekly, illustrated talks, director Jeffrey Mims presents a group of majestically creative painters - famous in their own time, but less well known today.   Beginning with artists such as Andrea del Sarto, Daniele da Volterra, and Francesco Salviati,  each lecture includes drawings and paintings of  the individual artist,  with biographical anecdotes and historical comparisons to better appreciate this distinctive period of art.

An offshoot to this study of Mannerist artists was a look at one of the distinguishing characteristics used by many of these Italian artists, “cangiantismo”.   Used primarily in the painting of drapery,  the “cangiante” effect is a system of changing color  tones in the shift from dark to light, imitating the effect of iridescence, or shot silk and often used during this period in fresco decoration.

Exhibition: Michelangelo, Vasari, and Their Contemporaries

 

“Seventy-nine masterpieces of Renaissance drawing, including a number of rarely seen works, are on view in a new exhibition at The Morgan Library & Museum entitled, Michelangelo, Vasari, and Their Contemporaries: Drawings from the Uffizi. The show focuses on artists who worked on the frescoes, paintings, tapestries, and other decorative work that embellished the magnificent Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, best known as the home of the Medici dukes. Included in the show are sheets by Michelangelo, Pontormo, and Vasari, as well as mannerists such as Bronzino and Allori.”

For more information visit The Morgan Library & Museum online or view images from the show at NYTimes.com

Exhibition: The Nude

 

From January 25th - February 16th, Ann Long Fine Art in Charleston presents the recent work of Kamille Corry in a long awaited exhibition titled The Nude: The Most Enduring Subject in Art History.  The work of other artists including Jeffrey Mims, with whom Corry studied, will also be represented in this exhibition.

For more information visit annlongfineart.com

Announcing The Zuccaro Scholarship

 

In January 2008, Mims Studios introduces a tuition scholarship to be awarded each year for the study of classical drawing and painting.  

After Michelangelo and Raphael, the Art of Renaissance Rome was perhaps best defined by the work of two brothers Taddeo and Federico Zuccaro.  Not only were they among the most highly sought after artists of their generation, they were also a major influence behind the creation of the first art academies in Europe.  Through early struggles of their own, the Zuccaro brothers developed a particular interest in the training and wellbeing of other young artists who had come to Rome to study art. 

It is in this spirit that Mims Studios has established the Zuccaro Scholarship - a tuition scholarship of $8,000 to assist in the education of aspiring artists who are in need of financial assistance and intent on learning through our program. 

For scholarship application and more information visit
The Zuccaro Scholarship webpage

Daniele da Volterra at the Louvre

David and Goliath on display at the Louvre; image by R. Rykner 

“The Louvre has put up for display in the Grande Galerie the David and Goliath painted by Daniele da Volterra, a Tuscan artist of the sixteenth century, close friend and follower of Michelangelo. After a long restoration, the painting has returned to the museum, but instead of hanging on a wall, has been placed at the very center of the gallery.

“The reason is that it is a rare case of a picture painted on both sides, representing the same composition from two different angles. The work is thus an illustration of the famous paragone, an intellectual debate in which painting and sculpture each claimed to represent reality. To better present his case, Da Volterra opted for this unusual format which allowed him to show more volumes than on only one surface.”

Excerpt from The Art Tribune article Daniele da Volterra Redisplayed at the Louvre.

Drawing studies for David and Goliath by da Volterra also in the Louvre collection:

British Museum Online Collection

The British Museum has recently launched a comprehensive website of its vast collection of two dimensional objects (prints, drawings, and paintings).  New images are being added weekly, and when completed, every object in the collection will be online.

For more information about the database or to search the collection online visit the British Museum Research website. 

The Art of Boston

 

Recently, students from Mims Studios traveled to Boston for a three-day study tour of some of the greatest artistic traditions this country has produced.  In preparation for this trip, our weekly lecture series this fall was focused on the Boston Painters.  

Beginning with John Singleton Copley, and moving through history to the founders of the Guild of Boston Artists, these lectures link the History of the Academy series with the artists of our own country and created the perfect conclusion to our spring trip to Paris.

The trip was not without a close look at ornament throughout the city, ranging from the classical moldings of the Boston Public Library, to the Romanesque and Venetian details at the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum.

Students were joined by painter Frank Strazzulla, Jr. who was kind enough to host our group at his solo exhibition at the Boston Guild, the first of many stops.  He and Jeffrey Mims led a joint tour through the Boston Public Library and several museums, with a focus on the Boston Artists and their influences.  

Among the many highlights from this trip was an informative comparison of the Sargent and Puvis de Chavannes murals with those in the Walker Memorial Building at MIT by Edwin H. Blashfield.  Designed on the unusual theme of Alma Mater, these works demonstrate an almost unparalleled mastery and brevity of touch executed by Blashfield when he was well into his nineties, and bear witness to an artistic reputation ripe for a revival.

Second Edition of the Charles Bargue Course

The Dahesh Museum of Art has recently announced a reprinting of the Charles Bargue Drawing Course compiled and annotated by Gerald Ackerman.  To pre-order a copy contact the museum bookshop.   

Weekly Lectures - Perspective

 

Perspective, one of the great but often overlooked sciences behind so much of the world’s finest art has now been added to the Tuesday lecture schedule.  This series will introduce the vocabulary and fundamentals of perspective, and lead into illustrated presentations of their practical applications in masterworks from the history of art, as well as a few surprising ways to use this way of thinking in drawing from nature.

Paul Brown Exhibition in London

From October 3 - 26, new work by artist Paul Brown will be exhibited at W. H. Patterson Gallery in London.  Brown, a former student of D. Jeffrey Mims, has also taught at the Florence Academy of Art and now lives and maintains a studio in London, England. 

Another Monstrous Museum Addition

Despite strong opposition, Florence, Italy’s Uffizi museum will go ahead with what has been called an “indecent and unheard of” expansion.  As opera and film director, Franco Zefferelli has so clearly stated, “This is a sign of profound incivility, of lack of respect for Florence, the monumental integrity of which is a value in itself… it is a wound and an abdication of care for the city.”  

See the article: Uffizi expansion goes ahead despite Florentine OppositionImage © Florencephotos.com, [info@florencephotos.com], [http://www.florencephotos.com], Firenze, Italy 1999-2006.

In England however, a modernist addition to the Holburne Museum was rejected.  Located in Bath, one of the most classical cities in the world, a proposed glass and steel addition to the 1796 Georgian building brought enormous protest from residents and architects alike.  The opposition rightly argued that such an addition would not only damage the area, but also set a “dangerous precedent.”

Fall Trip to Boston

This October, Jeffrey Mims and Frank Strazzulla will lead a special tour of the art and architecture of Boston, including the Boston Public Library, the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts.  In keeping with our study of mural painting and ornament, special focus will be given to the murals of John Singer Sargent as well as those by Puvis de Chavannes, Edwin Austin Abbey, and the ornamentation of Trinity Church.

Anatomy from the Life Model

 

Combining the study of Anatomy with evening life drawing, students overlay skeletal and muscle constructions onto copies of their own figure drawings.  The skeleton is often posed beside the figure model during drawing sessions. 

Below are examples from a recent lecture.

 

Weekly Lecture - Anatomy of Hands

This week, lectures on Artistic Anatomy continue with a focus on the Anatomy of Hands.  As well as looking at the construction of the hand, examples from the history of art will emphasize the importance of balancing “what you see” with “what you know,” and comparisons will be made between old masters and contemporary artists. 

Fall Exhibitions: Frank Strazzulla and Kamille Corry

This October, the Guild of Boston Artists will present a solo exhibition of paintings by Frank Strazzulla.  Students from Mims Studios will be joined by the artist in Boston for a tour of the city’s museums and public library.  More information about this trip will be posted soon.

Also this fall, an exhibition of works by Kamille Corry will open at Ann Long Fine Art in Charleston.  Click here to read Art Collector magazine’s 2006 article about Kamille.

Tapestry Galerie des Gobelins Reopens

 

Timed to commemorate its founding by Henri IV 400 years ago, The Galerie des Gobelins  has reopened after a 35 year renovation. This tapestry gallery, located inside the Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins displays a time-line of tapestries, including a series created for Catherine de Medici in the early 1600s, as well as furnishings and other manufactured objects.

An inaugural exhibition, “Les Gobelins 1607-2007 / Revealed Treasures: Four Centuries of Creation” is now on view.

For information about the Manufacture des Gobelins:

Réouverture de la Galerie des Gobelins
Qultures Weekly Magazine - Galerie des Gobelins
Royal Factories – The Royal Tapestry Workshop
Tapestry Making in France