The Art Students League: 150 Years of "American" Art

The Art Students League of New York is the birthplace of "American" art. This session proposes to deconstruct definitions of “American” art through the lens of this storied alternative art school grounded in the atelier-method of teaching. Taking a transnational, cross-temporal, interdisciplinary look at the League’s history as a bedrock of artmaking since its founding in 1875, this session welcomes papers on the production of single artists (i.e. Djuna Barnes, Robert Blackburn, Paul Cadmus, Alexander Calder, Daniel Chester French, Helena de Kay, Joseph Delaney, Thomas Eakins, Norman Lewis, William Merritt Chase, Georgia O’Keeffe, Mavis Pusey, Augustus St. Gaudens, Florine Stettheimer, Cy Twombly), artists groups (i.e. Ashcan School, Spiral Group), as well as so-called stylistic movements (i.e. Realism, Social Realism, Abstract Expressionism) associated with the League. Considerations of art pedagogy, specifically the origins and legacy of the atelier method and its application in the United States and at the League, are also applicable. Of particular interest are papers addressing international artists (i.e. Ai WeiWei, Louise Bourgeois, Chaim Gross, Yayoi Kusama, Carmen Herrera, Marisol, Louise Nevelson) who studied at the League, shaping “American” art through their culture and worldly experiences. Practicing artists who engage with the atelier method and/or the legacy of the League are encouraged. The year 2025 marks the League’s 150th anniversary, thus this session looks at its impacts on not only the history of “American” art but also what it means to be an “American” artist within the last three centuries.