Classical Painting Atelier: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice

Juliette Aristides has done it again. She has followed her first book titled Classical Drawing Atelier, with another book on painting. As in the case of the first book, she and the editors/publishers (Watson & Guptill) have created a beautiful book that not only provides helpful instruction, but it's simply beautiful as a work of art itself. It's hard to keep this review short because there's a lot to discuss, but to start I'll admit that I'm biased. I'm thankful that Juliette has taken the time to write it and I hope it goes into its tenth printing in the next two years. The near death of classical painting and drawing at the hands of "modern" art would have been an incalculable loss for western society, but somehow, reason and knowledge remained in the minds of a few, and classical art survived. Many of us recognized all along that it has value and have rejected the alternative, but the pressure to conform to creating the ephemeral and inferior art that society desired was too strong for many. This stunning volume confirms that classical art is coming back and Juliette has helped that process. The book comprises four parts and nine chapters: Part 1) The Artists Studio - describes both historic and contemporary atelier practices; Part 2) Timeless Principals - covers composition, value, and color; Part 3) Timeless Practices - discusses the process, inspiration, and the muse; and finally section Part 4) Masterworks - beautiful images from some of the most important realist painters through out history and some contemporary masters. The author covers processes or "choices" if you will, and most importantly, she conveys "thinking" about those processes. The book will aid those that want or need to understand why things are done in a particular way and by extension, in some cases the reasons you may not want to use a particular method or continue doing what you are now. Illustrative examples primarily include figurative and still life work while landscape is only lightly represented, however, the same principals and processes are applied to all types of painting, not a specific genre. Artists represented include the usual masters such as Rembrandt and Hals, but we also get to see contemporary paintings from Daniel Sprick, Nelson Shanks, Scott Frasier, Jacob Collins, et. al. Each painting shown includes a short description and discussion about the work, talking about the methods employed and the effects achieved. The value in this book is not simply the information provided (it's well written) or the amazing images - a stunning and beautiful selection including one of my all time favorites entitled Roses by A.H. Thayer - but in the larger meaning the book conveys as a revival of intelligent painting. Very few, if any, art schools today can even imagine what artistic training should include. Students attending these schools often learn that it's not about the final product, but simply about the process of making art, and any art is good art. The result is thousands of unskilled, abstract painters and artists "graduating" and thinking everything they do is worthwhile. In their defense, the students have few opportunities to learn real skills because their instructors are products of the same system. The cycle can be broken, and with the help of this book showing what's possible and how it's done, many students can demand more from their schools or simply extricate themselves from the morass and seek an atelier. My hope, and I'm sure it's shared by the author, is that this book will be an inspiration to those seeking more from their instructors or school, and even from their own art. Well done Juliette and thank you for creating another important book. Highly recommended. 10 Stars!!!!

The two things I got the most from the book were compositional theories, theories I didn't know existed but have proven to be very helpful, and direction for practice and study. With the exception of graphics training and a couple workshops, I'm self taught. Though I have had much success in both ability and sales I have always wondered what the old masters did to learn their craft and I think this book has shown me. As this book implies it is very sad that thousands of years of accumulated artistic knowledge and beauty was completely tossed out the window a hundred years ago in the name of so called liberation. I feel artists and our culture in general have been greatly deprived as a result. This book will hopefully help resurrect what we have lost and what was stolen from us. In my opinion I still think the best book on the concepts of painting is Alla Prima by Richard Schmid, however Alla Prima does not have much focus on composition; this book does. Alla Prima focuses more on direct painting where this book teaches more of the steps on slowly developing the skills to become a great artist. I don't think it gives as many of the straight forward artistic concepts as Alla Prima does but unlike Alla Prima it gives great exercises to work on. Like anything else I think the person who purchases this book has to put these exercises to creative practice and hard work. You cannot become a better artist just by reading it; you have to set up your own atelier program and get to work on it. Though a lot of the book is about art philosophy and history but I think if a person seriously puts the ideas and exercises into practice it will be of great help in growing as an artist.

For a true artist, this book excites and recalls my design school days. Excellent information presented in an engaging way. Most books start with a brief equipment discussion followed by design basics. This one starts with background of Atelier and studio work followed in the next section with design principles with valid examples and technical discussion. Each section includes a lesson to allow application of the information presented. Serves as a refresher. Excellent publication. Good page design, text and paper quality and binding. I will be glad to have this in my library.

Well it is better than possibly expected and so much better than the drawing previous volume, although that is an excellent book as well. It is well laid out and covers a big subject with elegance and great comphrension. The images from the artist Daniel Sprick are worth the books price and shows an exceptional contemporary realist artists work that is breathtakingly stunning. These plates are amazingly faithful to the originals. It is a worthy and well written book, tons of beautiful illustrations. Everyone should buy a copy of this book to encourage the author to produce more. I would encourage everyone to buy now as this volume will certainly sell out very very soon. Simply wonderful! Helpful more than instructive but a seminal and much needed book to read, absorb, learn and have as a good reference. There is much to keep you inspired. As I mentioned earlier, buy it if only for the paintings shown by the artist Daniel Sprick. This is one artist worth watching....closely. Lovely, lovely book. Thanks.

I enjoyed reading this book and considering how to apply the principles. There's in-depth discussion of topics like composition that don't appear in Aristedes's other text, Lessons in Classical Painting, which is more helpful for understanding oil painting specifically.

Quickly proceeds to technical designs, informative, clear diagrams of classical art; adaptable to moving work from average to strong engaging pieces.

I am taking my time reading Classical Painting Atelier and have not yet finished this book because I started with the drawing books by Aristides (Classical Drawing Atelier and Lessons in Classical Drawing Techniques). Altogether they are a wonderful collection for a beginner and provide information on the studio methodology that I did not get when doing short painting and drawing courses at an atelier-style art school. I have enjoyed the illustrations drawn from classical painters and contemporary American artists and the discussion relating to illustrations. The quality of the book and reproductions is very good. I found the author's charts to explain technical things very helpful and perhaps the most user-friendly I have seen to date (eg light/shadow, perspective). I am grateful to the person who recommended to me this book on painting by Aristides and bought the drawing books together with it because it was a very economical package. I think that this book and the two drawing books supply information not provided in other books (I have read many in my quest to learn how to paint) nor in highly reputable art classes that I have taken.

The book was recommended to me as having a chapter on still life composition. Page 19, paragraph 2 "Some of today's painters can render figures and objects as well as the master painters of the past; however, these painters do not consistently produce masterful compositions, largely because they rely solely on their intuition to group figures, objects, and spaces within the frame. Artistic intuition and sensitivity to order are vital elements that contribute to the style of an artist, yet these elements alone are not enough if one is to achieve a consistent level of compositional mastery". The book gives in details how to construct the armature of the rectangle and the root rectangle system and their applications giving great understanding for these systems which when used guarantee harmonic divisions of the canvas in various ways. Juilette Aristides explains the process used in her atelier for classical art training. I recommend this book very much for anyone who is interested in continuing their art education in a structured manor. I have not finished reading the book, but have already learned so many wonderful things. Roena King

It's a great book, and paper quality is super.

Ok

These books are so exceptionally special, well written and quite beautiful. Notwithstanding helpful! Deeply grateful and totally worth every penny!

本が全体的に汚く、のどの所が破れていて残念でした。返品はスムーズに出来たから良かったです。次に来る本は綺麗なことを願います。

Comprei com base nas avaliações e me arrependi, as obras escolhidas pela autora são terríveis, só retrataram nudez (inclusive de crianças) e morte, uma tristeza. Terminei de folhear o livro me sentindo mal, queria desver. Ainda decidindo se tento ler para ver se aprendo algo útil ou se me desfaço dele para não ter que passar essa experiência desagradável novamente.