Cowles Art School

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Cowles Art School
Boston Evening Transcript, 1896.
TypeArt school
Active1883 (1883)–1900 (1900)
FounderFrank Cowles
Location
Boston
,
Massachusetts
,
United States

Cowles Art School (Cowles School of Art) was established in 1883, in a studio building located at 145 Dartmouth Street in Boston, Massachusetts. It was one of the largest art schools in the city and boasted an enrollment of several hundred until it was closed in 1900.[1]

History

By the end of the 19th-century,

United States history, and good behavior. The Drawing Act of 1870 also required towns with populations exceeding 10,000 to make industrial and mechanical drawing instruction available to any interested residents over the age of 15.[2]

This new legislation caused a spike in the need for qualified artists in

Parisian art academies of his time, and borrowed the school's price structure from that of the nearby Art Students League of New York.[4]

Throughout its existence, the art school was well known for its instructors. Frank Cowles placed a heavy emphasis on hiring artists that were also well-versed in mechanical drawing and lecturing, resulting in a faculty of confident artists ready to impart their knowledge to both advanced professionals and brand-new beginner artists.[5] The Cowles Art School merged with the New England Conservatory in 1900, but fine arts instruction there ended only two years later in 1902.[4]

Courses

The Cowles Art School offered instruction in both men's and women's

perspective, composition, oil painting, watercolors, and both painting and drawing courses in still life and portraiture. Unlike many other art schools of the time, Cowles also offered courses in things like art history, the French language, and literature.[1] According to an article published in 1886 that advocated for more art schools to copy Cowles' educational model, the school had organized itself into six distinct departments: watercolor painting, flowers and still-life, portraiture drawing, drawing from cast, evening classes, and life drawing for men and women.[5]

Life drawing class at Cowles Art School, ca. 1897.

"In addition to giving a continuous and thorough training in art, the school meets in a whole, some way, the students who are not able to attend for long periods at a time, or who have been obliged to gain their instruction in an irregular and unwell way, and need to have their deficiencies made up in special lines of study...each student intent on joining is allowed to enter at once upon the highest grade of work for which he or she is capable of, and is carefully advised and guided in subsequent work."

— Frank Robinson, The Art Interchange, Vol. 33 No. 1 (January, 1895)

The school's

study abroad in Europe, with students finding they had a good reputation among schools in Paris. They also welcomed nontraditional students, offering morning, afternoon, and evening classes, summer programs, and Saturday morning lessons. Many exhibition opportunities were open to all students, who regularly won scholarships and awards for their efforts.[4]

Notable instructors

Chrysanthemums, oil on canvas, Dennis Miller Bunker, 1888.

Notable students

The Green Dress, oil on canvas, William McGregor Paxton, 1914.

References

  1. ^ a b Edwin Munroe, George Bacon, Edward Ellis. Bacon's Dictionary of Boston. 1886. P. 123-124.
  2. JSTOR 1320492
    – via JSTOR.
  3. ^ "Our Legacy". Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Retrieved 2022-09-20.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Fairbrother, Trevor J. (2015). The Boston School Tradition: Truth, Beauty, and Timeless Craft (PDF). Vose Galleries. pp. 18, 43, 46, 57.
  5. ^
    JSTOR 25583401
    – via JSTOR.
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