The Bottom Line
Pros
- Explains exactly what the atelier painting approach is, now and in the past.
- Outlines the tuition you'd receive in an atelier.
- Glorious reproductions of paintings.
- Literate writing style and terminology, with explanations where needed without dumbing-down
Cons
- Disappointingly few paintings by Juliette Aristides herself.
- Many photos of painting not sourced from museum/gallery holding the original.
Description
- Author Juliette Aristides is a contemporary realist who runs a classical atelier at the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle, USA.
- Companion book to Classical Drawing Atelier, also by Aristides.
- Hardcover book, 256 pages, 220 color illustrations. IBSN 9780823006588.
Guide Review - Classical Painting Atelier by Juliette Aristides
The atelier or studio model of art training (as opposed to a degree at a university) is a combination of workshop and academic study under a master artist. As you'd expect from the subject matter, this is not a quick, how-to book, but one packed with information that requires slow reading and study.
The book starts with an overview of atelier training, historical and contemporary, then moves on to "timeless principles" (composition, value, and color), "timeless practices" (process, painting from life), and finishes with an overview of "masterworks" (divided into still lifes, portraits, and figure paintings).
It's not a how-to book full of step-by-step demonstrations, though there are a handful of lessons or exercises to apply what you've been reading about. But these are intended for people capable of independent study, and don't spoon-feed you. For example, "create a value poster study to explore the shapes and value changes in your still life" is but one step in the still-life painting exercise.
It's also not a showcase of Aristides' own work, but rather of paintings selected as masterworks, or examples to aspire to. These are selected from various eras, including some contemporary painters. The masterworks section includes brief biographies of the master painters and a discussion of the showcased painting by them. These will also serve as a useful starting point for further study of individual artists whose work appeals to you.
Overall this is a book that requires devotion to get the most from it: devotion of time and effort; devotion to painting technique and theory. If you just dip into it randomly, you won't get the most from it. But don't feel you need to rush reading it; like the style of painting it supports, time and effort should be invested and will be rewarded.
