During the Renaissance, the first European fine art academies were established in Italy and would guide the style and standards of visual culture in the following centuries. Academic art became dominant across the continent in the 17th century, with artists coming together to offer instruction in this style of painting and sculpture.
The academic art period represented a significant change from the previous era when painters, sculptors and other artists were part of guilds and seen more as artisans than purveyors of culture. While patronage from the elite and the church remained pivotal, young artists were able to support themselves for the first time through academic exhibitions and an independent marketplace. The leading academies included the French Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture founded in Paris in 1648 (which became the Académie des Beaux-Arts after the French Revolution) and the London Royal Academy of Arts formed in 1768 under the inaugural leadership of painter Joshua Reynolds.
Academy students sketched drawings based on prints, sculptures and, finally, live models. Movements including neoclassicism and romanticism were particularly popular in these art schools and institutions where the influence of Raphael and Nicolas Poussin was prominent. Beaux Arts architecture and furniture design drew on these movements, too, and, as they also originated at the Académie des Beaux-Arts, the disciplines share common ground with academic painting and sculpture.
Although academic art was a major shift for artistic status when it began, by the middle of the 19th century it was viewed as stodgy and resistant to new ideas, with the subject matter of artists such as William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Jean-Léon Gérôme generally limited to allegorical or mythological themes. Impressionism, realism and the other movements that engaged with contemporary issues that followed were direct reactions to the academic tradition, although it continued to inform the avant-garde as artists like Gustav Klimt and Pablo Picasso started their practices as academic realists.
Find a collection of academic paintings, sculptures, prints and more art on 1stDibs.
French Contemporary Art by Pascal Plazanet - Barfleur
Located in Paris, IDF
Rapidography & Indian ink on canvas Pascal Plazanet is a French artist born in 1963 who lives and works in Paris, France. For more 30 years, he consta...
Canvas, India Ink
$2,000
French Contemporary Art by Pascal Plazanet - Paris depuis l’Hotel de Ville
Located in Paris, IDF
Rapidography & acrylic onto canvas Pascal Plazanet is a French artist born in 1963 who lives and works in Paris, France. For more 30 years, he constantly uses rapidograph pens in hi...
Canvas, Acrylic
French Contemporary Art by Pascal Plazanet - Provencale No. 11
Located in Paris, IDF
Rapidography & acrylic on paper + white frame Pascal Plazanet is a French artist born in 1963 who lives and works in Paris, France. For more 30 years, he constantly uses rapidograph pens in his artworks on paper or onto canvas. The rapidograph is a special pen with a capillary tubular tip in which flows a black pigment, an ancient drawing tool...
Paper, Acrylic
French Contemporary Art by Pascal Plazanet - Provencale No. 6
Located in Paris, IDF
Rapidography & acrylic on paper + white frame Pascal Plazanet is a French artist born in 1963 who lives and works in Paris, France. For more 30 years, he constantly uses rapidograph pens in his artworks on paper or onto canvas. The rapidograph is a special pen with a capillary tubular tip in which flows a black pigment, an ancient drawing tool...
Paper, Acrylic
French Contemporary Art by Pascal Plazanet - Chateau de Foix
Located in Paris, IDF
Rapidography & ink on paper + white frame Pascal Plazanet is a French artist born in 1963 who lives and works in Paris, France. For more 30 years, he constantly uses rapidograph pens in his artworks on paper or onto canvas. The rapidograph is a special pen with a capillary tubular tip in which flows a black pigment, an ancient drawing tool...
Paper, Ink
Price Upon Request
Rosetta
Located in New York, NY
Oil on canvas Signed This painting is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. “Tohu-bohu” is a series of paintings by French-American painter John Bailly that explores the o...
Canvas, Oil
Price Upon Request
Los Hermanos Islets
Located in New York, NY
Oil on canvas Signed This painting is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. “When two worlds collide, mayhem or genius can ensue. Consider the freestyle fellowship that ha...
Canvas, Oil
$1,800
H 40 in W 40 in
"Erik" Contemporary Abstract Blue Toned Western Cowboy Portrait Painting
Located in Houston, TX
Colorful abstract cowboy portrait painting by contemporary artist Ian Francis. The work features a western inspired figure with a shadowed face dressed in a blue shirt and cowboy hat...
Canvas, Acrylic
$1,800
H 40 in W 40 in
"Huck" Contemporary Abstract Red, Pink & Blue Western Cowboy Portrait Painting
Located in Houston, TX
Colorful abstract cowboy portrait painting by contemporary artist Ian Francis. The work features a western inspired figure with a shadowed face dressed in a blue shirt and cowboy hat...
Canvas, Acrylic
$350
H 23.25 in W 18 in
1980s "Cityscape of Black and White" Abstract Landscape Painting
Located in Arp, TX
Leon Collard (1916-2011) "Cityscape of Black and White" c. 1980s Acrylic on Paper 23.25"x18" unframed Signed lower right in paint Leon Collard (1916-2011...
Paper, Acrylic
$1,800
H 40 in W 40 in
"Tanner" Contemporary Abstract Red, Pink & Blue Western Cowboy Portrait Painting
Located in Houston, TX
Colorful abstract cowboy portrait painting by contemporary artist Ian Francis. The work features a western inspired figure with a shadowed face dressed in a red and white striped shi...
Canvas, Acrylic
"Rail Crossing: Middletown, NY"
By Jules Halfant
Located in New York, NY
This beautiful oil on linen canvas painting, entitled "Rail Crossing: Middletown, was executed by the esteemed artist Jules Halfant (American, 1909-2001)...
Canvas, Oil
Untitled - Abstract Composition
By Jen Brisson
Located in New York, NY
This sophisticated abstract painting was realized by the esteemed Mid Century artist, Jen Brisson in 1961. It features an abstract grid like composition created by intersecting verti...
Canvas, Acrylic
$350
H 12 in W 18 in
Art Brut Surrealist figurative abstract Philadelphia Artist
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Jesse Soifer (1932-2013). Untitled #06, 1969. Ink on paper, sheet measures 12 x 18 inches. Unsigned. Estate stamp on verso sheet with assignation number. Early Life and Recognit...
Paper, Ink
$3,338
H 15 in W 17 in D 2 in
Turquoise Blue Abstract Textured Coastal Landscape at Sunset by British Artist
Located in Preston, GB
Turquoise Blue Abstract Textured Coastal Landscape at Sunset by Contemporary British Artist, Angela Wakefield Art measures 12 x 10 inches Frame measures 17 x 15 inches Angela Wakef...
Canvas, Paint, Cotton Canvas, Acrylic, Board
$11,000
H 90 in W 109 in D 0.1 in
Diptych: Registros XVII and Registros XVIII. From The Series Registros
By Nat Orlowski
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Impressions of past lives, perceptions of future lives. The Records series carries that mystery. Simple and profound since its deed does not happen on the surface. Although it manif...
Canvas, Lacquer, India Ink, Acrylic, Pigment
Sodom and Gomorrah
Located in Palm Desert, CA
An abstract acrylic on canvas painting by Latin American artist Fernando Canovas. Signed lower right, "Canovas 97." Exhibited: Buenos Aires, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Ferna...
Canvas, Acrylic
$600
H 17 in W 12.25 in D 1 in
"Abstract Composition (Blue, Amber and Green)" Mixed Media Painting on Paper
By Suki Maguire
Located in New York, NY
This piece is an abstract composition done with mixed media, oil and acrylic paints on paper. The artist explores an incredible world filled with color and expressive brushstrokes. The lines and texture create a mature abstract composition as Suki Maguire has been painting in this field since the 1970s. Her joy is the expression and we can find these notes displayed vividly in this piece. This piece comes displayed in a modern light wood floating frame under glass. Art measures 9 x 6 in Frame measures 17 x 12.25 in There is a great potential for discovery in Maguire's world of symbols, but a passing glance will not do, you have to allow your gaze to linger on this part and that of each painting so that your subconscious will have the opportunity to retrieve the elusive forms that seem to be hiding within the more obvious shapes. This holds true even in those works that incorporate letters of the Korean or Latin alphabet, which serve as glyphs bearing some symbolic meaning that goes beyond the mere representation of sound. She has exhibited internationally in Seoul, Nantucket, New York, and Italy. Her styles and materials have ranged from realism to abstract, from water and oil colors to acrylics and coffee grounds. Suki Maguire (Kim Jong...
Charcoal, Oil Pastel, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Newsprint
Composicion #23
Located in Milford, NH
A fine Mid Century vertical abstract expressionist oil painting by Panamanian artist Antonio Alvarado (b. 1938). Antonio studied under the figurative ...
Canvas, Oil
Sold
H 9.45 in W 13.78 in D 0.79 in
French Contemporary Art by Pascal Plazanet - Le Sacré Coeur de Montmartre
Located in Paris, IDF
Rapidography & acrylic onto canvas Pascal Plazanet is a French artist born in 1963 who lives and works in Paris, France. For more 30 years, he constantly uses rapidograph pens in his artworks on paper or onto canvas. The rapidograph is a special pen with a capillary tubular tip in which flows a black pigment, an ancient drawing...
Canvas, Acrylic
Sold
H 8.67 in W 11.82 in D 0.79 in
French Contemporary Art by Pascal Plazanet - Paris depuis l’Hotel de Ville
Located in Paris, IDF
Rapidography & acrylic onto canvas Pascal Plazanet is a French artist born in 1963 who lives and works in Paris, France. For more 30 years, he constantly uses rapidograph pens in his artworks on paper or onto canvas. The rapidograph is a special pen with a capillary tubular tip in which flows a black pigment, an ancient drawing tool...
Canvas, Acrylic
Experiment in Pure Painting #7
By Lee Wells
Located in New York, NY
Lee Wells (born 1971), offers a complex intermix of images, which engage issues of war, sexuality, freedom and liberation. Deeply rooted in the history of painting and dialogue of th...
Acrylic Polymer
Campos de Castilla
By Gloria Sáez
Located in New York, NY
Oil on canvas. White Floater Frame
Oil