Customer Reviews

Classical Painting Atelier: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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 author called her first book in this series 'the course I always wanted to take' in other words the highlights of all the different instructors and methods she encountered studying.

Unless you study at a formal atelier like, say New York Academy or Grand Central Academy, chances are you'll run into a variety of methods and approaches when learning to paint and draw.

This book gives what I think is the best comprehensive overview for people who want to become accomplished "realist" or 'classical' painters - its definitely filled in a lot of gaps for me.

There is no shortage of information out there about painting...the problem is its not distilled - what this book gives you is the distilled wisdom of the author- an accomplished painter who runs a respected atelier.

For example there is a great book about artists materials -but its 900+ pages long (artist materials handbook) - its great to have that information but whittled down materials overview in this book is "useable".

Some other key points:
The quality of the reproductions is outstanding
examples are not only old masters but contemporary realists - and not just the author!

Highly recommended and I might add ,an outstanding value.

How the heck were great painters of old trained anyway? They were apprenticed in Ateliers. Reading this book is like trying to sip water from the fire hydrant of knowledge. Now I understand why they painted from plaster casts: if you can't paint in black and white from a white object holding still, how can you possibly hope to succeed with a live, flesh colored figure?

This book explains a lot, and then has exercises. The first exercise is to Di Vinci's "Lady with an Ermine", in black and white. Then you move up to doing studies in only warm and cool values. Why bother to apply color when the values aren't doing their job?

There are many gorgeous pictures, both of famous master paintings so you can examine their techniques, and student works, which are just as well done. If you want to paint realistically, get this book.

My studio is filled with books on art. However, there are only a handful of them that I would consider extraordinarily useful and this is one of them. I haven't had a chance to read the entire text but the portions I have read are very well done. I can't get over how packed this book is with colored reproductions of works by my favorite artists such as Jacob Collins and Tony Ryder. You will find it hard to read because you will be caught up looking at the beautiful works which are represented. Thank you, Juliette Aristides, for this long awaited, much needed work!

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.

The only thing this book does well is describe the BASICS of visual art. An atelier in a book is what it was described as and it turned out to be more like a lengthy advertisement promoting ateliers to potential students. The exercises fall short of anything useful as they do not include enough photos documenting the progression of a painting. The photos go from initial drawing to underpainting to showing one block section of the painting completed and then the finished product. Where are the depictions of layering in colors? Where is the information on how many layers were used? How thick/thin was the paint? What were the brush strokes like? Some close-ups would have been nice. After reading this book, I was left with the feeling that the "atelier" of today might be highly overrated - like the book itself.

Classical Painting Atelier is almost useful. Unfortunately, far too little space is devoted to real information on practical methods and techniques. Aristides primary focus is in self promotion repeating again and again that the information she mentions in passing here is discussed more fully in some other of her books.
Some pretty reproductions of other artists' works who may or may not have ever set foot in her classes. Interestingly her own paintings, though pleasant enough are among the weakest examples shown.
Unimpressive didactics, uninspiring, with thankfully brief allusions to studio life, limited value to a student of painting...you're better off watching someone on You Tube.

**I dont know the author and was previously unfamiliar with her books or art. More about why I rate it 5+ stars and why someone with MY interests will want this book at bottom of review.

I just received the book (April 2009,) and I immediately recognized it as a Unique art "instruction" book for several reasons. After reading through a good portion and perusing the entire book several times, I have decided that I would classify it as 3 book-types in one, equally weighted as: Part -(XCLT)-ART-PICTURE/- HISTORY on the Atelier tradition and Realism in painting. Part - broad METHOD BOOK on classical, realist styles of painting, informative but not an instruction book for the casual painter. It speaks of techniques that take years and a lifetime to work consistently at, in my opinion. And It is Part - CRIME NOVEL in that, while learning valuable info on evolution of methods and materials of the trade (the forensic science, per se) you also see the corresponding "CRIME" -the big events/steps in (realist) painting of the last ~500 years, and learn the how, what, who, etc...and you want to read the book like a novel, not a reference...im not an art historian and was fed way too much art history in the past, but this book is as fun as it is informative...It would remain on any shelf of most practicing artists, historians, teachers, art restore-conservationists, and art-lovers who r into the best of realism genre.

This book is a gem for these reasons:

1)Overall Presentation; beautifully bound hardcover, reproductions are: of Xceptional Quality, PLENTIFUL, and Applicable to the array of topics discussed, -presenting a balanced mix of Realist painters and works from 16th century through (a lot of) realists practicing today -which is eye-opening, vital, modern work. Artists and artworks are NOT presented chronologically, but rather cleverly used as mixed examples of various topics covered. (Sargent, Titian, Nerdrum, Chardin, Courbet, David, Wyeth, Ingres, vermeer, Caravaggio, and a host of contemporary and other past masters dispersed side by side.) 239 packed pages + interesting biblio,

2)Topics covered (the extent of which is not apparent in Contents page,) encompass the most essential and often least understood foundations to powerful visuals: geometry, proportion, value, and color. I know, thats everything (except the How and the Why) but the author discusses these elements sufficiently without getting too complex, or wasting paper and the readers time with filler nonsense. Repeatedly, I enjoy the well-written, intelligent discussion on certain topics, (very humble!) and no-nonsense delivery of this book, (while still acknowledging the mystique and aura of great art.) Every page has vital info, or else a damn fine painting to look at.

3) Its an interesting, vital topic, and she knows her stuff - Aristides is a fine painter herself. She's not selling a line of paint or art material, there's no catch, and her dedication to documenting, teaching, discorsing, and art making are as obvious in the pages of this book as is the sincerity of your favorite work of art.

Oh well, it was not what I was specifically looking for (a reference,) but I am very pleased with this purchase, will buy her 1st book now - Classical Drg Atelier for the hellll of it, and recommend it to anyone who has more than a casual interest in any of the topics discussed.

**I'm a conceptual artist and painter and purchased this book b/c it kept popping up in search results for PaintinG reference, technique, and instruction. I was searching for better understanding (and control) with materials and techniques, specifically to improve realism in color, form, etc. in some of my work. I have NO connection with the author/artist, or her 1st book. This is the 1st review I've ever taken the time to write after purchasing A LOT of books, art related and otherwise.

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.

The issue with this book is that it is filled with classical works and references to it, but very little practical info.

Anyone who has studied a minimal amount of painting could have written this and the info you do find in it is scattered within pretentious bla bla bla about old masters and contemporary artists. About their style, their work, their life, the school they went to, you know the drill, but 0 practical info you can use.

Calling this a "guide" is ridiculous. It read like an encyclopedia of arts, nothing to do with studio practice.