Famous Artists School

Famous Artists School is an art correspondence course institution, in operation since 1948. The school was founded by members of the New York Society of Illustrators, principally Albert Dorne and Norman Rockwell.

History

The Famous Artists School was founded in 1948 in Westport, Connecticut, U.S.A. The idea was conceived by members of the New York Society of Illustrators (SOI), but due to the Society's legal status, could not be operated by it. SOI member Albert Dorne led the initiative to set up a separate entity, and recruited the support of Norman Rockwell, who was also an SOI member. For the founding faculty, Dorne recruited John Atherton, Austin Briggs, Stevan Dohanos, Robert Fawcett, Peter Helck, Fred Ludekens, Al Parker, Norman Rockwell, Ben Stahl, Harold von Schmidt and Jon Whitcomb. All were making more than US$ 50,000 a year at the time.

Later faculty included cowboy artist Harvey W. Johnson and cartoonists Roger Vernon, Al Capp, Milt Caniff, Peter Wells, and Rube Goldberg. Advisory faculty for the school later included Stuart Davis, Ben Shahn, Fletcher Martin, Ernest Fiene, Arnold Blanch and Doris Lee.

The Famous Artists School was acquired by Cortina Learning International of Wilton, Connecticut, in 1981.

In 2014 the archives were donated to the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Original courses

The original courses offered in 1948 were Painting, Illustration/Design and Cartooning. The Painting and Illustration & Design courses, which are still offered, consisted of 24 lessons, with a new lesson mailed to the student upon completion of the previous lesson. When a student completed and returned the assignment, it was critiqued by a professional artist who sent suggestions back to the student.

The original 1948 price for the three-year course was $200, payable in monthly installments, and veterans could use the GI Bill. By the 1950s the price was $300, plus an estimated $11.55 for basic oil painting supplies.

See also

• Art Instruction, Inc.
• Art school
• Famous Writers School

References

External links

• "Famous Artists School home page".  ; Old URL
• "The Artists Who Founded Famous Artists School". Famous Artists School. 
• Worth, Stephen (January 15, 2014). "Instruction: Chad's Design For Television". Animation Resources, Inc. . Sample pages and discussion of volume 24 of the 1960 (second) edition of the Famous Artists Course, Television art, written by former Disney Studios animator and first (1938) television commercial producer, Chad Grothkopf.
• "Famous Artists School". Connecticut Historical Society. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009.