Florence Academy Sculpture Article

FineArtConnoisseur.com | July/August 2013

S ituated in one of the world’s most cultured cities, the Florence Academy of Art was founded in 1991 by the American artist

Daniel Graves (b. 1949) to train painters coming from around the world in the time-tested materials and techniques of figurative realism. He also wanted them to absorb the academic priorities of beauty, storytelling, and craftsmanship — taught in ateliers and academies throughout the West until the mid-20th century, and passed on to Graves (against all odds) by his own instructors, who included Joseph Sheppard and Rich-ard Lack.

Though their greatest heroes are Rembrandt, Titian, and Velázquez, the Academy’s students also study masterworks in the renowned muse-ums and churches of Florence, where Renaissance humanists’ prioritiza-tion of the human body re-energized Western culture in the 15th century. Among the most thrilling expressions of this legacy are sculptures by the likes of Donatello, Ghiberti, Pisano, Verrocchio, and Michelangelo, not to mention masters from other epochs like Praxiteles, Bernini, Canova, and Carpeaux.

It was not until 1998 that Graves was able to introduce a full-time, three-year curriculum in sculpture. He entrusted its creation to Robert Bodem (b. 1971), who had only recently earned from Boston University a B.A. cum laude and an M.F.A. Bodem knew the Academy already, how-ever, having taken a year-long sculpture course there with guest artist Cessna Decosimo. His program was an immediate hit, and enrollment has been at capacity ever since, with 27 students participating today.

Across the Academy, Graves and his colleagues have broken “the vastly complex task of learning to draw, paint, and sculpt from life into gradual steps.” Students draw regularly from classical plaster casts and from the live model, and they also study anatomy and ecorché. In con-trast to many of today’s art schools, where students drift without mean-ingful guidance, they are critiqued daily to ensure they are on course, and given personalized suggestions on how to improve.

In Florence, Taking Sculpture to a New LevelBY PETER TRIPPI

GH

Lori Shorin (b. 1964)Spiritual Sisters2010, Bronze, 60 in. highM Gallery of Fine Art, Charleston

Until last year, the Academy operated six small buildings scattered around central Florence, but now it has consolidated two of these into its new Robert and Christine Emmons Center for Sculpture. Allocat-ing more space to this medium than ever before (8,000 square feet), the bright, tidy facility offers large workrooms for students and private studios for Bodem and principal instructors Eran Webber and Sanne van Tongeren, as well as permanent guest artist Hywel Pratley. (Based in Santa Barbara, the Emmonses are longtime supporters of the Academy; after chairing its board for four years, “Bob” is currently a member-at-large, while Christine is its secretary.)

THE NEXT STEPMore good news came this spring, when the National Associa-

tion of Schools of Art and Design deemed the Florence Academy a U.S. university certificate program, the first institution with a strictly classi-cal curriculum to be so recognized. This, says the Academy’s executive director, Susan Tintori, “is the moment we’ve all been waiting for: when

Reprinted with permission from:

800.610.5771 or International 011-561.655.8778.CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE

Ti n s i d e t r ac k


Eran Webber (b. 1980) Royalty 2012, Clay, 53 in. high

Ti n s i d e t r ac k


Lotta Blokker (b. 1980) Being

2011, Wax 44 1/2 in. high


Robert Bodem (b. 1971) Petrouska 2007, Bronze, 40 in. high

Eran Webber’s private studio

The hall of plaster casts


the classical curriculum of the atelier enters the mainstream. We are also pleased that this status pertains to our operation in Florence and the one we opened in 2006 in Mölndal, Sweden.” Achieving this recognition means that incoming students can pursue more loans and grants in the U.S., and that the diploma issued by the Academy upon completion of its three-year course in painting or sculpture is regarded as a university-level certificate. The latter can be used by an undergraduate as credit toward a terminal degree, or by a graduate as added proof of expertise.

Major challenges lie ahead for figurative sculptors, of course. Making sculpture consumes a lot of time, space, and money, and the commercial market and critical establishment are still not particularly encouraging. Though graduates emerge from the Academy equipped with technical virtuosity and deep historical awareness, they now must focus closely on sculpting imagery that matters to viewers today. Ideally, Graves hopes, they will “create a unique body of works ... that, in their truthfulness and beauty, convey ideas of great significance.”

We wish them well, and are excited to see what happens next. n

Information: Via delle Casine 21/R, 50122 Florence, Italy, 011.39.055.245444, florence

academyofart.com. The Academy welcomes visitors to its studios and gallery by

appointment.

Peter Trippi is editor-in chief of Fine Art Connoisseur and sits on the Florence Academy’s

council of advisors.

Isolde Cortès (b. 1976) Sorrow’s Farewell 2007, Bronze, 31 1/2 in. high

A workroom for intermediate and advanced students

Alicia Ponzio (b. 1974)What Was

2008, Bronze 20 in. high

Documents

Florence Academy Sculpture Article