An Alcove in the Art Students' League

1888

Charles Courtney Curran (American, 1861–1942)

Charles Courtney Curran documented the atmosphere and activity of the Art Students’ League in New York, where he studied and later taught. Here male and female students practice rendering the idealized human form. Students worked from casts of Greek and Roman sculptures, as well as from reproductions of classically inspired Renaissance objects, such as Michelangelo’s allegorical sculpture Night from the tomb of Giuliano de’Medici, which occupies the lower left corner of this painting. In the 19th century Night would not only have served as an effective demonstration of the art of antiquity but would also have represented one of the more difficult poses to illustrate. Once students mastered drawing antique and antique-inspired sculptures, they would have advanced to a class with live models.

Status: On View, Gallery 177
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Charles Courtney Curran
Title: An Alcove in the Art Students' League
Place: New York City (Place depicted)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1888
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: signed, lower left: "CHAS. C. CURRAN 88"
Dimensions: 21.6 × 29.2 cm (8 1/2 × 11 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Bequest of Kate L. Brewster
Reference Number: 1950.1514
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/90333/manifest.json

Judith A. Barter et al., The Age of American Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2011), no. 77.

Art Institute of Chicago, First Annual Exhibition of American Painters, May 1888, cat. 105.
Art Institute of Chicago, Two Centuries of American Art, 1750-1950, Oct. 1, 1959–Jan. 10, 1960, no cat. [downloadable checklist available].
Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, On Process: Studio Themes, Jan. 12–Mar. 4, 2001.
Memphis, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Charles Courtney Curran: Seeking the Ideal, July 27–Oct. 5, 2014; Pittsburgh, Frick Art Museum, Nov. 2, 2014–Jan. 25, 2015; South Carolina, Columbia Museum of Art, Feb. 20–May 21, 2015, cat. 37.

The artist; sold to James William Ellsworth (1849–1925), Chicago, 1888, for $135; possibly bequeathed to his daughter Clare Ellsworth Prentice (born 1885), 1925; possibly traded to John Levy or Henry Reinhardt Galleries, New York; Chester H. Johnson Galleries, Chicago; sold to Kate L. Brewster, Nov. 9, 1927, for $250 [as Julian Academy]; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1950.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.