Juliette Aristides: Observations

Obse r vat ions j u li et t e a r ist id es

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Obse r vat ions j u li et t e a r ist id es

Au g u st 10 —Se p te m b e r 14

2013

Jul iet te Aris tid e s has established herself as one of the

beginners, such as the famed Cours de Dessin, or Drawing

ideals: the bodily perfection of Greek gods and youths, and

complicated artistic practice but also of intense study and

premier artists working in the classical tradition today. A

Course, by Charles Bargue. They then drew from three-

the universal truths held to be evident in myths. What Rosetti

collaboration, and the passing on of newly acquired knowledge.

painter who exhibits regularly throughout the United States,

dimensional (“round”) plaster casts of antique Greek and

and his contemporaries found missing from these values was

And Aristides pays fitting tribute to that fact; throughout her

she is also the author of several authoritative books on the

Roman sculpture; and the final test of their ability was to work

any element of personal self-expression or merely human

work, we find references, some overt (such as a deliberate

practice of drawing and painting and a highly sought-after

directly from life, creating a drawing, called an Académie,

feeling; with this in mind, they rebelled, and began making

nod to the Aesthetic Movement, in The Artist’s Model

instructor, both at Atelier Aristides in Seattle, WA, which she

from a nude model who posed in the studio—translating a

drawings and paintings that exhibited the formal qualities

[p. 8], which features a Chinese screen and Japanese blue-

founded, and at other schools and art institutions around the

living three-dimensional form onto a static two-dimensional

they had been taught to render so beautifully, yet suggested

and-white vase, two objects which first became popular in

country. Yet for viewers new to her work, it is important to

surface. Only after they had mastered the techniques of

narratives and moods that were particular and personal to

the West in that era) and some more oblique, to images and

be aware not only of Aristides’s current accomplishments but

drawing completely could they advance to painting.

their own everyday experience, and thus newly relevant to

artists and from the past she has so painstakingly sought

contemporary life.

to understand and learn from. The skill in her drawings

also of the historical background that informs her approach to painting. A broader knowledge of the rich tradition within

This kind of training has been difficult to come by for some

which Aristides works can deepen an instinctive appreciation

time; with the advent of modernism in the early twentieth

Today, Aristides and a growing number of other artists have

sympathy—looking at these works, you can sense the artist

for the compelling beauty of her paintings into a greater

century, it gradually fell out of favor in the U.S. and Europe,

come to a similar conclusion as their nineteenth-century

thinking about the meaning in the individual experiences

understanding of their significance.

to such an extent that academies finally closed their doors,

predecessors; having undergone the demanding regimen

she portrays, and finding ways to evoke natural, unforced

the drawing manuals went out of print, and galleries stopped

of academic training, they now seek to employ the technical

relationships between their world she and her subjects live in

The classical model of artistic education, which Aristides

exhibiting and selling work coming from this tradition. Realist

accuracy and finely wrought draftsmanship that derives from

and the world of the past.

pursued as a young artist and now teaches to her own students,

art was seen as too conservative, connected to outdated

classical imagery in the service of contemporary narratives

follows a pattern of study developed at Academies and Ateliers

ideals and divorced from the realities of modern life. Yet

and ideas that speak to the here and now. Their task has

Juliette Aristides has written that she seeks to understand

throughout Europe in the nineteenth century. The primary

even in the nineteenth century, there had been arguments

been made doubly hard, however, by the long absence of

and convey the human spirit through her art. Viewers who

goal of the academic system was to train the student’s eye

and disputes over the uses and values of academic art. Some

classical training; after nearly a century during which even

are moved by her work will surely share her sense that this

to observe a given artistic subject with the highest degree of

young artists—among them Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Edward

the word ‘academic’ has been used as a pejorative, Aristides

is possible through a deep and lasting appreciation for the

subtlety and accuracy, so that the hand could then convincingly

Burne-Jones, and others associated with the Pre-Raphaelite

and her contemporaries have sought out, and in many cases

beauty of the human form, and find in themselves a renewed

render that subject on paper or canvas. Students progressed

Brotherhood in the 1850s and the Aesthetic Movement in the

reconstructed, through research and by piecing together their

awareness of the complexities of human experience.

by painstakingly small degrees, over about three years, from

1870s and ’80s—began to wonder what the classical imagery

educations here and abroad, the methods and techniques

“the flat” to “the round.” They began by copying plates

their training was based on could mean to their own time.

that were once taught in every art school. So a body of work

Flora Armetta, Ph.D.

(“flat” pages) from drawing books designed especially for

Such imagery had always been associated with classical

such as the one in this catalog represents years not only of

Director, Hersh Fine Art

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and paintings is enlivened by a feeling of intelligence and

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Tr u n k Ink on Paper 14”x 10” 2 0 1 3

O a k L e a v e s Ink on Paper 10”x 14” 2 0 1 3

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S t u d y f o r “ t h e A r t i s t ’s M o d e l o n B r e a k 2 0 1 3 Walnut Ink of Paper 14”x 11”

T h e A r t i s t ’s M o d e l o n B r e a k 2 0 1 0 Oil on Linen 38”x 25”

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Tr e e a n d L e a f 2 0 1 3 Oil and Linen 48”x 36”

P u g e t S o u n d 2 0 1 3 Oil and Linen 48”x 36”

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K i m o n o Charcoal and Sepia 24”x 15” 2 0 1 3

H e s p e r u s 2 0 1 3 Oil on Panel 25”x 30 1/4”

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M e d i c i n e Charcoal and Walnut Ink 10”x 11.5” 2 0 1 1

S i l v e r K e t t l e Charcoal and Walnut Ink 10”x 10.5” 2 0 1 1

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T h e N a t u r a l i s t 2 0 1 1 Oil on Linen 25”x 18”

C r e d o 2 0 1 3 Oil on Linen 24”x 18”

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S t u d y f o r W i l d f i r e 2 0 1 2 Charcoal on Toned Paper 18”x 16”

W i l d f i r e 2 0 1 2 Oil on Linen 24”x 18”

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N e w Ye a r s D a y 2 0 1 1 Oil and Linen 36”x 24”

C h a i n 2 0 1 3 Oil on Linen 24”x 18”

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F a m i l y 2 0 1 2 Charcoal, Sepia, And White on Toned Paper 24”x 18”

Ta l i a 2 0 1 2 Charcoal, Sepia, And White on Toned Paper 24”x 18”

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S u n 2 0 1 3 Charcoal, Sepia, And White on Paper 22”x 18”

R e m e m b e r 2 0 1 0 Oil on Linen 30”x 24”

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S o l d i e r 2 0 1 1 Oil on Linen 30”x 24”

S t u d y f o r S o l d i e r 2 0 1 1 Oil on Linen 24”x 18”

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S t u d y f o r 1 9 4 5 Sepia on Paper 18”x 11” 2 0 1 1

1 9 4 5 ( B e n d h e i m R e m e m b e r a n c e ) 2 0 1 1 Oil on Canvas 49”x 72”

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Juliette Aristides Born 1971 Capetown, South Africa Founding instructor: Aristides Atelier at the Gage Academy of Fine Art in Seattle, WA est. 1999.

EDUCATION: 1998-1996 Jacob Collins Studio /Water Street, New York, NY 1994-1996 National Academy Of Design, New York, NY 1992-1994 The Atelier, Minneapolis, MN 1989-1992 Pennsylvania Academy Of Fine Art, Philadelphia, PA 1988-1989 Barnstone Studios, Coplay, PA SOLO EXHIBITIONS: (select) 2013 Juliette Aristides: Observations, Reading Public Museum, Reading PA 2013 Allegory And Sacred Cannon, Lewis And Clark College, Lewiston ID 2012 Juliette Aristides, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2011 Juliette Aristides- Le Quire Gallery, Nashville TN 2005 New Paintings &Drawings, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2004 Juliette Aristides, The Brigham Gallery, Nantucket, MA 2003 Recent Drawings And Paintings John Pence Gallery, San Francisco,CA 2003 Drawings and Paintings, The Brigham Gallery, Nantucket, MA Aristides exhibits in one person shows and participates in dozens of group shows nationally. Her work has been featured in Fine Art Connoisseur, American Art Collector, Artists and Illustrators UK, Gulf Connoisseur Magazine, American Arts Quarterly and American Artist. She is a frequent contributor to Artist’s Magazine. Aristides is the recipient of numerous awards including Elisabeth Greenshields Grant. She teaches workshops both nationally and internationally.

PUBLISHED BOOKS: 2011 Lessons in Classical Drawing, Random House NY- Juliette Aristides 2008 Classical Painting Atelier, Watson-Guptill Publications, NY Juliette Aristides 2006 Classical Drawing Atelier, Watson-Guptill Publications, NY Juliette Aristides

aristidesart.com

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T h e A r t i s t 2 0 0 7 Oil on Linen 48”x 36”

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Reading Public Museum 500 Museum rd, Reading, PA 19611

all images copy right Juliette Aristides printed in the usa

2013

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