An Alcove in the Art Students' League
Charles Courtney Curran (American, 1861–1942)
1888
View the original$17
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Materials & printing
Archival matte paper, 189 g/m² (10.3 mil), sourced from Japan, printed with multicolor water-based inkjet so every brushstroke stays crisp. Framed prints arrive ready to hang in a .75″ ayous-wood frame with an acrylite front. Sized to standard frames by cropping, never stretching — at most about 3% comes off one edge, which isn’t noticeable on most pieces, and we only offer a size when it stays that small.
Shipping & returns
Made to order and delivered in 5–8 business days (2–4 to print, 3–4 in transit). US shipping only for now. Because each print is made for your order, all sales are final — but if it arrives damaged or defective, send us a photo within 14 days and we’ll replace it free. Full policy.
Why is it this affordable?
A thin, flat margin on every piece — just enough to keep the store running. Most of what you pay is the print itself. We only sell sizes that reproduce at full quality, and we don’t mark up the large sizes the way most shops do.
About this work
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.
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 21.6 × 29.2 cm (8 1/2 × 11 1/2 in.)
Museum record · 2 owners · 4 exhibitions
Provenance
- 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; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1950.
Exhibitions
- Art Institute of Chicago, First Annual Exhibition of American Painters, May 1888.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Two Centuries of American Art, 1750-1950, Oct. 1, 1959–Jan. 10, 1960, no cat..
- 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.
