“150 years later and still here!”
Skip up the front stairs, push open the wooden doors at 215 West 57th Street in New York City, home of the Art Students League and you will notice an easy-going atmosphere that may not be what you expect from the imposing stone exterior. Maddie Morales or Nathan Montilla at the front desk will catch your attention, welcome you in, answer any questions and guide you as necessary.
There is a very distinct scent of art. Martha Bloom, who has taught at the League for 40 years to some 29,000 students, says “when you walk in, it’s always that same smell, it has its own smell. It’s the real McCoy.”
Older than the New York City Subway, Ellis Island Immigration Station and The New York Public Library system, the Art Students League is very much part of the fabric of the city. It has played a very influential role in the art world, not just in New York but for the whole country.
As you pass through the halls and into the studios and galleries, you walk in the footsteps of hundreds of thousands of artists who have been there during the 150 years of the League’s history. Some iconic, some known, some unknown and some forgotten.
Created by a group of artists rebelling against the strictures of the National Academy of Design, the League was set up by artists for artists without a set curriculum or interference from the administration. It aimed to provide mentorship, in the style of the European ateliers. Robert Cenedella, a former student and teacher explains, “no portfolio, no recommendations, are required. Just the desire to learn. Each instructor teaches according to his or her beliefs and philosophies. Period.
No student is required to remain in a class that doesn’t work for them. Any student can change classes at any time. It is simply a form of democracy at work!” Classes are not constrained by semesters. Fees are paid per class or per month and heavily subsidized. For teachers at the League, their success is driven by the students who want to learn from them. Martha Bloom explains “each instructor teaches as they see fit, (the administration) giving me freedom and attention when I need it. I have projects and themes using all the fine arts …but leave a wide berth for personal expression – as that’s what art’s about.”
The aim of the League has always been to teach the fundamentals
of fine art, “where anyone with an interest in art can learn traditional techniques from accomplished instructors…cultivating the technical and intellectual skills of aspiring artists.”
It is here that Robert Cenedella found himself, having been expelled from the New York High School of Music and Art during his senior year, for writing and distributing a satirical protest essay about school drills in case of atomic missiles being launched towards the United States. He landed at the Art Students League, in the classroom of George Grosz, one of the world’s most significant, and out-spoken satirists in the early 20th century. The three years that Cenedella spent with Grosz changed his life forever. In his first class, Grosz asked to see his work and said, “It’s a good beginning. You have a good line.” It was a great compliment from the teacher who taught students “how to draw a piece of rope and explained that with that shape every part of the human body could be put together.”
One of the unique aspects of the League that Michael Hall, Artistic/Executive Director, points out is the legacy and lineage of great artists. George Grosz mentored Robert Cenedella, who in turn mentored Jeff Tocci, who explains “The Art Students League is the only place in the world that I know of where
a person can walk in off the street, and thirteen years later leave with the drawing lessons of George Grosz and other masters. A true oasis of expression with the tools and space to learn fine art at your disposal, on your own time, without going broke. I hope it never changes one bit.”
Another student, Gail Comes, recently visited with her daughter. They came to see the exhibition in the galleries. Gail had first come to the League at the age of 14, with a letter from her schoolteacher to the League Director at the time, Rosina Florio. “I thought I was just being a messenger, only to find out that my teacher had paid 3 months’ worth of tuition for me to have classes at the League.” Her teacher had also asked that Gail be given a job at the League so she could continue taking classes after the 3 months were up. Gail went onto the New York High School of Music and Art and then onto Pratt. Today she is a life member of the League.
These are just a few of the many stories of the 2500 students and their teachers who walk in and out of those front doors of the Arts Student League in any given week. Many are unknown when they walk into the building for the first time. Most walk out becoming better artists and some go on to be famous, such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Romare Bearden and Jackson Pollock to name a few. They all bask in the same “smell of linseed oil and muted turpentine, toned with age and constant use,” says Cenedella.
Next year, 2025 will be the 150th anniversary of the Art Students League. 150 stories have been commissioned on the history of the League and the role it has played in the lives of its alumni. Many events are being planned to celebrate this momentous achievement, at the League and around New York City. Michael Hall is determined that the next 150 years will see the League maintain its current course, providing the studios, teachers and community to affordably allow artists to hone their skills, on their own personal trajectory. Bruce Dorfman, a former student and now in his 61st year as an instructor, said it best, “The League doesn’t choose its students, the students choose the League.” G&S
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