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The National Academy School of Fine Arts

The National Academy School of Fine Arts 1 Museums Schools Museum Mile Upper East Side

The National Academy of Fine Arts has a long and prestigious history. It was founded in 1825 with the goal, in Mary Fisher's words, of "making American Art as important as European Art." Mary is the School Administrative Director and wears many hats. She informed me that in the very beginning, the Academicians were the faculty, teaching the students their methods and techniques. Now, there over four hundred Academicians scattered throughout the globe, many of whom are well-known in the art world. To be accepted to the Academy, an artist must submit a packet of images and statements and be selected by a jury of his or her peers. Once chosen, an artist is an Academician for life. Only three Academicians, Henry Finkelstein, Rhoda Sherbell, and Mary Beth McKenzie, teach at the school, in the Drawing, Sculpture, and Painting departments respectively. The latter focuses on the old Atelier style in which easels are set up around a subject and a teacher walks the room, giving notes.

During the Academy's long life, it has had many homes, both uptown and downtown. After members of the Academy requested a space in which to show their own work and that of their students, a museum was formed, though it remained a "pop-up" institution for about a century. It was not until 1939, when Archer Milton Huntington, the heir to one of the largest fortunes in America at the time, and his wife Anna Hyatt gave the Academy their home for the price of one dollar that the Academy found its permanent residence and was able to set up the museum that is now open to the public.

As for the students of the school, they run in age from five to one hundred. There is a young artist program for students up to age seventeen, as well as a summer camp, which offers a variety of classes including drawing, mural painting, and 3D modeling and printing. Adults can choose to study full time or part time. Studio Practice students are often people who have a career, but want to continue doing art on the side. On the other hand, participants in the Studio Art Intensive take part in a full-time program. Most of the students are either international students who choose to get their MFA in New York or are retired professionals who hope to start a second career as an artist. Finally, there is a Certificate Program, where international students can take eighteen hours of class each week in order to get a Visa to study in the United States. Each of these students can take classes in subjects such as sculpture, watercolor, and printmaking. Though the Academy does have a New Media department, it is quite small and focuses mainly on supporting an artist's other work, by teaching skills such as how to photograph work for submission. As of 2015, the Academy has added a selection of Art History courses. Mary was also proud of the Professional Practice courses. The National Academy degree stands out from a traditional MFA in that there are no lecture courses: everything involves "working with your hands." For Professional Practice, this means that artists are given the chance to meet and learn from those who are established in the New York Art world, such as gallery owners, museum workers, and auctioneers. In every department, classes are capped at around twelve people in order to keep them small and personal.

Mary took me on a tour of the school and museum. When I visited, there was an exhibition in the Sonia Gechtoff Gallery called Malgosa Malinowska: "In the Forest of Memory" featuring breathtaking images of a sculpture of a dragon's head, a book with a screaming face emerging from it, and a TV screen full of glass eyeballs. We then progressed to the classrooms, starting with the Stone Room, the Huntington's former dining room that connects the museum to the school. It is decorated with columns and Greek designs and features long windows through which natural light was streaming. The next room, which held a Watercolor class when we walked by, also had natural light flooding the space through a skylight. It mirrored the next room we entered, whose skylight faced the other direction. Mary mentioned that students often took advantage of the building's architecture, choosing to take a class in the room with the good morning light until noon and then returning for a class in the room with the good afternoon light after lunch.

Next, we descended to the basement where the full-time students have their studio space. The twelve full-time students work in private studios, communal spaces, and even little nooks hidden around corners. Thanks to the building's courtyard, the basement rooms also get natural light. "The work really runs the gamut," Mary pointed out, glancing at the students' pieces in progress.

On the way to the museum, Mary stopped by the old Carriage House and adjoining hallway. The Carriage House is filled with various casts, gifted from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, eerily placed around the room. The space is often used for drawing, and in warmer weather, the large door is opened to create a semi-outdoor room. The hallway, Mary told me with a smile, used to be the trash chute. The Academy discovered, however, that this area reserved for garbage had beautiful light, and chose to clear it out and turn it into a venue for cocktail parties and film screenings.

When we entered the museum, an enormous spiral staircase took my breath away. Mary, pleased by my reaction, told me that it is now illegal to construct these massive staircases. How fortunate for the Academy that they inherited this. Featured during my visit was work both from Academicians and outside collections, including an exhibit of Miriam Shapiro's art, an Academician who does a lot of work with complex patterns, tapestries, and fabrics. There was also a "Salon" with a selection of paintings from 1825-1900. As I wandered around, I was equally impressed with the curated art as with the extraordinary architecture of the Huntington's home, and how the two interplayed. In closing, I commented on how I was surprised to find this incredible institution tucked away on the Upper East Side. Mary nodded and said, "It's our little hidden gem. Once you're here, you have access to so many resources. You just need to know it's here."

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The National Academy School of Fine Arts 1 Museums Schools Museum Mile Upper East Side
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More places on 89th Street

Lost Gem
The Auction House 1 Bars undefined

The Auction House

With velvet curtains, old art, and gilded mirrors, the Auction House resembles a centuries-old salon. Although regal and classic, I found it to be very approachable. The exposed brick walls – now a common feature of New York City bars – and warm, low lighting makes the space seem more like someone’s living room than a museum. The cozy drape-enclosed rooms attract locals who enjoy huddling around the fireplaces in the cooler months. The bar calls itself a “diamond in the rough, ” a term with which I heartily agree. I spoke to Johnny B. Barounis, who explained that when he first opened the bar in 1993, it was the only one of its kind. Johnny got his start in 1978 working the door at places like the China Club. He prided himself on being “the first person somebody sees on the way in, and the last on the way out. ” After a while, he became tired of the “big, loud, schmaltz-filled nightclubs” and wanted to open a place where people could have conversations and escape the chaos of the city. He opened the Auction House, which earned its name because most of its furniture and art came from the auction houses that Johnny scoured throughout the Northeast. The reproductions of old paintings, especially by Rembrandt and De Goya, fit very well in the space, which, being an old carriage house, has fifteen foot ceilings. As for the furniture, “the turn of the century motif will never go out of style, ” Johnny said while discussing the timelessness of his design choices. At the time, the only real bars were traditional Irish ones, so Johnny was a true innovator in creating something more like a drawing room or a parlor – “a lounge. ” “We were one of the first lounges in the city. Now everyone has a lounge, ” Johnny stated, adding that many policies that are now commonplace were first set into motion by the Auction House. For example, after spending many years running the doors of nightclubs and seeing the damage that people fresh out of college (“In their fifth year of college, ” as he put it) could do, Johnny implemented an over-25-only rule, which was enforced with ID checks at the door. He also did not allow baseball hats: “It’s always the kid with the baseball cap that causes problems. ” As a big animal rights activist, he does not allow fur to be worn in his establishment. The Auction House also has never had any signage. When the lounge first opened, not having a sign was a very risky move. It soon leant the place a sense of mystery and privacy, however, suggesting that patrons of the bar “had to know about it. ” The policy attracted quite a few celebrities, including many SNL cast members. These days, however, many bars opt to have no sign. Johnny suggested that he has considered adding a sign to the auction house, just because the idea of having no marking on a bar has become so mainstream. Johnny is very proud to have been continually running a bar for over twenty years. “In this city, four years is considered a long run. ” More specifically, however, Johnny is happy to have designed a space where people can make connections. “Five different people met their spouse here in our first year, ” he said, proudly. “We’re putting people together. ”