Corcoran School of the Arts and Design

Last updated
Corcoran School
of the Arts and Design
Corcoran School at GWU.tif
Corcoran School of the Arts and Design (2019)
Other name
Corcoran School
Type Private
Established1878;146 years ago (1878)
Parent institution
George Washington University
DirectorLauren Onkey
Location,
Campus UrbanFoggy Bottom
Website corcoran.gwu.edu
Corcoran College of Art and Design logo.jpg

The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design (known as the Corcoran School or CSAD) is the professional art school of the George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. [1] [2] Founded in 1878, the school is housed in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the oldest private cultural institution in Washington, located on The Ellipse, facing the White House. The Corcoran School is part of GW's Columbian College of Arts and Sciences and was formerly an independent college, until 2014. [3]

Contents

History

Olive's art class at the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington D.C. Olive Rush and Corcoran School of Art class (2547659637).jpg
Olive's art class at the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington D.C.

19th century

William Wilson Corcoran founded the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1869. Construction had begun at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in 1859, but shortly after the exterior work was completed, the Quartermaster General's corps of the Union Army occupied the building, setting up offices for the duration of the Civil War.

Work resumed immediately after the conclusion of the war, with Corcoran formally founding his gallery as an institution in 1869. The first special event held that year was a fundraiser for the completion of the Washington Monument. Corcoran's gallery welcomed its first visitors in 1887, which included art students, who were eager to sketch and paint copies of the collection's famous works.

In 1877, the painter E.F. Andrews (1835–1915) started offering the visiting students and artists formal instruction in two dimensional media for no cost. In 1878, William Wilson Corcoran donated additional funding to be used to establish a school to be associated with the gallery. After Corcoran's 1888 death, a small building was built behind the gallery in 1889 for the purpose of the gallery's burgeoning identity as a place for education in the arts. In 1890 the school officially opened as the Corcoran School of Art. [4]

By the 1890s, both the gallery and the school programs had outgrown their respective spaces. A new, larger building designed by Ernest Flagg was constructed in 1897 at New York Avenue and 17th Street, with the basement level dedicated to workshops and studios for the students, and an upper two floors given over to large gallery spaces. From 1897 to the 1930s, the school continued in a modest existence for art students interested in a museum school. By the 1930s, the school had begun expanding: commercial art classes, scholarships, children's courses, the library, ceramics facilities and courses, weekend classes and summer opportunities were added.

20th century

Successful accreditation in the National Association of Schools of Art (NASAD) was achieved in the mid-1970s, with the first BFA degree bestowed in 1978. During this time artists that taught at the school included Gene Davis, Thomas Downing, [5] Sam Gilliam, Anne Truitt, [6] Ed McGowin, William Christenberry, [7] Percy Martin and Paul Reed. [8]

Starting in the 1970s, the College utilized three facilities: the historic Flagg Building housed fine art facilities, the fine art photography and photojournalism facilities. A second building, in Georgetown, housing the Digital Media, Graphic Design, and New Media Photojournalism programs, as well as many fine art offerings in painting and drawing. Additional programs were offered through the Smithsonian's S. Dillon Ripley Center. In 1985, the college was formally accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Corcoran School entrance Georg Washington University 08.jpg
Corcoran School entrance

In 1999, the school was formally renamed as The Corcoran College of Art and Design and worked to further its reputation as the singular four-year arts and design institution in Washington, D.C. [4] As a museum school, students and faculty benefited from co-existing with the Corcoran Gallery with its more than 17,000 works and objects. In the later years of the gallery, a dedicated space known as Studio 31 displayed student art, in addition to special biennials and exhibitions of student work on display throughout the year. The annual NEXT show, staged at the end of each academic year, displayed student senior thesis projects to the greater DC community.

21st century

In 2014, a DC Superior Court-approved agreement saw the closure of the Gallery and the passing of most of the original collection into the public National Gallery of Art. The Flagg Building and college operations were handed over to the George Washington University, which today operates the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design within the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences.

Academics

The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design currently offers the degrees of Bachelor of Fine Arts (in Fine Art, Fine Art Photography, Photojournalism, Graphic Design, Interaction Design, and Interior Architecture); Bachelor of Arts (in Fine Art, Art History, Theatre & Dance, and Music); Master of Fine Arts (in Fine Arts, Social Practice, Interior Architecture, Classical Acting, and Production Design); Master of Arts (in Art History, New Media Photojournalism, Museum Studies, Interaction Design, Exhibition Design, and—in partnership with the Smithsonian AssociatesDecorative Arts and Design History); graduate certificates in Museum Collections Management and Care, and Museum Studies; and a joint BA/MA program. After merging with George Washington University, the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design discontinued their Interior Design and Art Education programs.

Students are exposed to internships with organizations including National Geographic Magazine, embassies, and White House news photographers; summer study abroad trips in Italy, Greece, and India; and visiting artists such as Annie Leibovitz, Shepard Fairey, Maya Lin, Abelardo Morell, and William Pope. For a period of time in the spring, senior students' works for their senior theses are exhibited within the museum, giving the students experience in gallery openings as well as public exposure to their work.

The College's Continuing Education Program, which offers non-credit classes to teens and adults, draws hundreds of participants every year.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, include:

Notable faculty

Related Research Articles

Events from the year 1989 in art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chelsea College of Arts</span> College of the University of the Arts London

Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts</span> Art school of Tufts University

The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University is the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees dedicated to the visual arts.

The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is a private college specializing in the visual arts and located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. MCAD currently enrolls approximately 800 students. MCAD is one of just a few major art schools to offer a major in comic art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Laurent</span> American sculptor

Robert Laurent was a French-American modernist figurative sculptor, printmaker and teacher. His work, the New York Times wrote,"figured in the development of an American sculptural art that balanced nature and abstraction." Widely exhibited, he took part in the Whitney's 1946 exhibition Pioneers of Modern Art. Credited as the first American sculptor to adopt a "direct carving" sculpting style that was bolder and more abstract than the then traditional fine arts practice, which relied on models, Laurent's approach was inspired by the African carving and European avant-garde art he admired, while also echoing folk styles found both in the U.S. and among medieval stone cutters of his native Brittany. Best known for his virtuoso mastery of the figure, Laurent sculpted in multiple media, including wood, alabaster, bronze, marble and aluminum. His expertise earned him major commissions for public sculpture, most famously for the Goose Girl for New York City's Radio City Music Hall, as well as for Spanning the Continent for Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. After the Depression, he was also the recipient of several Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project commissions under the New Deal, including a bas-relief called Shipping for the exterior of Washington, D.C.'s Federal Trade Commission Building, commissioned by the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts in 1938.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corcoran Gallery of Art</span> United States historic place

The Corcoran Gallery of Art is a former art museum in Washington, D.C., that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas City Art Institute</span> Private art school in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.

The Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) is a private art school in Kansas City, Missouri. The college was founded in 1885 and is an accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and Higher Learning Commission. The institute has approximately 75 faculty members and 700 students, and offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleveland Institute of Art</span> Art school in Cleveland, Ohio, US

The Cleveland Institute of Art, previously Cleveland School of Art, is a private college focused on art and design and located in Cleveland, Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massachusetts College of Art and Design</span> Public art college in Boston, Massachusetts

Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation's oldest art schools, the only publicly funded independent art school in the United States, and was the first art college in the United States to grant an artistic degree. It is a member of the Colleges of the Fenway, and the ProArts Consortium.

Events from the year 1960 in art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art Academy of Cincinnati</span> Private art school in Cincinnati, Ohio

The Art Academy of Cincinnati is a private college of art and design in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded as the McMicken School of Design in 1869, and was a department of the University of Cincinnati, and later in 1887, became the Art Academy of Cincinnati, the museum school of the Cincinnati Art Museum. The college is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham Rattner</span> American artist

Abraham Rattner was an American artist, best known for his richly colored paintings, often with religious subject matter. During World War I, he served in France with the U.S. Army as a camouflage artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Banks Wilson</span> American painter

Charles Banks Wilson was an American artist. Wilson was born in Springdale, Arkansas in 1918; his family eventually moved to Miami, Oklahoma, where he spent his childhood. A painter, printmaker, teacher, lecturer, historian, magazine and book illustrator, Wilson's work has been shown in over 200 exhibitions in the United States and across the globe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Dugmore</span> American painter

Edward Dugmore was an abstract expressionist painter with close ties to both the San Francisco and New York art worlds in the post-war era following World War II. Since 1950 he had more than two dozen solo exhibitions of his paintings in galleries across the United States. His paintings have been seen in hundreds of group exhibitions over the years.

David C. Levy is an educator, museum director, art historian and artist, designer/photographer, and musician. He is a principal in the consulting group, Objective Focus LLP. He was President of the Education Division of Cambridge Information Group from 2007 to 2018, and President of Sotheby's Institute of Art and founding Chairman of Bach to Rock. He was president and Director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington, DC, from 1991 to 2005, and Chancellor of The New School for Social Research in New York City from 1989 to 1991. From 1970 to 1989 Levy was Executive Dean and CEO of Parsons School of Design. He holds a bachelor's degree from Columbia College, Columbia University and a master's degree and PhD from New York University.

Lorrain Helen Goulet was an American sculptor and painter, known primarily for her direct carving of stone and wood, and for works which often celebrate women, families and cultures.

Benjamin Abramowitz was an American painter, printmaker, and sculptor. First recognized for his contribution at age 19 as senior artist with the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in New York City, he is among the most respected Washington, D.C., artists of the past century.

Bertha Eversfield Perrie was an American painter. She has been described as "about the only famous Washington artist who was actually born in D.C."

Maggie Michael is an American painter. Born in Milwaukee, Michael has spent much of her career in Washington, D.C. A 1996 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, from which she received a BFA, with honors, she received her MA from San Francisco State University in 2000 and her MFA from American University in 2002. She has received numerous awards during her career, including a grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation in 2004, the same year in which she was given a Young Artist Grant by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities; she has also worked with the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Michael is married to the sculptor Dan Steinhilber. She has served on the faculty of the Corcoran College of Art and Design.

Sally Michel Avery was an artist and illustrator who created modernist paintings of abstracted figures, landscapes, and genre scenes capturing personal moments of every day life. She was the co-creator of the "Avery style", wife and collaborator of artist Milton Avery, and mother of artist March Avery. Throughout their lives, Michel and Avery shared their studio space together, painting side by side, critiquing each other's work, and developing a shared style which includes the use of abstracted subjects, expressionistic color fields, and harmonious but unusual colors juxtapositions. Michel's work is the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Wadsworth Atheneum, and the Israel Museum, among others.

References

  1. Peggy McGlone, University names first director of Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, Washington Post (August 4, 2015).
  2. Colleen Murphy & Allison Kowalski, Columbian College to absorb Corcoran school, GW Hatchet (June 12, 2014).
  3. David Montgomery, Corcoran Gallery of Art and College to split apart, partnering with National Gallery, GWU, Washington Post (February 19, 2014).
  4. 1 2 "History of the Corcoran: Founding of the Corcoran School of Art". corcoran.org. Corcoran Gallery of Art. Archived from the original on 2007-06-07. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  5. Cohen, Jean Lawlor; Cohen, Jean Lawlor (2015-06-26). "When the Washington Color School earned its stripes on the national stage". The Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2017-03-02.
  6. "Beloved Sculptor Anne Truitt Gets Her Due". PBS NewsHour . October 27, 2009. Retrieved 2017-03-02 via PBS.org.
  7. "Percy Martin". americanart.si.edu. Smithsonian Institution . Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  8. Applewhite, E. J. (1993). Washington Itself: An Informal Guide to the Capital of the United States. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 123.
  9. Dobryznski, Judith H. "Eugene Goossen, 76, Art Critic", The New York Times , July 17, 1997. Accessed July 25, 2010.
  10. Craftsmen of Wisconsin by Bertha Kitchell Whyte, 1971, Western Publishing Company, Library of Congress 79-150495
  11. Edwin Finckel Archived 2011-01-08 at the Wayback Machine , artistled.com, accessed 1 January 2011
  12. "Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center Broken Arrow, Oklahoma". www.brokenarrowpac.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-06. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
  13. "Thomas Hart Benton: Murals in the Missouri State Capitol". benton.truman.edu. Archived from the original on 2015-02-21. Retrieved 2017-03-02.
  14. Solomon, Burt (2004). The Washington Century: Three Families and the Shaping of the Nation's Capital . William Morrow. pp.  1–2. ISBN   978-0-06-621372-9.
  15. "Word power "Harmony Magazine". www.harmonyindia.org.
  16. "World Without End". Washington City Paper. 16 May 2003. Retrieved 2019-01-30.

38°53′44.8″N77°2′24.8″W / 38.895778°N 77.040222°W / 38.895778; -77.040222