The New School of Classical Art

The New School of Classical Art (NSCA) was founded in 2005 with the objective of providing aspiring visual artists with the tools necessary to communicate ideas through representational art of the highest quality.

Students learn the formal elements of drawing and painting by focusing on accuracy and precise observations made from nature.




Courses




Bargue Copies/Cast Drawing
Students begin with the Cours de Dessin - a drawing course developed in the late 1860s in Paris by Charles Bargue and Jean-Leon Gerome. As a prerequisite to drawing directly from life, students would copy these lithographs masterfully done by Bargue. At NSCA, we copy these same lithographs in pencil and then in charcoal at a larger scale.

Next, students advance to drawing from replicas of antique plaster casts. They progressively use more complex mediums: charcoal and white chalk on toned paper, oil painting in grisaille, oil painting in limited palette, and finally students use a full oil painting palette.

Copying Bargue references and drawing from antique casts teaches students to become proficient with accuracy and technique. It also teaches the core elements of classical realism, in order to create beautiful relationships and harmonies within the visual art of drawing. Afterward, students work on still life and portraiture of their own composition. The Sight Size Method is used in all the exercises.




Figure Drawing
The Sight Size Method is also used when drawing from the nude model. Students progress in the figure class the same way they do in the Bargue/Cast class, moving from simple to more complex challenges with the highest regard to proportion, gesture, outline and shadow shape. In the beginning, poses are held for a minimum of three hours and students work in pencil. Once they become skillful at this level they advance to working from longer poses and using the more complex mediums.




The Atelier
For centuries ateliers were considered the most favorable environment for passing artistic methods and techniques onto students. The atelier as classroom was acknowledged by the Masters of the Renaissance, the Guild Schools of the Flemish, and by the finest artists of the 19th Century French Academy.

In keeping with these pinnacle periods in art, NSCA offers lessons in a traditional setting. The atelier is illuminated by ideal 18 ft. north facing windows. The facility is comprised of a model area, student work spaces and the instructors studio.

Ms. Levin’s atelier is located in the Arts and Entertainment district of Pawtucket RI – just minutes from Downtown Providence, Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design.




Sight Size Method
The Sight Size Method has been utilized for centuries by countless great painters and is still widely used today. It is an indispensable tool for anyone who wishes to work from life.

The easel and subject are placed beside one another and a fixed point is marked at a fair distance away from the subject. (Generally 2 and a half to 3 times the largest proportion of the subject) The artist makes all observations and assessments from that point and then steps forward to the easel to draw what they saw. Quickly, they step back to their marked spot and compare drawing and subject simultaneously. By viewing both images at once and next to one another, the artist can more accurately translate their observations.

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The New School of Classical Art Art School Location

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