CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA.- The Ackland Art Museum presents "In the Studio: Art and Art-Making in the Nineteenth-Century France," on view through May 25, 2003. In the early nineteenth century, the concept of the studio as a site for artistic production changed significantly. Whereas in previous centuries, studios typically functioned as workshops in which a master artist and apprentices worked together collaboratively, in the nineteenth century the studio became the working space for the creative output of a single artist. And yet, nineteenth-century artists, particularly those working in the academic manner, did not work in their studios in solitary isolation. Their studios were not only sites of creation, but also of instruction and of commercial and social exchange.

Teaching studios flourished in nineteenth century France. Under the critical eye - and in the studio - of an established master, young artists learned their craft. Instruction in the academic tradition followed an established curriculum, which commence with making drawings after old master prints and after plaster casts of antique sculptures. On graduating from this phase of study, which introduced them to Renaissance and classical ideals, students then learned the discipline of analytical observation by sketching live models and copying old masters. The objective of this type of studio instruction was to instill in students the essentials of academic painting, which favored noble themes, clearly-constructed compositions, sober color schemes and idealized figures.
In addition to students, many artists invited their colleagues and friends to their studios for company and conversation while working. Potential patrons were also welcome, although their naïve comments often proved irritating, as many of Honoré Daumier’s satirical prints illustrate. Still, artists depended on public exposure for their livelihoods. A crowded studio created opportunities for a young artist’s discovery, employment and, perhaps eventually, public acclaim.