“Preserving my energy for a singular purpose allows me to fully execute an original idea.”
Ronald Sherr’s “Taunja, Twice,” a recently accessioned work in the Art Students League’s permanent collection, captures an artistic experiment in observation and a lasting connection with his model, Taunja.
My father’s portrait expresses that affection for Nicolaides, for the League, and for this period when they felt inspired and excited about their lives as young artists.
The selections in An Artist’s Eye: The Lukas Charles Collection don’t read as a manifesto for a particular ideology, but rather as something eclectic, a sampling of individual artists working within academic conventions.
When I get inspired, I feel like I can do almost anything.
As all portrait artists know, there is something solemnly ceremonious about the full-profile position. We do not make eye contact—that being somehow beneath the authority of the subject—just as the set mouth seems to be not just momentarily, but eternally, silent.
Stories from the Collection
“I’ve Been a Person Other People Always Wanted to Paint or Photograph.”
Feb 1, 2021, 11:00 AM
The relationship between two of the best-known works in the Art Students League of New York’s permanent collection.
Notable work from students in the classes of Max Ginsburg, Frank Porcu, Amy Weiskopf, and Michele Liebler.
One portrait reveals the interconnections between six artists over three generations.
Instructor News
Dayton Art Institute Acquires Three Double Portraits by Mary Beth McKenzie
Mar 15, 2019, 4:52 PM
All three portraits had been on view recently as part of McKenzie’s retrospective at the Erie Art Museum.