Former ARA senior instructor Juan Martinez is flying in to deliver this intensive 5-day workshop focusing on the classic 19th century academic painting style used by William Adolphe Bouguereau. His impeccable drawing skills and facility in depicting form are widely admired, making his work some of the best to study to learn to paint realistically. Bouguereau’s methodology follows a series of repeatable steps, ultimately leading to a painting of the highest finish.

 

Juan Carlos Martínez is an award-winning artist who specializes in portraiture. He is also a well-regarded and long-time art educator, having been a principal instructor at Toronto’s Academy of Realist Art (ARA) since its inception in 2005. Juan has been featured in a number of publications including American Artist, Fine Art Connoisseur, and International Artist Magazine. He has shown in exhibitions and competitions around the world, garnering awards and commissions over the past 20 years. His work hangs in private and public collections in Canada, the US, and in Europe.  Juan studied both in Toronto and in Florence, Italy, under the tutelage of renowned portraitist, Michael John Angel of the Angel Academy. Juan will be bringing his astounding skills and knowledge to Atelier Artista this September 10 - 14, 2018 to  teach a week long intensive workshop in portraiture painting in the style of Bouguereau and the masters of the French Academy.

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This intensive, 5-day workshop focuses on the classic 19th century academic painting style used by many painters of that era. William Adolphe Bouguereau, was considered to be one of the finest academicians in the world. Indeed, artists from all parts of the globe travelled to France in the 19th Century to study with Bouguereau as well as other luminaries of the time such as Gérôme, Cabanel, Bonnat, etc.. Although the popularity of French academic painting has waxed and waned over time, the technical mastery evidenced by its proponents around the world — and therefore, the methods involved — has been almost universally recognized pinnacle of training and mastery for representational painting. It is this “academic method” that we will explore in the workshop by undertaking a copy of works by William Bouguereau or one of his contemporaries.

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The master-copy will be with oils on panel at the same size as the high resolution reproductions of, primarily, a head or head-&-shoulders from the French masters. The images are provided for participants and have been chosen for their print quality and for their instructional value. More ambitious, full-figure paintings, for example, would not be achievable in a 5 day workshop. Of course, such projects may be undertaken by students afterward using the same methodology that will be learned.

The method presented is, in short, an under-painting/over-painting technique. The French 19th century academic painters all learned this process and, along with consummate drawing abilities, were able to achieve very illusionistic 3-dimensional form in their works. In fact, there are many artists today that continue using this approach, or a variant, who are working in a wide variety of styles of realism and who desire a 3D look.

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In the workshop, we will work each day from 9:30 am to 4:30pm, with a break for lunch. At the start of each session, I’ll present a lecture and/or demo discussing the phases of the painting or other issues that arise throughout the course. After Friday’s session there will be a slide lecture and discussion, along with a social gathering to wind down the week’s work.

 

See you there!

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Juan Martinez

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***There will be a bonus lecture on the final day of the intensive (September 14th) open to the public will be invited and you can show your completed works. Followed by a 40th B-day celebration for Atelier Artista Founder Brian Batista, in the cSPACE Treehouse.

The event is free brought to you by Atelier Artista. Space is limited so you must register to get your event ticket below.

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