Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

19th century The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts was founded in 1805 by painter and scientist Charles Willson Peale, sculptor William Rush, and other artists and business leaders. Its first building on Chestnut and 10th Streets in Center City Philadelphia was designed by John Dorsey and opened in 1806. The academy opened as a museum in 1807 and held its first exhibition in 1811, where more than 500 paintings and statues were displayed. The first school classes held in the building were with the Society of Artists in 1810. The academy had to be reconstructed after the fire of 1845. The new building by architect Richard Arthington Gilpin opened in 1847 and was demolished in 1870, following damage by a storm. The leaders of the academy then raised funds to construct a building more worthy of its treasures. They commissioned the current Furness-Hewitt building, which was constructed from 1871. It opened as part of the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition. The Chestnut Street site was leased to the vaudeville entrepreneur Robert Fox, who opened Fox's New American Theatre there in 1870. In 1876, former academy student and artist Thomas Eakins returned to teach as a volunteer. Fairman Rogers, chairman of the Committee on Instruction from 1878 to 1883, appointed Eakins a faculty member in 1878, and promoted him to director in 1882. Eakins revamped the certificate curriculum to its current format. Students in the certificate program learned fundamentals of drawing, painting, sculpture, and printmaking, including relief, intaglio, and lithography, for two years. For the following two years, they conducted independent study, guided by critiques from faculty, students, and visiting artists. Notable alumni from this time include George Agnew Reid, a Canadian painter who was drawn to the program because of Thomas Eakins' radical approach to teaching. Reid studied at PAFA from 1882–1884. The 1844 board of directors' declaration that women artists "would have exclusive use of the statue gallery for professional purposes" and study time in the museum on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings began an incremental step of inclusion of women in the academy. In 1860, female students were allowed to take anatomy and antique courses, drawing from antique casts, and they were afforded access to the academy's library and gallery. Life classes, the study of the nude body, were available to women in the spring of 1868 with female models; male models were added for study six years later. This came after much debate on whether it was appropriate for women to view the nude male form. In 1878, Catherine Drinker, at the age of 27, became the first woman to teach at the academy. In 1895, one of her pupils, her younger cousin Cecilia Beaux, became the first female faculty member at the academy to instruct painting and drawing. 20th century From 1890 to 1906, Edward Hornor Coates served as the tenth president of the academy. In 1915, he was awarded the academy's gold medal. In 1921, painter John McLure Hamilton, who began his art education at the academy under Thomas Eakins, described the contributions Coates made during his tenure: The reign of Mr. Coates at the Academy marked the period of its greatest prosperity. Rich endowments were made to the schools, a gallery of national portraiture was formed, and some of the best examples of Gilbert Stuart's work acquired. The annual exhibitions attained a brilliancy and éclat hitherto unknown ... Mr. Coates wisely established the schools upon a conservative basis, building almost unconsciously the dykes high against the oncoming flow of insane novelties in art patterns ... In this last struggle against modernism the President was ably supported by Eakins, Anschutz, Grafly, [Henry Joseph] Thouron, Vonnoh, and Chase ... His unfailing courtesy, his disinterested thoughtfulness, his tactfulness, and his modesty endeared him to scholars and masters alike. No sacrifice of time or of means was too great, if he thought he could accomplish the end he always had in view—the honour and the glory of the Academy. It was under Mr. Coates' enlightened direction that was fulfilled the expressed wish of Benjamin West, the first honorary Academician, that "Philadelphia may be as much celebrated for her galleries of paintings by the native genius of the country, as she is distinguished by the virtues of her people; and that she may be looked up to as the Athens of the Western World in all that can give polish to the human mind." Harrison S. Morris, managing director from 1892 to 1905, collected contemporary American art for the institution. Among the many masterpieces acquired during his tenure were works by Cecilia Beaux, William Merritt Chase, Frank Duveneck, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Childe Hassam, and Edmund Tarbell. Work by The Eight, which included former academy students Robert Henri and John Sloan, provides a transition between 19th- and 20th-century art movements. 21st century In 2010, the academy acquired the Linda Lee Alter Collection of Art by Women, including nearly 500 works by female artists, from collector Linda Lee Alter. Artists in the collection include Louise Bourgeois, Judy Chicago, Louise Nevelson, Kiki Smith, Kara Walker, and Philadelphia artists Barbara Bullock and Elizabeth Osborne. In 2012, the academy featured the collection in the exhibition The Female Gaze: Women Artists Making Their World. ==Operations==

, 1908 Museum Since its founding, the academy has collected works by leading American artists, as well as works by distinguished alumni and faculty of its school. The academy maintains its collecting tradition with the inclusion of works by modern and contemporary American artists. Acquisitions and exhibition programs are balanced between historical and contemporary art, and the museum continues to show works by contemporary regional artists and features annual displays of work by academy students. The collection is installed in a chronological and thematic format, exploring the history of American art from the 1760s to the present. School The academy has a longstanding four-year certificate program. Beginning in 1929, qualified students have been able to apply for and receive a coordinated Bachelor of Fine Arts program from the University of Pennsylvania. The BFA degree program is also offered in-house, and a Master of Fine Arts program, post-baccalaureate certificate in graduate studies, and other education offerings are now offered. In 2005, the academy received the National Medal of Arts in recognition of its role as a national leader in fine arts education. In January 2007, in association with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the academy purchased Thomas Eakins's work The Gross Clinic from the Jefferson Medical School. This work is displayed at both institutions on a rotating basis. In January 2009, the academy signed a transfer agreement with Camden County College in Camden County, New Jersey, known as the Camden Connection, which allows for the transfer of liberal arts and studio classes and partial merit scholarships for qualified Camden County College students. Other transfer agreements are now in place with community college art departments at the Community College of Philadelphia, Montgomery County Community College, Atlantic Cape Community College, and Northampton Community College. In 2013, the academy received Middle States Commission on Higher Education accreditation. In 2024, the academy announced plans to terminate their degree granting programs. Starting from the 2024-2025 academic year, the institution stopped granting BFA or MFA degrees to students, due to an annual deficit of 3 million dollars, and a sharp decline in enrollment. Continuing education, certificate programs, and the bachelor's degree in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania continue to be hosted by the institution. ==Buildings==

Furness-Hewitt building The current museum building began construction in 1871 and opened in 1876 in connection with the Philadelphia Centennial. Designed by the American architects Frank Furness and George Hewitt, it has been called "One of the most magnificent Victorian buildings in the country." The inside of the building is equally varied, combining "gilt floral patterns incised on a field of Venetian red; ... [a] cerulean blue ceiling sprinkled with silver stars", and plum, ochre, sand and olive green gallery walls. The building's structure combines brick, stone and iron; because of fire-proofing concerns, some of the iron i-beams were left uncovered. The building is now considered one of the most notable buildings in Philadelphia and one of Furness' greatest works. In 1971, the building was named to the National Register of Historic Places. Four years later, in 1975, it was designated a National Historic Landmark. In 1976, the building's exterior and interior was refurbished to coincide with its centennial and with the United States bicentennial. The restoration work was conducted through Day and Zimmerman Associates, and headed by Human Myers. In 2019, architectural firm DLR Group completed another renovation on both the Furness-Hewitt and Hamilton buildings to accommodate growth within the institution's fixed site while maintaining the buildings' historic details. Defunct awards • Beck Gold Medal: The Carol H. Beck Gold Medal was awarded to the best portrait by an American artist exhibited at PAFA's annual exhibition. It was awarded from 1909 to 1968. • Mary Smith Prize: The Mary Smith Prize was awarded to "the Painter of the best painting (not excluding portraits) exhibiting at the Academy, painted by a resident woman Artist." It was awarded from 1879 to 1968. • Temple Gold Medal: The Joseph Temple Fund Gold Medal was awarded to the best oil painting by an American artist exhibited at PAFA's annual exhibition. It was awarded from 1883 to 1968. == Deaccessioning ==

In 2013, the academy sold East Wind Over Weehawken, a 1934 painting that is among two Edward Hopper works in the academy's collection, to start an endowment fund. About 25 percent of the fund will be used to fill gaps in the collection of historic art, with most of the rest to buy contemporary art of undetermined value with hopes for dramatic increases in the future. The painting was sold at auction for $40,485,000, resulting in a boost to the museum's endowment by approximately $23.5 million. == Notable people ==