19th century Founded in 1875, the League's creation came about in response to both an anticipated gap in the art instruction program of classes at New York's
National Academy of Design for that year, and to longer-term desires for more variety and flexibility in education for artists than it was felt the Academy provided. The breakaway group of students included many women, and was originally housed in rented rooms at 16th Street and
Fifth Avenue. When the Academy resumed a more typical but liberalized program in 1877, there was some feeling that the League had served its purpose, but its students voted to continue its program, and it was incorporated the following year. Influential board members from this formative period included painter
Thomas Eakins and sculptor
Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Membership continued to increase, forcing the League to relocate to increasingly larger spaces. The League participated in the founding of the
American Fine Arts Society (AFAS) in 1889, together with the
Society of American Artists and the
Architectural League, among others. The American Fine Arts Building at 215 West 57th Street, constructed as their joint headquarters, has continued to house the League since 1892. Designed in the
French Renaissance style by one of the founders of the AFAS, architect
Henry Hardenbergh (in collaboration with W.C. Hunting & J.C. Jacobsen), the building is a designated
New York City Landmark and is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. In the late 1890s and early 1900s, an increasing number of women artists came to study and work at the League many of them taking on key roles. Among them was
Wilhelmina Weber Furlong, accompanied by her husband
Thomas Furlong. The avant-garde couple served the league in executive and administrative roles and as student members throughout the American modernism movement.
Alice Van Vechten Brown, who would later develop some of the first art programs in American higher education, also studied with the league until prolonged family illness sent her home. The painter
Edith Dimock, a student from 1895 to 1899, described her classes at the Art Students League: In his official biography,
My Adventures as an Illustrator,
Norman Rockwell recounts his time studying at the school as a young man, providing insight into its operation in the early 1900s.
20th century (magazine) of 1914 The League's popularity persisted into the 1920s and 1930s under the hand of instructors like painter
Thomas Hart Benton, who counted among his students there the young
Jackson Pollock and other
avant-garde artists who would rise to prominence in the 1940s. In 1925 to celebrate their golden jubilee (fifty years), the League organized an exhibition which included the work of members, students and instructors.
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney gave a reception at which
Charles Dana Gibson was toastmaster. Between 1942 and 1943, many of the League's students joined the armed forces to fight in
World War II, and the League's enrollment decreased from 1,000 to 400, putting it in danger of closing in mid-1943. In response, five hundred artists donated $15,000, just enough to keep the League from closing. In the years after World War II, the
G.I. Bill played an important role in the continuing history of the League by enabling returning veterans to attend classes. The League continued to be a formative influence on innovative artists, being an early stop in the careers of
Abstract expressionists,
Pop Artists and scores of others including
Lee Bontecou,
Helen Frankenthaler,
Joseph Glasco,
Al Held,
Eva Hesse,
Roy Lichtenstein,
Donald Judd,
Knox Martin,
Robert Rauschenberg,
James Rosenquist,
Cy Twombly and many others vitally active in the art world. In 1968, Lisa M. Specht was elected first female president of the League. The League's unique importance in the larger art world dwindled somewhat during the 1960s, partially because of higher academia's emergence as an important presence in contemporary art education, and partially due to a shift in the art world towards
minimalism,
photography,
conceptual art, and a more impersonal and indirect approach to art making.
21st century , the League continues to attract a wide variety of young artists, and its focus on art made by hand, both figurative and abstract, remains strong. Its continued significance has largely been in the continuation of its original mission, which is to give access to art classes and studio access to all comers regardless of their means or technical background. ==Other facilities==