Art Students League of New York on Painting

Book excerpt: A New York Times Gift Pick: Coffee Table Books About New York A lushly illustrated, comprehensive guide to painting in all media from the prestigious visual arts education institution Art Students League of New York. The Art Students League of New York is America’s signature art school, run by artists for artists. Founded in 1875, it has nurtured students like Jackson Pollock and Georgia O’Keefe. Today, more than 2,500 students of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels study there each month. This unique book brings you into the studio classrooms of some of the League’s most celebrated painters—including William Scharf, Mary Beth McKenzie, Henry Finkelstein, and Knox Martin—for lessons on a variety of fundamental topics, idiosyncratic approaches, and quirky philosophies. Scanning the table of contents is like flipping through a course catalog: do you want to take Naomi Campbell’s “Working Large in Watercolor,” James McElhinney’s “Journal Painting and Composition,” Sharon Sprung’s “Figure Painting from Life in Oil,” or Ellen Eagle’s “Poetic Realism in Pastel”? Now you can—from the comfort of your own home studio (or living room). Richly illustrated with artwork from the League’s considerable archives, its instructors, and its students, this guide will inspire painters across all mediums, subjects, and styles.