About the Famous Artists School Begun in 1948 and based in Westport, Connecticut, the Famous Artists School became America’s most popular art correspondence school. In the late 1940s, the executives of New York’s Society of Illustrators conceived a plan to begin a school to impart their expertise and help to support the Society. Due to the organization’s nonprofit status, the Famous Artists School operated independently for profit, with former Society of Illustrators president Albert Dorne at its head.
The initial volumes of lessons gave in-depth, practical how-to instruction in the working methods from the illustrators listed on the previous spread. Over time, selected lessons from individual courses were compiled in four-volume sets focusing on narrative picturemaking, from idea to finished illustration. Revised annually, the course was occasionally updated with new lessons and contributing illustrators.
In 2014, Norman Rockwell Museum was the fortunate beneficiary of a substantial collection of original art and archival materials from the Famous Artists School’s most recent owners, Magdalen and Robert Livesey. The collection reveals not just the working methods of the nation’s most noted visual storytellers, but the ways in which art was viewed as a path to a creative and successful life. Remarkably, the courses attracted more than 60,000 students during the post-war era of the 1940s and 1950s, and employed more than one hundred artists, who carefully and thoughtfully corrected assignments and judged art competitions in the hope of advancing students’ abilities and prospects for a viable career. Their lessons and observations are as relevant today as they were when first introduced.
Publicity photograph of the founding Famous Artists School faculty with paintings created for Cecil B. DeMille’s 1949 film Samson and Delilah. Left to right: Harold von Schmidt, John Atherton, Al Parker, Al Dorne (laying on the ground), Norman Rockwell, Ben Stahl, Peter Helck, Stevan Dohanos, Jon Whitcomb, Austin Briggs (rear, far right), and Robert Fawcett (front, far right). Illustrator Fred Ludekens is not pictured. Photograph by Pagano Studios, New York.