Thursday, June 30, 2011

Painting Outdoors: Introduction

Student color note
Each summer, Frank Reilly took a number of his students to the Art Students League campus in Woodstock, NY to teach outdoor painting. According to alumnus Jerry Allison, "Studying landscape painting in Reilly's Woodstock classes was a grand adventure." Beginning in the 1940's and through the mid '60's when the Art Students League's 100-year lease ran out, his students spent the summer in Woodstock and participated in a 12 week immersion program that included landscape painting, and indoor and outdoor figure painting. 

Summer Program

Below is a roster from one summer (1949 or 1950) that includes landscape artist Clark Hulings, illustrator and portrait painter Bob Berran, and painter, author and teacher George Passantino who took over the morning Reilly class at the League when  Robert Schulz passed away in the late 1970's. Also on the roster are Jack Faragasso who continues to teach Reilly's methods at the League, and illustrator Larry Newquist. Students were on their own to find housing, but the town, already a summer tourist destination, was welcoming to the aspiring painters.


Summer roster, circa 1949-50

Frank Reilly and students

Studio at Woodstock, NY
© John Ennis 2011

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