our new facility Saturday, August 28, 2010 from 5-9pm.

77 Steele St, Algoma, Wisconsin.

Previous to this move the Academy had been located in a grand old
dairy barn in Kewaunee. “We have all cherished and enjoyed our
residence at the ‘Big Barn’. However, it is time to open the second
chapter of the Kewaunee Academy of Fine Art and this move will
facilitate this new era.” said Norma Bell, Owner, Manager, and
Executive Director.  The new location will be at 316-318 Steele
Street, Algoma, in a vintage 1905 brick building. The space will
provide 3000 square feet in an open floor plan, 13 foot tall ceilings
that have decorative tin tiles and cornice, hardwood floors, and many
other vintage appointments. Craig Blietz, Artistic Director of the
Academy, said “Each day we strive to improve upon what we provide to
our students and this new facility presents us with another
opportunity to do so. The authentic early 20th Century character
inherent in the architecture of this building will infuse our
curriculum, and the educational experience, with the atmosphere and
quality of the 19th century art schools in Paris and Munich.”

With Dick Bell’s departure Norma Bell becomes the sole proprietor and
administrator of the Academy. Craig Blietz will remain the Artistic
Director. The school will retain the name “Kewaunee Academy of Fine
Art”.

The Academy will host a Grand Opening Celebration. Details will be
made available soon. More information on the Kewaunee Academy of Fine
Art can be found at www.kewauneeacademy.com or by calling 920-388-4391
or 925-963-7023.
–
Norma Bell
Executive Director
Kewaunee Academy of Fine Art &
Barnsite Gallery
109 Duvall Street, Kewaunee, WI 54216

920-388-4391

Repin Self-Portrait

Ilya Efimovich Repin was born in 1844 in a small Ukrainian town in a family of a military settler. As a young boy, he received his first lessons in art, when he worked for a talented icon painter I. M. Bunakov. At the age of 19, he entered St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. His arrival at the Academy coincides with a significant event in artistic thought of that time and place, the so called ‘Riot of the Fourteen’. Fourteen young artists left the Academy having refused to use mythological subject matter for their final graduation works. They reasoned that art should be close to real life. Later Repin becomes closely connected with some of them and their organization, the members of the Society of Peredvizhinsky.

After the Academy, Repin went abroad. He traveled around Italy for several months until finally finding himself  settled in and working in Paris. This was where he witnessed the first exhibition of the Impressionists. He did not become a follower of this new school, judging by the works created then and his letters home, yet he didn’t share the pessimistic opinions of some others, including his own countrymen, that Impressionism was a dangerous departure from “the truth of life.”

Krestniy Khod in Kursk Gubernia

Later Repin returns to Russia and settles in Moscow. He frequently visited Abramtsevo, the country estate of Savva Mamontov, one of the famous Russian patrons of art during that time. This was a very fruitful period for Repin and throughout the next decade he created the majority of his more well known paintings. During this time he painted “Krestniy Khod in Kursk Gubernia” (1880-1883). It depicts a crucession, an Easter Orthodox religious procession headed by a cross, or krestniy khod. The composition was based on the dramatic effect on the participants of the procession, which had representatives from each strata of the social hierarchy, to the iconic symbol carried at the head of the procession. At first glance the spectator discovers in the crowd the abundance of social types and human characters.

Unexpected Return

Repin created a series of paintings devoted to the revolution theme. The artist was no doubt interested in creating the character of a fighter for social justice. The range of social, spiritual, and psychological problems, which attracted Repin, is revealed in his works “Unexpected Return” (1884) and “Refusal from the Confession” (1879-1885).

Portrait of Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev wearing the Edinburgh University professor robe

Repin is the author of many portraits, which are an essential part of his artistic heritage. Repin never painted faces, he painted real people, managing to show his models in their natural state, to reveal their way of communicating with the world. Many of Repin’s portrait paintings are distinguished by the power of visual characteristic and the economy and sharpness of execution.

Order our NEW Repin book HERE!

Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan

Repin rarely painted historical paintings but when he did, the imagery carried great impact. The most popular in this genre is “Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan” (1895). The expressive, intense composition and psychological insight in rendering the characters produced an unforgettable impression on the spectators. Another popular painting in this genre is “The Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mahmoud IV” (1880-1891). The faithfully rendered spirit of the Zaporozhian freemen, who, according to the artist, had a particularly strong sense of “liberty, equality and fraternity” and undoubtedly gives the picture its significance. Repin’s contemporaries saw it as a symbol of the Russian people throwing off their chains.

The Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mahmoud IV

Repin taught at St. Petersburg’s Academy from 1894 to 1907 and was an influential member of the Wanderers. In 1900, during a trip to Paris, Repin met Natalia Nordman, “the love of his life”, and moved to her home Penaty. Together they organized the famous Wednesdays at the Penaty which attracted the creative elite of Russia. When Nordman died in 1914, she left the estate to the Academy, but Repin occupied it for the next sixteen years.

Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom

Handicapped by the atrophy of his right hand, Repin could not produce works of the same quality as those which brought him fame. Although he trained himself to paint with his left hand, he lived his last years under a constant financial strain. Since artists did not accept the Revolution of 1917, he did not want to go back to Russia, even though in 1926 a delegation sent by the Ministry of Education of the Soviet Union helped him financially and tried to entice him to return.

Order our NEW Repin book HERE!

Regards,
Norma Bell

Figure drawing has been the standard measurement of an artist’s skills for hundreds of years, probably from the moment we first started capturing the living world around us.

Figure drawing is a very important aspect of todays art, because it aids the artist in that it is one of the key methods of observation and seeing is a large part of what art is about.

With all of this in mind, the Kewaunee Academy of Fine Art is proud to offer FREE figure drawing instruction.

The students who received the scholarships included Melanie Croke, Fish Creek, WI, David Kapszukiewicz, Appleton, WI, Mae Swagel, Kewaunee, WI, Mara Pionek, Green Bay, WI, Suzanne Barnes, De Pere, WI, and Scott Gigstead, Algoma, WI.

At the Conference these students were able to attend helpful and inspirational workshops with internationally acclaimed representational artists and watch dynamic painting demonstrations. They also were able to meet and speak with other artists from around the nation and the world. These students have brought back their experiences and have shared them with their fellow students at the Kewaunee Academy.  They will be giving a presentation at Art Beet’s monthly meeting to be held on Monday, June 14th at 7pm. The meeting will be held at Barnsite, 109 Duvall Street, Kewaunee, Wisconsin. The public is invited to attend.

Scholarship Students
(Left to Right) Scott Gigstead, Suzanne Barnes, David Kapszukiewicz, Mara Pionek, Melanie Croke, Mae Swagel.

ArtBeet Board Presenting Check
(Left to Right) Joy Kruse, Norma Bell, Suzanne Connor (President), Pat Rye, Kim Lyon.

Thank you very much for all of the interest in this series of books! Because of the demand for this new series of books, we will be showcasing two per week for the next few weeks. Once again, thank you for interest in these books and thank you for your patronage to the Barnsite!

We have in stock a new series of books, fresh off the boat from China. These series of books showcase many of China’s contemporary oil painters. They are Large Format (10.25” W x 15” H) with beautiful full color high quality printing on 36 pages. The books are almost entirely consisting of full page images. These books would be an invaluable student aid in practicing your craft or they would make excellent coffee table books, either way for $20 (not including shipping and handling) it is easy to collect them all!

ORDER THIS BOOK HERE.

ORDER THIS BOOK HERE.

To receive the discount, select one of the Fine Art Books from our website and on checkout enter CELEBRATE20 in the gift voucher/coupon code area of

the shopping cart to get 20% off of your order! Take advantage of this special offer before May 7th!

A selection of some of the books on SALE for a Limited Time Only:

NEW: Repin: The History of Life’s Journey

Nikolai Feshin (Russian Text)

NEW: Isaak Levitan: Great Collection

Joaquin Sorolla by Blanca Pons-Sorolla