PAFA - Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts history

Sixteen paintings from the Robert Fulton collection, including Benjamin West's King Lear and Ophelia, were exhibited at the Academy in 1807.

The first school classes held in the building were with the Society of Artists in 1810.

In 1811 the Academy turned over its galleries to the Society of Artists for an exhibition of contemporary American art, which also included European works.

25). In 1812 the Academy joined the Society of Artists in sponsoring the Second Annual Exhibition.

The Academy had purchased Allston's Dead Man in 1816, but the early schemes for acquiring an important canvas by Benjamin West had all failed.

The balance was paid to Allston with money raised in 1817, when the Academy borrowed $4500 at 5 percent for four years, mortgaging its building as security.

With Thackara gone, John Neagle noted in a letter of 1829 to President Joseph Hopkinson that "we will return with increased energy and affection to the support of your academy.

The Academy sent Leslie to study in London with Washington Allston and Benjamin West; the Leslie family repaid its debt to the Academy in 1831, the year Charles Leslie was elected an Academician, with the gift of his Murder of Rutland by Lord Clifford (cat. no.

It was not until 1836 that it realized this objective, acquiring West's Death on a Pale Horse from his son Raphael for $7000.

Filling the new gallery space with masterful works, Hopkinson’s additions brought a substantial increase in sustainability, leaving the institute in particularly good financial shape upon his death in 1842.

The 1844 Board of Directors' declaration that women artists "would have exclusive use of the statue gallery for professional purposes" and study time in the museum on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings signified a significant advance towards formal training in art for women.

In 1845 the immediate task was to repair the damage inflicted in the galleries by the fire and to replace the cast collection.

The new galleries were opened to the public in May of 1847.

The jury selections were almost exclusively European canvases; one of the popular works acquired in this way was the Rouget De Lisle Singing the "Marseillaise", painted by the Belgian Godfried Guffens in 1849.

In his stockholders' address of 1851, Gilpin noted with satisfaction the improved position of the Academy in many respects.

95 and 94), had been purchased in 1854 at the Peale Museum Gallery sale for $175.

As early as 1856, at the celebration of its fiftieth anniversary, murmurings of the need for additional space were heard.

In 1860 a committee of the board was formed to ascertain the terms of a possible sale of the Chestnut Street property.

29 "Special Report to the Directors," bound into the PAFA Board Minutes, January 16, 1865.

After 1868 women took more active leadership roles and achieved influential positions.

In December 1869, Joseph Harrison, James Claghorn, and William Struthers were appointed as a committee to select a new site.

After heated debate, the decision to purchase the "Steele" lot at Broad and Cherry streets was approved in November 1870.

In June 1871, John Sartain, James Claghorn, Henry Gibson, Henry Morris, and Fairman Rogers were appointed as a committee to select a design for a new building.

His successor, James Claghorn, presided at the laying of the cornerstone of the new building on December 7, 1872.

In April 1876, the John S. Phillips bequest of European prints and drawings was announced.

Fortunately, Harrison bore no animosity to the Academy; in 1878 part of his princely collection of American painting came to the Academy.

38), which came to the Academy in 1879 as a bequest from his brother Henry, stimulated an interest in modern American painting.

In 1881, "Paintings by American Artists at Home and in Europe" provided a chance for Americans to see the work of an important group of expatriates working primarily in Paris, Munich, and London.

In 1885 the idea of instituting an endowment fund was first proposed.

In 1886 a small collection of miniatures, with examples by Edward Greene Malbone and James Peale (cat. nos.

In 1887-88 the first great loan exhibition of American colonial historical portraiture was held at the Academy.

One of her pupils, her younger cousin Cecilia Beaux, would leave a lasting legacy at the academy as the first female faculty member to instruct painting and drawing, beginning in 1895.

In 1896 the Academy organized a fine arts poster show, the announcement for which was designed by Maxfield Parrish (cat. no.

It was out of such experiences as Calder's that the Academy Fellowship was formed in 1897 to foster a spirit of fraternity and to benefit the Academy in other ways.

It was noted in 1901 that the Temple Collection was "one of the fullest groups of contemporary American art in the country."

In 1902 Emlen and Priscilla Cresson bequeathed an endowed fund to the Academy in memory of William E. Cresson (cat. no.

The one hundredth anniversary banquet, held on the evening of February 23, 1905, marked a milestone in the Academy's history.

With the expansion into the avant-garde in the classroom, President Lewis remarked in 1914 that the school was in a “more flourishing condition” than at any previous time.

In the winter of 1917-18 the Academy paid tribute to the late Thomas Eakins, with an exhibition of 139 works.

Again, it was Stieglitz who served on the selection committee for the important "Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings Showing the Later Tendencies in Art," held at the Academy in 1921.

The Sully retrospective was followed in 1923 with the first modern exhibition of the work of Charles Willson, James, and Rembrandt Peale.

However, the Academy’s influence would begin to diminish in the 1930’s due to a combination of internal and external political and artistic forces.

When Joseph Fraser began his 35 year term as director in 1936, the Academy had become “a slumbering giant,” still important due to its expansive collection, but relatively inactive in contemporary artistic concerns.

The summer school at Chester Springs prospered until its closing in 1950.

279) was purchased through the Temple Fund in 1952.

In 1970, the Academy instituted an active conservation program with expanded conservation facilities.

Philadelphia, PA: Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1997.

In 1999 he was appointed as Director to the Heard Museum of Phoenix, AZ.

The permission was granted to TFAO on June 10, 2008.

2009 <http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/8aa/8aa131.htm>. Gutekunst, Frederick.