The Smithsonian Institution has an awesome online archive of old photographs of artists, many in their studios, where sculptors pose midway through work and painters cradle their palettes at their easels. And the best part is that you can see more as it is a In collaboration with the Smithsonian institution, you can witness — View from the Easel — now appearing as a regular feature on Hyperallergic, a unique project which looks into the interiors of artist studios. From heavyweight American sculptors like Daniel Chester French, to lesser-knowns like sculptor Selma Hortense Burke (pictured below), an American scultpor who founded two art schools in the 1920’s. You see the worn artist tools, the random curiosities (like a deer antler hanging from the ceiling, for one), the array of complete and in-process work. And even if you don’t know their art, there’s a lot about an artist embedded in their studio.Some have their clothes stained with paint, others obviously spruced up for the portrait occasion. Some are comfortable and confident, others somewhat awkward. Basically, like the cluttered studios, artists haven’t changed.
Sculptor Selma Hortense Burke in her studio (photograph by Peter A. July & Son, via Smithsonian Institution)
Abraham Walkowitz in his studio (ca. 1908) (photograph by Carl Shulman, via Smithsonian Institution)
Henry Ossawa Tanner in his Paris studio (ca. 1920) (via Smithsonian Institution)
Joseph Pennell working a printing press in his studio (photograph by Joseph Klima, Jr., via Smithsonian Institution)
Sculptor Betti Richard in her studio (photograph by Peter A. Juley & Son, via Smithsonian Institution)
Francis Davis Millet (center) in his studio (ca. 1900) (via Smithsonian Institution)
Painter Charles Shepard Chapman in his studio (ca. 1920) (via Smithsonian Institution)
Jan Matulka in his studio (ca. 1920) (photograph by M. Vu Kovic, via Smithsonian Institution)
Painters Edmund Clarence Messer and Blayden Tasker Snyder in a Paris studio (ca. 1884) (via Smithsonian Institution)
TO see more cool pics go to: hyperallergic.com
