ABSTRACT
The genesis of and continuing basis for American art in pragmatism rather than the theories of the academic tradition are nowhere more apparent than in the establishment of productive art schools in the first sixty years of the nineteenth century. The practice of painting was not a traditional part of the curriculum, but the academies usually had a collection of works of art which qualified students were allowed to copy. The first American academy was the most original and revolutionary with the most exciting educational program of any of the early art institutions. American artists were by no means alone in their questioning of the value of academic education. The mechanics’ associations, such as the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, were important to artists because they provided facilities for showing their work. The fine arts were divided into the study of landscape and the figure, but the progressive arrangement of exercises was similar and was a reversal of the traditional method.
