The Académie de la Grande Chaumière (French pronunciation: [akademidəlaɡʁɑ̃dʃomjɛʁ]) is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. The impeding closure of the school in July 2025 received major criticism from art heritage groups.

The school over the years had trained major figures of the School of Paris as well as being staffed by well-known artists.

History

The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the Académie Colarossi. From 1909, the Académie was jointly directed by painters Martha Stettler, Alice Dannenberg, and Lucien Simon. The school, which was devoted to painting and sculpture, did not teach the strict academic rules of painting of the École des Beaux-Arts, thus producing art free of academic constraints. One attraction was the low fees, even lower than those of the Académie Julian (which had to be paid in advance). It was said about the school that all that was provided was a model and warmth in the winter.

In 1957, the Académie de la Grande Chaumière was acquired by the Charpentier family, founders of the Charpentier Academy. It still operates under its original name, and provides two free workshops, one for painting and drawing, the other for sketches, as well as evening classes.

The Académie's building owner Yves Salats died in 2017, and the building was inherited by three different associations which decided to auction it for sale in 2018. The psychoanalyst Serge Zagdanski was named Director of the Académie in 2018.

In July 2025, the school faced closure with the building slated to be converted into a commercial project. The proposal and its developer Alexandre Garèse, who owns the school, drew major criticsm from conservation and artistic groups.

Teachers

Artists by country
BelarusOssip Zadkine
FranceJean Aujame – Jacques-Émile Blanche – Antoine Bourdelle – Yves Brayer – Gustave Courtois – Alice Dannenberg Co-director with Stettler – Charles Despiau – Othon Friesz – André Lhote – Édouard Georges Mac-Avoy – Émile-René Ménard – Jean Metzinger – René-Xavier Prinet – Lucien Simon – Auguste Leroux – Pierre Henri Vaillant – Robert Wlérick[fr] – Charles Picart Le Doux – Peter Lipman-Wulf
PolandOlga Boznańska
United StatesMargaret Ponce Israel
SpainClaudio Castelucho
SwitzerlandEugène Grasset
United KingdomWalter Sickert (for a time a weekly supervisor of Mlle. Stettler's classes)

Former students

Artists by country
ArgentinaNoemí Gerstein – Alicia Penalba – Lino Enea Spilimbergo
AustraliaLina Bryans – Bessie Davidson – Louis Kahan
BelgiumLuc-Peter Crombé – Jos De Cock – Ghislaine de Menten de Horne[nl] – Konstantin Stefanovitch[fr]- Jacques Beeckmans[fr] – Berthe Dubail
CanadaMadeleine Laliberté – Arthur McKay – Marthe Rakine – Jean-Paul Riopelle – René Marcil – Julien Hébert
ChileJuan Emar– José Perotti – Henriette Petit – Luis Vargas Rosas[es]
ChinaZao Wou-Ki – Pang Xunqin
ColombiaLuis Caballero – Oscar Rodríguez Naranjo
CroatiaMiroslav Kraljević
CubaAmelia Peláez – Loló Soldevilla
Czech RepublicOtto Gutfreund – Frantisek Kardaus
EgyptDaria Gamsaragan
EstoniaKarin Luts – Konrad Mägi – Eduard Wiiralt
EthiopiaAlexander Boghossian
FinlandTove Jansson – Eero Nelimarkka – Eero Saarinen – Sam Vanni
FranceYolande Ardissone – René Aubert[fr] – Balthus – Guy Bigot[fr] – Louise Bourgeois – Jacques Bouyssou[fr] – Philippe Cara Costea[fr] – Jean Chapin[fr] – Jean Cortot – Marie-Alain Couturier – Jacques Daniel[fr] – Gabriel Dauchot[fr] – Paul Daviaud[fr] – Paul Deltombe – René Demeurisse[fr] – Amandine Doré[fr] – Robert Fontené[fr] – Serge Gainsbourg – Pierre Garcia-Fons[fr] – Germaine Gardey[fr] – Oscar Gauthier[fr] – Jean Gorin (1899–1981) – Étienne Hajdu – Jean Helleu[fr] – Raymonde Heudebert[fr] – René Iché – Richard Jeranian – Bernadette Kanter – Edmond Kiraz – Georges Lambert[fr] – Claude Lazar[fr] – Eugène Leroy[fr] – Carlo Maiolini[fr] – Marinette Mathieu[fr] – Jacques Mennessons[fr] – Marie-Lucie Nessi-Valtat[fr] – Alain Mongrenier[fr] – Lucile Passavant[fr] – Wilfrid Perraudin[fr] – Jean Piaubert – Richard de Prémare – Paul Rebeyrolle – Serge Rezvani – Colette Richarme – Germaine Richier – Maggie Salcedo[fr] – Jérôme Savary – Émile Savitry – Yo Savy[fr] – Michel Siret-Gille – Jeanne Socquet – André Stempfel[fr] – Michel Thompson – Victor Feltrin[fr] – René Olivier[fr] – Fernand Teyssier[fr] – Louis-Édouard Toulet[fr] – Pierre Toutain-Dorbec – Roger Weiss[fr]
GermanyAlf Bayrle (1900–1982)- Charles Crodel – Peter Janssen – Katharina Heise – Albrecht von Urach
GreeceAthanase Apartis – Sophia Laskaridou (1882–1965) – Socrate Sidiropoulos – Chryssa –
HungaryElmyr de Hory – Anton Prinner – Árpád Szenes
IndiaChintamoni Kar – Krishna Reddy – Amrita Sher-Gil
IrelandEileen Gray – Nano Reid – Patrick Swift – Seán O'Sullivan
IsraelYaacov Agam – Isaac Frenkel Frenel – Dani Karavan – Bezalel Schatz - Zohara Schatz - Avigdor Stematsky (1908–89)
JapanKumi Sugai
North MacedoniaNikola Martinoski
MexicoFederico Cantu (1907–1989)
NetherlandsHubert Minnebo – Julie van der Veen
New ZealandHelen Stewart
PeruElena Izcue
PolandWładysław Hasior – Tamara de Lempicka
PortugalMário Cesariny de Vasconcelos – pt:Joaquim Lopes – pt:Maluda – Mily Possoz – Maria Elena Vieira da Silva – Carlos Botelho
RomaniaMargaret Cossaceanu – Ion Irimescu – Magdalena Rădulescu - Vasile Kazar
RussiaBoris Anrep – Alexandra Exter – Willy Guggenheim – André Lanskoy – Serge Poliakoff – Alexander Sachal – Zinaida Serebriakova
South AfricaLippy Lipshitz
South KoreaSeund Ja Rhee
SpainRamiro Arrue – Joan Miró – es:Joaquín Peinado – es:Manuel Ángeles Ortiz – Benjamín Palencia – Alejandro Conde López – Eduardo Úrculo – Remedios Varo
Sri LankaHarry Pieris
SwedenBror Hjorth – Siri Derkert
SwitzerlandArthur Aesbacher – Otto Charles Bänninger – Otto Baumberger – fr:Alfred Bolle – Rolf Brem – Hiram Brülhart – Serge Brignoni – fr:Raymond Buchs – Coghuf – de:Louis Conne – de:Otto Ernst Fritsch – Franz Fedier – Alberto Giacometti – Max Gubler – Willy Guggenheim dit Varlin – André Lasserre – Meret Oppenheim – Oswald Pilloud – Charles Rollier – Kurt Seligmann – de:Paul Stöckli – Victor Surbek – André Thomkins – fr:Robert Wehrlin – de:Otto Wyler – Jean Planque
TurkeyBurhan Doğançay
United KingdomMaxwell Armfield – Olivia Mary Bryden – John Craxton – Keith Henderson – Vivien John – Jacques Kupfermann – Lowes Dalbiac Luard – Lewis Morley – Isabel Nicholas – Viola Paterson – Basil Rakoczi – Isabel Rawsthorne – Mary Remington – John Walker – Josefina de Vasconcellos
United StatesWard Bennett – Helaine Blumenfeld – Alexander Calder – Granville Carter – Edward Clark (artist)- Warrington Colescott – William F. Draper – Fannie Eliza Duvall – Adolphus Ealey – Dorothy Eisner – Hanna Eshel - Joseph Erhardy – Birgitta Moran Farmer – John Ferren – Paul Fjelde – Anne Flournoy – Michael Frary – Roy Charles Gamble – Herbert Gentry – Paul Georges – Charles Ginnever – Adolph Gottlieb – Angela Gregory – Al Held -Raymond Hendler – Hans Hofmann – Jack Hooper – Sylvia Shaw Judson – Adaline Kent – Albert Kotin – Margaret Lefranc – Michael Loew – Frank Lobdell – Jeanne Patterson Miles – Richard E. Miller – Clare Turlay Newberry – Isamu Noguchi – Jules Olitski — fr:Bill Parker – Albert Pennoyer - Genevieve Pezet – Augusta Savage – Louis Schanker – Nat Mayer Shapiro – Irene Sharaff – Cesare Stea – George L. Stout – Shinkichi Tajiri – Beth Van Hoesen - Bradley Walker Tomlin – Laura Wheeler Waring
UkraineBeliana
UruguayJosé Cúneo – Amalia Nieto – Federico Moller de Berg[es]
VenezuelaAlirio Oramas – Tito Salas – Manuel Cabre–Elisa Elvira Zuloaga–Pascual Navarro

See also

Sources

  • Dr. Eric Cabris, Ph.D., Biografie van kunstschilder Ghislaine de Menten de Horne (1908–1995), Brussels, V.U.B., 2008, p. 4, footnote 3.
  • Antoine Bourdelle, Laure Dalon, Cours & leçons à l'Académie de la Grande Chaumière, 1909–1929, Paris : Paris-Musées : Ed. des Cendres, 2008. ISBN 978-2-7596-0034-2

External links

48°50′32″N 2°19′49″E/48.8422°N 2.3304°E/ 48.8422; 2.3304