Academic Nudes of the 19th Century: BRIAN SCHUMACHER (Contemporary Artist) - Figure Study: Standing Male Nude Pulling a Rope - Oils on Board

Saturday, March 27, 2021

BRIAN SCHUMACHER (Contemporary Artist) - Figure Study: Standing Male Nude Pulling a Rope - Oils on Board - 2004

Don't ever let it be said that I can't stumble my way into a bargain nude and recognize a classically trained artist when I see one. I was bumbling around on eBay UK several weeks ago looking for a 19th century nude when low and behold I happened upon a beautiful little nude by the American realist artist Brian Schumacher. I had to backtrack a little and finally found the original listing on eBay here in the states. I did a little background on the artist and yes indeed his training also included the Florence Academy of Art in Florence, Italy. Contemporary or not the drawing and painting detail of this small painting is most 19th century impressive. Here is his biography I pulled up from his website:

"As a multi-disciplinary artist, designer, and educator, Brian Schumacher’s work takes shape within the fertile landscape where the hand, the mind, and the eye meet. Having trained, and subsequently taught in several of the world’s top studio atelier’s, including the Florence Academy of Art in Florence, Italy and the Grand Central Academy of Art in New York City, his paintings and drawings are sought after for their careful attention to detail, for their archival craft, and for their luminous, living presence. As a designer and educator, he is a passionate advocate for the cultivation of vital hand skills, having experienced time and again that what we learn to make with our own hands shapes how we see and understand the world around us, for the better. Brian’s work can be found in private and public collections across the United States and in Europe, including the Forbes Foundation and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. He has received numerous grants and awards, including the Darwin T. Turner Award for excellence in teaching and promoting inclusiveness in the classroom, a Mellon Grant Teaching Fellowship, a Vogelstein grant, a Stobart Foundation grant, the American Institute of Architect’s Henry Adams Award for excellence in architectural design, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art’s Mary Butler Trust Purchase Prize.

“As an inherently empathetic person, it has always been second nature for me to listen and extend myself into the experience of others; as an artist, and as a designer and an educator, this sensitivity informs all that I do. I see the act of making as an act of hope, and an opportunity to connect and communicate with those around us. I look to the structure and nature of our perceptual abilities to help guide our understanding about how and why we see and respond to our environment, with the belief that insight through careful observation leads to self-reflection, and that self-reflection is a gateway to greater tolerance, inclusiveness, and positive change. The creative impulse is a human impulse that does not draw boundaries around identity or privilege, and is guided and made manifest by a shared, universal visual and material language that is both learned and available to all, like the air we breathe.”

Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Brian has traveled broadly and lived in many major cities across the United States and Europe. Currently he divides his time between living with his wife and 14 year old daughter in the foothills of Western Massachusetts, with periodic forays back to Cincinnati, OH, where for the past eight years he has taught foundational design studios within the top ranked schools of design and architecture at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP)."

---------------------------------------------------------------