Mastery of the human form was critical to the success of an
American artist in the 19th century. For many decades American
artists lagged behind their European counterparts because of
inadequate training in art school. Many felt that they not only
lacked the skill to represent the anatomy but also there was no
local audience to appreciate the subject matter. Noted Rhode
Island artists such as Charles Walter Stetson critiqued his
early work for, “my weak modeling and my lack of grace are quite
apparent, ...”(1879). With the founding of Rhode Island School
of Design in 1878, classroom art instruction significantly
improved and so did the excellence of the figure by regional
artists. A fine sampling of the development of figure drawing
and evolving trends in figurative rendering is found in this
gallery section.