What Is The Academie Julian?

The Academie Julian was an art school in Paris. It was founded in 1868 by the artist Rudolphe Julian. It is notable for the diverse group of artists it attracted, including John Singer Sargent and Henri Matisse, as well as its liberal ideas about women. Female students were allowed in the school and participated in life drawing classes, an activity that was considered improper for women at the time. With its progressive ideas, the Academie became an alternative to the state-run art school, Ecole des Beax Arts.

Piere Bonnard and Eduard Vuilliard were classmates at the Academie and the influence on each others' work is unmistakable. Anna Bilinska-Bohdanowicz and Marie Bashkirtseff were also students; they became accomplished painters at the school and later made careers as portrait artists. As artists, they broke the confines of careers deemed suitable for women at the time. Yet, portrait painting was thought to be a more appropriate feminine pursuit then, for instance, figurative painting involving nudity.

The work of Bashkirtseff, Bilinska-Bohdanowicz and other women artists at the Academie was featured in a 2000 exhibition at the Dahesh Museum in New York.