Early Academies.

Inspired by the prestigious Royal Academy in Great Britain, American artists and patrons looked to the creation of art institutions as a way to promote artistic development in the United States. The Society of Fine Arts in New York (later renamed the American Academy of the Fine Arts) was the first major American art academy, established in 1802 under the auspices of Robert and Edward Livingston. Early American academies quickly fell prey to internal divisions and factionalism, stemming largely from tensions between patrons and artists. Wealthy patrons were necessary to establish and maintain the academies, but artists resented and resisted control by laymen whom they considered insensitive to their interests. Yet artists and art academies were unable to free art from reliance on private patronage despite republican prescriptions to the contrary.

The Pennsylvania Academy.

The Pennsylvania Academy of...