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The Oppenheim Class
A Truly Great Teacher, a Thoroughly Modest
Man
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The Art Students
League of New York, December, 1969. The Friday night Oppenheim
Class celebrating Mr. Oppenheim's birthday (December 24) and
Christmas with a champagne toast. That's me, age 34, at the
far left. The monitor (and now my oldest friend in New York
and a well-known portrait artist), Basil Baylin, kneels at the
right. Mr. Oppenheim had just painted a demonstration which
is on the easel. Handsome Luis Vega, in short-sleeved white
shirt, smiles at left center. Note that all the men are wearing
neckties. |
 he
Oppenheim Class at the Art Students League (1966-1972) was remarkably
focused on a single concept — the single-sitting portrait
study. I joined the class in the fall of 1969. We painted a
head-and-shoulders study within a single class session of approximately
three hours. The idea was to work directly. We painted on small
canvas boards, always 18 x 14 inches (no other size was permitted).
There was no preliminary drawing in charcoal. We sketched-in
with the brush and then went right into color, working with
broad, direct applications of paint.
The class began at 6:45 p.m. under the direction of the monitor
Basil Baylin (now a well-known New York artist and teacher).
Mr. Oppenheim arrived at 7:30, and went around to each artist,
with a quiet, amazingly succinct critique — usually a single
observation, such as "the eyes are too dark!" or,
"Put more color into the lower part of the face!"
The concentration was intense. Once every two or three months,
Mr. Oppenheim would paint a demonstration for the class. The
entire process would be completed in under an hour (an example
is shown on the easel in the photo on this page). These demonstrations
were incredible learning experiences. Though he said very little,
Oppenheim worked with authority and with no hesitation whatever.
He was aloof and reticent (this came from an instinctive shyness
of nature), but we loved him and were devoted to him. When he
announced his retirement in 1972 (he was then 71 years old),
we were devastated. I did not know that I would soon be appointed
to take his place.
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The
idea of the class was the single-sitting portrait study. We
started at 6:45 p.m. and finished at 10:00. We tried —
as rapidly and as directly as possible — to set down in
oil paint the most immediate impression of the sitter. No detail,
no finishing — just the essentials. Oppenheim called the
method premier coup, or "first attack." We painted
on 18 x 14-inch canvas boards — never larger or smaller.
The head was to be life- size. The model was invariably a young
woman. Here is a selection of my paintings from the class.
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