The American Academy of Art is a professional, accredited fine arts school located in downtown Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1923 for the education of both fine and commercial arts students. The school has a tradition of top art education with exceptional students being awarded the academy's most prestigious honor, the William H. Mosby Scholarship—a scholarship named after the academy's master artist professor who was trained at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts

Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts

The Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels is an art school, founded in 1711.The faculty and alumni of ARBA include some of the most famous names in Belgian painting, sculpture, and architecture: James Ensor, Rene Magritte, and Paul Delvaux...

 in Brussels.

Curriculum

The American Academy of Art has been educating professional artists in commercial and fine art fields since 1923. The program promotes a foundation of drawing and design, based on the classical academic tradition.

About 290 students attend the Academy at a time. Tuition currently is $30,000+ yearly.

The academy has curriculum for both Bachelors and Masters degrees. Bachelor of Fine Arts majors are:

• 3D modeling and animation
• Life drawing
• Multimedia/web design
• Oil painting
• Design
• Watercolor painting
• Illustration
• Photography

Unlike many art schools, The American Academy requires all incoming freshmen to take both life drawing and art composition for the freshman year.

Notable alumni

• Kanye West
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  , (Didn't graduate),Music producer,musician, owner of G.O.O.D. Music,Grammy award winner
• William Parks
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  , American painter
• Richard Schmid
  Richard Schmid
  Richard Schmid is an American realist painter and author who received classical training from William H. Mosby at the American Academy of Art in Chicago...
  
  , American painter
• Andrew Loomis
  Andrew Loomis
  William Andrew Loomis , better known simply as Andrew Loomis, was an American illustrator, author, and art instructor. His commercial work was featured prominently in advertising and magazines; however, Loomis is best known as author a series of instructional art books printed throughout the 20th...
  
  , American painter and notable illustrator. Author Figure Drawing For All It's Worth, Fun With a Pencil, Drawing the Head and Hands, and Eye of the Painter and Elements of Beauty
• Joyce Ballantyne Brand
• Marilyn Bendell
  Marilyn Bendell
  Marilyn Bendell was an American impressionist painter who was born in Grand Ledge, Michigan. She was training to become a concert pianist, but at age 17, decided to pursue\ painting instead. She studied painting at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and privately with Arnold E. Turtle...
  
  
• Thomas Blackshear
  Thomas Blackshear
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  , American illustrator
• Gil Elvgren
  Gil Elvgren
  Gil Elvgren , born Gillette Elvgren, was an American painter of pin-up girls, advertising and illustration. Elvgren was one of the more important pin-up and glamour artists of the twentieth century. Today he is best known for his pin-up paintings for Brown & Bigelow...
  
  , American pin-up artist
• T. Allen Lawson
  T. Allen Lawson
  T. Allen Lawson is an American artist recognized for his landscape paintings of Wyoming and Maine subjects, and is perhaps best known for having painted the White House Christmas card in 2008. His work is characterized by patient observation of nature and an interest in abstract design...
  
  , American artist
• Mike Mitchell
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  , creator of the "I'm with CoCo" poster
• Alex Ross
  Alex Ross
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   Illustrator for DC comics
• Marilee Jacobi-Popovich, Graphic designer
• Irving Shapiro
  Irving Shapiro
  Irving Shapiro may refer to:*Irving Shapiro, New York labor racketeer with the Shapiro Brothers*Irving S. Shapiro, lawyer...
  
  , an artist, educator and author, was associated with the American Academy of Art for 50 years and served for many years as its director and president. His watercolors have been exhibited throughout the United States, Europe and, in China. His works hang in galleries, in hundreds of corporate offices and in private collections.
• Haddon Sundblom
  Haddon Sundblom
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  , American Illustrator, creator of the Coca-Cola santa
• Jill Thompson
  Jill Thompson
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• Bill Reinhold
  Bill Reinhold
  Bill Reinhold was born March 18, 1955 and is a 1982 graduate of the American Academy of Art in downtown Chicago.-Biography:Reinhold has been drawing and inking comic books professionally since 1981. He's done work most notably for First Comics, Marvel Comics, and DC Comics. Reinhold is known...
  
   Illustrator for First Comics, Marvel Comics, DC comics, and Dark Horse Comics
• John Tobias
  John Tobias
  John Tobias is an American comic book artist, graphic designer and video game designer. Along with Ed Boon he is one of the creators of the groundbreaking Mortal Kombat fighting game series....
  
  Illustrator and Co Creator for Mortal Kombat series