Discussions with a Modern Master: Steven Assael’s Morning Lectures about Contemporary Realism
- Sicily Artist Retreats
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
The Sicily Artist Retreats community has been fortunate to study contemporary realism with Steven Assael for consecutive seasons. Steven's art workshop deepened our understanding of the figure, light, and color — and reaffirmed why his approach to painting remains one of the most respected in contemporary realism today.
Under Steven's instruction, students in this art masterclass can expect morning lectures on his philosophical approach to painting, front-row seats to intensive live painting demonstrations, and one-on-one mentoring throughout each studio session.
About Steven Assael: A Leading Voice in Contemporary Realism
Steven Assael is a contemporary master of figurative painting and one of the defining voices in contemporary realism. He is a longtime instructor at the School of Visual Arts and a senior critic at the New York Academy of Art. His sensitive oil portraits, recalling the subtle shading and narrative depth of Rembrandt, have been featured in the "New Old Masters" exhibition at the National Museum in Gdańsk, Poland (2006), as well as at the Met, the Columbus Museum of Art, and other prestigious American institutions.
The following notes were taken during his morning lectures at one of our art retreats in Sicily, before the group moved into the studio to paint.
Morning Lecture Notes: Color, Value, and the Language of Contemporary Realism
During our October art workshop with Steven Assael, we gathered by the studio couches with freshly brewed coffee for a short lecture before painting. One morning, Steven spoke on two ideas central to his practice — and to contemporary realism as a whole: seeing color as a value, and thinking sculpturally about a painting.
Color as Value for Steven Assael
"Color is value, value is color." "Color like you're blasting light into the picture."
Steven pointed out that painters tend to save vivid color for the light mass of a painting, rather than incorporating it into the shadow mass. Infusing color into shadow creates a deeper, richer painting, a hallmark technique in contemporary realism.
On the subject of value, Steven also argues that when painting from life, shadows should be pushed darker than what the eye actually sees, to intensify the light mass. This calibration of value and color was revisited daily throughout the art masterclass.
When painting a model, Steven advises that even if proportions are slightly off, values must be correct, accurate value gives a painting its structure. This principle of formal logic extends beyond figurative work and applies to any canvas, making it one of the most transferable lessons from the workshop.
Demonstration from the imagination, painted by Steven Assael on the first day of class.
Think Sculpturally
Steven asserts that a painter must surrender to the materiality of the paint itself. Moving and building it up wherever a form needs to come forward. This physicality echoes Rembrandt: the built-up texture of his painted noses, eyes, and skin.
Steven reminds students to look closely at a Rembrandt eye. Up close, the buildup of paint, its materiality and physicality, is what makes it convincing as an "eye." The same is true of Van Gogh's Sunflowers: the paint doesn't just represent the flower, it becomes it. This is the essence of what draws artists to contemporary realism, paint that carries the physical weight of what it depicts.
Art historian James Elkins, in What Painting Is, writes about this use of materiality in "buttery" and "creamy" paint, noting that painters have long sought a pliable, almost bodily quality in their pigment, one that recalls the texture of living things. He observes that Rembrandt's textures, while not appetizing, remain distinctly human and organic (Elkins, 120).
Elkins also examines the fleshy paint in Rembrandt's 1659 self-portrait, describing how the paint itself, thick, viscous, skin-like, becomes both a portrait of the sitter and, in a sense, a portrait of paint itself (Elkins, 114).
Steven recommends a simple exercise for surrendering to the materiality of paint: get comfortable working with two large brushes.
Study Contemporary Realism at Our Next Art Retreat
Send us your work exploring color as value, or paintings that highlight the materiality of paint — we can't wait to see it.
Interested in joining a future art workshop or art masterclass with Steven Assael? Our Sicily art retreats offer an immersive week of contemporary realism instruction, live-model studio sessions, and one-on-one critique in one of Italy's most inspiring coastal settings.
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