Académie Vitti

Académie Vitti
Académie Vitti, 1900
Location
49 Boulevard du Montparnasse, 6th arrondissement, Paris France
Coordinates	48°50′41″N 2°19′20″E / 48.84462°N 2.32225°E / 48.84462; 2.32225Coordinates: 48°50′41″N 2°19′20″E / 48.84462°N 2.32225°E / 48.84462; 2.32225
Information
Opened	1889
Closed	1914
Campus type	Private art school

The Académie Vitti was an art school in Paris, France. It was founded and operated by a family of Italian artists' models from the Valle di Comino to the south of Rome. The Academy was progressive in its support for women artists, and gained a high reputation. Teachers included Paul Gauguin and Frederick William MacMonnies.

The Académie Vitti, a private art school at 49 Boulevard Montparnasse, Paris was founded in 1889 by Cesare Vitti, his wife Maria Caira, and her sisters Anna Caira and Jacinta Caira. Cesare Vitti came from Casalvieri, a village in the Valle di Comino close to Atina in the mountains south of Rome. He began as an artist's model, then became a painter and sculptor himself. The three Caira sisters, their cousin Carmela and their brother Antonio came from nearby Gallinaro. They moved to Paris and worked as models for painters, sculptors and photographers.

Antonio Caira posed as a blacksmith for the French 100 franc banknote drawn by Luc-Olivier Merson (1846–1920). Maria Caira was in great demand as a model due to her "perfect" body. She posed for the American Frederick William MacMonnies (1863–1937) for his sculpture of Diana the Huntress. Carmela Caira posed for James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), Henri Matisse (1869–1954), Émile Bernard (1868–1941) and Alice Pike Barney (1857–1931).

The Académie Vitti was one of the first to accept female students, and to allow women to sketch nude male models. It became highly respected. The Caira-Vitti family returned to Italy just before the outbreak of World War I (1914–18), taking many works and memorabilia from the academy.

Cesare Erario, a descendent of the family, inherited the house that the family occupied in Atina after their return. He found the collection of objects from the academy in the attic, researched the academy, and in 2013 opened the house as a museum to exhibit the collection. The display includes some paintings, many sketches in charcoal, chalk and pencil, including some of Jacinta Caira's paintings and drawings. It also includes many costume photographs and postcards by photographers such as Nadar. Photographs of the family and the Academy give a view of life in private art schools of the period.