Representing Some of Today's Leading Masters of Portrait Painting
1994, Awarded the Sargent Medal
for Livetime Achievement
by the American Society of Portrait Artists
The critical year in John Sanden's personal history
was 1969 the year he decided to leave the Midwest
and a long career in Christian art, and try his hand
at New York City and the world of portrait painting.
Within months of arriving in New York, he was appointed
to the teaching faculty of the Art Students League,
had become affiliated with the city's principal portrait
brokerage, Portraits, Incorporated, and had established
a nationwide portrait clientele of the famous, wealthy
and influential.
Sanden thereupon launched into an ambitious teaching
career. He founded The
Portrait Institute in 1974 and began touring
the nation, teaching his ideas and techniques to thousands,
who came out to hear him in classes as large as seven
hundred at a time. Those who could not come in person
studied through one of the national correspondence instructional
programs, which he created. In 1979, Sanden launched
the National Portrait Seminar, which grew to be the
largest art seminar program in America. An annual lecture
series at the Art Students League was presented to standing-room-only
audiences there for twenty-three years. John Sanden
is the author of four books on portraiture: Painting
the Head in Oil (Watson-Guptill
Publications, New York, 1976); Successful Portrait
Painting (Watson-Guptill, 1981); Portraits From
Life (North Light Books, Cincinnati, 1999); and
The Portraits of John Howard Sanden (Madison
Square Press, New York, 2001).
John Howard Sanden meeting with Attorney General John Ashcroft for the preparation for his official portrait.
With all of these demands on his time, he has managed
to complete more than five hundred portraits of prominent
figures in American public, professional and business
life. His client list reads like a Who's Who of American
education and industry.
Profile, the magazine of the American Portrait Society, said, in a 1984 feature article written by the Society's president, "John Howard Sanden may well be the best known name in contemporary American portraiture." Popular columnist Pete Hamill, writing in the New York Post, August 15, 1991, said "John Howard Sanden is the closest we have in America to fit the old role of court painter."
On May 29, 1994, the American Society of Portrait Artists presented their first John Singer Sargent Medal for Lifetime Achievement to Sanden. On September 30 of that same year, Houghton College awarded him the Doctor of Fine Arts degree.
- Founded Portrait Clubs of America, 2003.
- Elected chairman of The American Society of Portrait Artists, 2001.
- Founded The New York Society of Portrait Artists, 2001.
- The Portraits of John Howard Sanden published by Madison Square Press, 2001.
- Portraits From Life published by North Light Books, Cincinnati, 1999.
- Honorary Degree: Doctor of Fine Arts, Houghton College, 1994.
- The First John Singer Sargent Medal for Lifetime Achievement, presented by The American Society of Portrait Painters, 1994.
- Founded The Portrait Institute in New York, 1974.
- Lecturer on Portraiture, Art Students League of New York, 1972 to present.
- Instructor in Portraiture, Art Students League of New York, 1972 - 1984
- Founded The National Portrait Seminar, 1979.
- Painting the Head in Oil published by Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1976.
- Successful Portrait Painting published by Watson-Guptill Publications. New York, 1981.
- Founded The New York Portrait Artists Forum, 1993.
- Founded The Sargent Society in New York, 1995.