A New Direction in Art Education, The Florence Academy of Art, Andy Warhol, and a New Aesthetic Movement, by Dr. Gregory Hedberg, is an excellent article that explains the evolution of academic art in the past two decades. I was part of the larger group; when I graduated from high school in 1993, I assumed that classical training was taught in art schools.

“Once immersed in the New York art world as head of “Warhol’s Academy,” I soon realized that there were two camps when it came to art education. The larger group hardly ever thought about it, and when they did, they assumed that young artists all over the country learned traditional painting and drawing skills, then rejected such training, moved to New York, and became “avant-garde.” The second group was aware of the fact that such training no longer existed in art schools and considered it to be a good thing, as such training was possibly detrimental, and certainly passe.”

You can find other interesting publications on the The Florence Academy of Art website.