An
art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the
visual arts, especially
illustration,
painting,
photography,
sculpture, and
graphic design. Art schools are institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or postgraduate programs in these areas. They are distinguished from larger institutions which also may offer majors or degrees in the visual arts, but only as one part of a broad-based range of programs (such as the
liberal arts and
sciences). France's
École des Beaux-Arts is, perhaps, the first model for such organized instruction, breaking with a tradition of
master and apprentice instruction when it was formed.