National Academy Museum and School
![](/Images/godic/202501/29/18970403.NYC.Academy_of_Design_at_the_corner_Twenty-Third_St.&FourthAve.d.RMHunt3414.jpg")
![The Academy's current location](/Images/godic/202501/29/National_Academy3414.jpg")
![A few members in 1850 L to R.: Henry Kirke Brown, Henry Peters Gray and founding member Asher Brown Durand](/Images/godic/202501/29/Brown_Gray_Durand_18503414.jpg")
![Annual Reception at the National Academy of Design, New York, 1868, a wood engraving from a sketch by W. S. L. Jewett](/Images/godic/202501/29/Annual_Reception_at_the_National_Academy_of_Design,_New_York3415.jpg")
The National Academy Museum and School, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, and others "to promote the fine arts in America through instruction and exhibition."