At a time when Abstract Expressionism was all the rage—1958, to be precise—a couple of rogue realists refused to follow suit. David Levine and Aaron Shikler instead gathered together a group of like-minded artists to focus on old-fashioned figu-rative drawing and painting each Wednesday, sessions that eventually birthed The Painting Group. Fast forward nearly 50 years and Levine, the one-man illustrator for The New York Review of Books, has emerged as America's answer to Max Beerbohm, while Shikler has become one of our foremost political portraitists. (His painting of John F. Kennedy hangs in the White House.)

Their guild—which now includes 25 professional and amateur artists—has survived not only the rise and fall of Pop Art and Minimalism, but also the soaring rents in several Manhattan studios. Part salon, part saloon, the group encourages steady practice, gentle criticism, and break-time banter, elevating the work of each person present. "Painting from a model is what Western art is all about," says member and former managing editor of New York magazine, Byron Dobell. "We go back to the origins, to the human form." Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor recently sat for a full day's session (fully clothed, of course), documented by filmmaker Neil Leifer. The resulting likenesses will be on display at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., beginning March 30.

Suddenly the group that resisted modernism couldn't be more of the moment.

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