Friday, November 27, 2020 – GENTLE ART FROM THIS ARTIST J.ALDEN WEIR
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2020
The
221st Edition
From Our Archives
J. ALDEN WEIR
J. Alden Weir, Portrait of a Lady with a Dog (Anna Baker Weir), ca. 1890, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mahonri Sharp Young, 1977.92
J. Alden Weir taught painting classes in New York City while he cultivated his reputation as a portrait artist. Nineteen-year-old Anna Dwight Baker was one of his students, and after a brief courtship the two married in 1883. Anna Weir’s friends variously described her as “ethereal,” “like some beautiful dream woman,” qualities her husband captured in this portrait of her with his subtle, impressionistic style. She leans forward in a black ladder-back chair, holding her dog, Gyp, in her lap. Just over her shoulder the bedroom door is ajar, providing the viewer with a more intimate glimpse into the private life of the artist. Anna Weir died in 1892 due to complications after the birth of the couple’s fourth child. This touching, personal portrait remained in the family’s collection until it was given to the American Art Museum in 1977. (Dorothy Weir Young, The Life & Letters of J. Alden Weir, 1960)
Nationality American Education National Academy of Design, École des Beaux-Arts, Jean-Léon Gérôme Known for Painting
Died December 8, 1919 (aged 67)
Born Julian Alden Weir August 30, 1852 West Point, New York
J. Alden Weir in the late 19th century
J. Alden Weir, A Gentlewoman, 1906, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of William T. Evans, 1909.7.72
In A Gentlewoman, J. Alden Weir depicted a well-dressed young woman in a moment of personal reflection. She rests lightly on a chair with her eyes cast downward, completely unaware of the viewer. A contemporary critic praised this woman for her “mixture of sturdiness and charm,” qualities valued in turn-of-the-century gentlewomen. In the early twentieth century, modernization brought on by steam power and railroads caused feelings of anxiety among many Americans. To help alleviate such feelings, artists created images like these of quiet interior scenes, a visually soothing antidote to an unquiet age.
J. Alden Weir, Woman and Child, Seated (Mother and Child with Toy), ca. 1887-1893, drypoint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Brigham Young University, 1972.84.113
J. Alden Weir, At the Water Trough, 1876-1877, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1978.125
At the Water Trough is an early work by J. Alden Weir, which he painted in the fall of 1876 after returning to Paris from a trip to Spain. It is the only known painting from this trip, and was based on sketches and photographs that Weir made in the Spanish city of Granada. This scene, which shows people gathering at a water fountain to exchange news and take a rest from their daily chores, would have been a common sight in Spain at that time, as indoor plumbing was not yet widespread. The painting was exhibited the following year at the National Academy of Design in New York.
J. Alden Weir, On the Porch, 1889, drypoint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Brigham Young University, 1972.84.50
J. Alden Weir, (Landscape), after 1900, oil on wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mahonri Sharp Young, 1978.110
Julian Alden Weir was a nature lover whose Branchville, Connecticut, farm was a retreat from the pressures of New York City. His younger brother had advised him to “hang onto this place, old boy … keep it trim and untrammeled, and you will find a haven of refuge.” Weir began painting landscapes around the property after his beloved wife, Anna, died. This spindly poplar with its elegantly bending trunk might be one of those that he and Anna had planted together and that he closely identified with her. (Cummings, “Home Is the Starting Place: J. Alden Weir and the Spirit of Place,” J. Alden Weir: A Place of His Own, 1991). Perhaps the ghostly figure in the foreground is meant to suggest his wife’s spirit dwelling under the trees.
J. Alden Weir, The Frugal Repast–Isle of Man, 1889, etching on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Brigham Young University, 1972.84.10
FRIDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
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THURSDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
The wonderful Bonwit Teller building at 56th Street and Fifth Avenue. Demolished by a developer with no regard of historical value of this building.
Harriet Lieber knew this one!!!
EDITORIAL
A thought: every two to three days more Americans die from Covid-19 than died in the 9/11 attack.
Judith Berdy
Text by Judith Berdy
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