Detail of Julian Alden Weir from a portrait of Weir in his studio, ca. 1910 – Smithsonian Institution
Julian Alden Weir (1852-1919)
Julian Alden Weir, a leading figure in American Impressionism, was a member of the Cos Cob Art Colony and a founder of the Ten American Painters, or “The Ten.” Born in West Point, New York, in 1852, Weir followed in family footsteps by pursuing an art career. He studied in the US and Europe but, like his friends Childe Hassam and John Henry Twachtman, Weir abandoned the academic style in favor of impressionism. In 1883, he acquired a Connecticut farm, which served as his primary home and studio until his death in 1919. Today, his paintings are held by top museums around the world, and Weir Farm, which sits on land in Ridgefield and Wilton, is the only National Park Service historic site dedicated to American painting.
More on Julian Alden Weir from the CT Digital Archive
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Weir Farm the Result of a Trade – Who Knew?
Weir Farm, located in Ridgefield and Wilton, Connecticut, resulted from the trade of a painting and ten dollars. …[more]
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Websites
Yale University. “Julian Alden Weir - Digital Collection,” 2013. Link.
National Park Service. “Julian Alden Weir - Weir Farm National Historic Site,” 2013. Link.
Places
“Lyman Allyn Art Museum,” 2016. Link.
“New Britain Museum of American Art,” 2017. Link.
“The Wadsworth Atheneum,” 2017. Link.
U.S. National Park Service. “Weir Farm National Historic Site,” 2016. Link.
Books
Cummings, Hildegard, Helen K. Fusscas, Susan G. Larkin, William Benton Museum of Art, and Bruce Museum. J. Alden Weir: A Place of His Own. Storrs, CT: William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, 1991.
Bolger, Doreen, and Julian Alden Weir. J. Alden Weir: An American Impressionist. Newark; London: University of Delaware Press, 1983.
Dawson, Anne E., ed. Rare Light: J. Alden Weir in Windham, Connecticut, 1882-1919. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2016.
Young, Dorothy Weir. The Life and Letters of J. Alden Weir: Edited with an Introduction by Lawrence W. Chisolm. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1960.
