Julian Alden Weir

1852 – 1919

American painter, printmaker and teacher, part of a family of artists, son of Robert Walter Weir (1803-1889). His art education began in the studio of his father. There he and his half-brother John Ferguson Weir (1841-1926) acquired an appreciation for the Old Masters, particularly of the Italian Renaissance and of the 17th-century Dutch schools. While Weir pursued in his art a course very different from that of his father and half-brother, his personality as well as his artistic attitudes were shaped by them. In the winters of 1870-71 and 1871-72, he continued his studies at the National Academy of Design in New York, where his instructor was Lemuel Wilmarth (1835-1918). He continued his studies in 1873 in Paris under Gérôme. He practiced open air painting in Pont-Aven (Brittany) and Cernay-la-Ville, southwest of Paris. He became friends with Bastien-Lepage and Sargent. In 1875 he exhibited at the Paris Salon and the New York National Academy of Design. In 1877 he returned to New York and became member of the Society of American Artists, and in 1882 president of the Society. He engaged in the organization of exhibitions and exhibited there himself. He renewed travel in Europe in the 1870s and 1880s. From 1885 to 1889 he taught at the Cooper Institute. Weir founded his career as an artist primarily on portraits and still-lifes, but he also painted successful history works and family scenes.

View all works →