Edwin Lord Weeks (18491903) was an American artist, noted for his Orientalist works.

Life

Weeks was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

in 1849. His parents were affluent spice and tea merchants from Newton, a suburb of Boston, and as such they were able to finance their son's youthful interest in painting and travelling. As a young man Weeks visited the Florida Keys to draw, and also travelled to Surinam in South America. His earliest known paintings date from 1867 when he was eighteen years old, although it is not until his ''Landscape with Blue Heron'', dated 1871 and painted in the

Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissim ...

, that Weeks started to exhibit a dexterity of technique and eye for composition—presumably having taken professional tuition. In 1872 Weeks relocated to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, becoming a pupil of

Léon Bonnat Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat (20 June 1833 – 8 September 1922) was a French painter, Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur and professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Early life Bonnat was born in Bayonne, but from 1846 to 1853 he lived in M ...

and

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ra ...

. After his studies in Paris, Weeks emerged as one of America's major painters of Orientalist subjects. Throughout his adult life he was an inveterate traveler and journeyed to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

(1869),

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

(1870),

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

(frequently between 1872 and 1878), and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

(1882–83). In 1895 Weeks wrote and illustrated a book of travels, ''From the Black Sea through Persia and India'', and in 1897 he published ''Episodes of Mountaineering'' (which was preceded by the 1894 article ''Some Episodes of Mountaineering, by a Casual Amateur''). Weeks died in Paris in November 1903. He was a member of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, an officer of the

Order of Saint Michael (Bavaria) The Order of Saint Michael (german: Orden zum Heiligen Michael), later Order of Merit of Saint Michael (german: Verdienstorden vom Heiligen Michael) was founded on September 29, 1693 by Joseph Clemens of Bavaria, then Archbishop-Elector of Colog ...

, and a member of the

Munich Secession The Munich Secession was an association of visual artists who broke away from the mainstream Munich Artists' Association in 1892, to promote and defend their art in the face of what they considered official paternalism and its conservative polic ...

Achievements

Weeks exhibited his work in nearly every annual

Salon (Paris) The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

. He earned a Medal of Honor in 1884, then a Third Class Medal in 1889, followed by a gold medal at the 1889 International Exhibition, and finally the Legion of Honor in 1896.

Gallery

File:Leaving For The Hunt At Gwalior ca 1887.jpg, A Maratha, leaving for hunting from

Gwalior Fort The Gwalior Fort commonly known as the ''Gwāliiyar Qila'', is a hill fort near Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India. The fort has existed at least since the 10th century, and the inscriptions and monuments found within what is now the fort campus in ...

File:The Maharahaj of Gwalior Before His Palace ca 1887.jpg, Maratha king of Gwalior at his palace File:An Indian Hunting Party.jpg, A Maratha hunting party File:Edwin Lord Weeks Promenade on an Indian Street.jpg, Promenade on a Maratha street File:The Barge Of The Maharaja Of Benares ca 1883.jpg, Barge of the Maharaja Of Benares, 1883 File:On The River Benares ca 1883.jpg, On The River Benares, 1883 File:Edwin_Lord_Weeks_-_Along_the_Ghats,_Mathura.jpg, Along the Ghats of

Mathura Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately north of Agra, and south-east of Delhi; about from the town of Vrindavan, and from Govardhan. ...

, 1883 File:The Rajah, At The Palace Of Amber ca 1888.jpg, The Maharajah at the

Amer Fort Amer Fort or Amber Fort is a fort located in Amer, Rajasthan, India. Amer is a town with an area of located from Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. Amber city and Amber fort were founded by ruler Alan Singh of Chanda dynasty of Meenas. Located ...

, 1888 File:Great Mogul And His Court Returning From The Great Mosque At Delhi India - Oil Painting by American Artist Edwin Lord Weeks.jpg, The Great Mughal And His Court Returning From The Great Mosque At Delhi India File:Weeks Edwin Lord An Open-Air Restaurant Lahore.jpg, An Open-Air Restaurant near

Wazir Khan Mosque ; ''Masjid Wazīr Khān'') is a 17th-century mosque located in the city of Lahore, capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab. The mosque was commissioned during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a part of an ensemble of buildings tha ...

, Lahore File:Weeks Edwin Lord Royal Elephant.jpg, Royal Elephant at the Gateway to the Jama Masjid, Mathura File:Weeks Edwin Entering The Mosque 1885.jpg, Entering the Mosque, 1885 File:Edwin Lord Weeks - Interior of a Mosque at Cordova - Walters 37169.jpg, ''Interior of a Mosque at Cordova'' (circa 1880),

The Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

File:Edwin Lord Weeks - The Taj Mahal - Walters 37316.jpg, ''The Taj Mahal'', 1883,

File:Weeks Edwin Lord Arrival of a Caravan Outside The City of Morocco.jpg, Arrival of a Caravan Outside the City of Morocco

References

Sources

* Edwin Lord Weeks
"Hindoo and Moslem"
''Harper's New Monthly Magazine'', Vol. 91, No. 545, October 1895, pp. 651–669.

External links