John Ferguson Weir (1841–1926) was an American painter, sculptor, writer, and educator. He was a son of painter
Robert Walter Weir
Robert Walter Weir (June 18, 1803 – May 1, 1889) was an American artist and educator and is considered a painter of the Hudson River School. Weir was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1829 and was an instructor at the United States M ...
, long-time professor of drawing at the
Military Academy at West Point. His younger brother,
J. Alden Weir, also became a well-known artist who painted in the style of
American Impressionism
American Impressionism was a style of painting related to European Impressionism and practiced by American artists in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. The style is characterized by loose ...
. His niece was artist and educator
Irene Weir
Irene Weir (January 15, 1862March 22, 1944), was an American artist and art educator.
Biography
Irene Weir was born to Walter and Annie Field Weir (née Andrews) in St. Louis, Missouri on January 15, 1862. Weir came from a long line of artists a ...
.
Biography
He was born August 28, 1841, at
West Point, New York
West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York, West Point was identified by General George Washington as the most important strategic position in America during the Ame ...
, and studied with his father
Robert Walter Weir
Robert Walter Weir (June 18, 1803 – May 1, 1889) was an American artist and educator and is considered a painter of the Hudson River School. Weir was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1829 and was an instructor at the United States M ...
and at the
National Academy
A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with State (polity), state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but ...
, New York. As a young man, he worked on still life paintings and became proficient at landscapes. In 1862, around the time of his 21st birthday, he was commissioned by the art patron Robert Leighton Stuart to paint a landscape scene of
West Point
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
which he named ''Hudson Highlands, West Point, Summer Afternoon''. It is also known as ''View of the Hudson Highlands, West Point''.
This commission introduced him to the art world of New York City, and led to his renting a small room in the Tenth Street Studio, where he became acquainted with many of the rising young artists of the day.
His next major work was ''An Artist's Studio'', depicting his father painting in his studio. It was finished in 1864 and then exhibited at the Athenaeum Club and the
National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...
. The work became his first major sale, and led to his election as an associate of the National Academy.
Weir became fascinated with the West Point Iron and Cannon Factory, across the Hudson from West Point, a factory that manufactured most of the large guns for the Union during the Civil War. His third major work was ''The Gun Foundry'', 1866, an unusual interior factory scene that depicts the casting of a Parrott Gun. This work was well received at the 1866 spring exhibition of the National Academy of Design and led to his election as a full academician.
His fourth major painting was ''Forging the Shaft'', 1868. It was also painted at the West Point Foundry, but after the end of the Civil War, and showed the creation of a great shaft for the propeller of an ocean liner. Exhibited at the Academy in 1868, it was also very well received. It was destroyed by fire in 1869, and Weir painted a replica between 1874 and 1877.
In 1868 he studied abroad. After his return he was named first director (later dean) of the
School of Fine Arts at Yale University. He served in that position from 1869 to 1913. While establishing the foundations of the
Yale School of Fine Arts
The Yale School of Art is the art school of Yale University. Founded in 1869 as the first professional fine arts school in the United States, it grants Masters of Fine Arts degrees to students completing a two-year course in graphic design, painti ...
, John enlisted the help of his brother,
Julian Alden Weir
Julian Alden Weir (August 30, 1852 – December 8, 1919) was an American impressionist painter and member of the Cos Cob Art Colony near Greenwich, Connecticut. Weir was also one of the founding members of "The Ten", a loosely allied group of ...
, who at the time was studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. John wrote Julian asking for information about how the school was run and how classes were taught. He also asked Julian to send him examples of life drawings, copies of Old Master paintings and studies of heads, done by Julian or his fellow students, that he could use in his classes at Yale. Thus, though John was working at an American university, the curriculum and organization of the school was based largely on European methods, which coincided with the multicultural nature of all three Weirs’ painting careers. When Julian returned to America after living in Paris for four years, he carried on the family legacy and took a teaching position at the Women’s Art School of the Cooper Union, in New York. He, like his brother, participated in the education of women artists at a time when they had few opportunities for formal study in this country. Julian’s teaching was perhaps the most forward-looking among his family, as he embraced both old and new sources, extolling the importance of Old Master paintings, but also promoting the radical style of the Impressionists.
[Cotter, Sarah.]
The Weir Family and the Flowering of American Art Education.
New Britain Museum of American Art. New Britain Museum of American Art, 27 June 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
In 1866 John married Mary Hannah French, daughter of West Point professor The
Rev. John W. French. Their daughter, Edith Dean Weir, (wife of
James De Wolf Perry) was a noted painter of miniatures, studying under
Lucia Fairchild Fuller
Lucia Fairchild Fuller (December 6, 1870 – May 21, 1924) was an American painter and member of the New Hampshire Cornish Art Colony. She was inspired to pursue art by John Singer Sargent. Fuller created a mural entitled ''The'' ''Women of ...
.
Weir also served in the Union Army briefly at the beginning of the Civil War. He died in
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...
on April 8, 1926.
Works
He designed the public fountain on
New Haven Green
The New Haven Green is a privately owned park and recreation area located in the downtown district of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. It comprises the central square of the nine-square settlement plan of the original Puritan colonists in New ...
. Among his writings are:
* ''
John Trumbull and his Works'' (1902)
* ''Human Destiny in the Light of Revelation'' (1903)
Paintings
* ''Hudson Highlands, West Point, Summer Afternoon'' (1862)
* ''An Artist's Studio'' (1864)
* ''The Gun Foundry'' (1866)
* ''Forging the Shaft'' (1868,
Metropolitan Museum, New York
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
)
* ''Tapping the Furnace''
Portraits
*
Admiral Farragut
David Glasgow Farragut (; also spelled Glascoe; July 5, 1801 – August 14, 1870) was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy. ...
* President
Dwight of
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
*
Wells Williams
Statues
* President
Theodore Dwight Woolsey
Theodore Dwight Woolsey (31 October 1801 – 1 July 1889) was an American academic, author and President of Yale College from 1846 through 1871.
Biography
Theodore Dwight Woolsey was born 31 October 1801 in New York City. His mother was Elizabe ...
of
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
* Professor
Benjamin Silliman
Benjamin Silliman (August 8, 1779 – November 24, 1864) was an early American chemist and science educator. He was one of the first American professors of science, at Yale College, the first person to use the process of fractional distillation ...
(elder) of Yale
*
Lafayette
Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to:
People
* Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette
* House of La Fayette, a French noble family
** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757â ...
,
Milford, Pennsylvania
Milford is a borough in Pike County, Pennsylvania and the county seat. Its population was 1,103 at the 2020 census. Located on the upper Delaware River, Milford is part of the New York metropolitan area.
History
The area along the Delaware R ...
Gallery
File:John Ferguson Weir, Hudson Highlands, West Point.jpg, "View of the Hudson Highlands, West Point", 1862
File:John Ferguson Weir, Artist's Studio.jpg, "An Artist's Studio", 1864
File:John Ferguson Weir, The Gun Foundry.jpg, "The Gun Foundry", 1864
File:John Ferguson Weir, Forging the Shaft.jpg, "Forging the Shaft", replica, 1874–77
File:John Ferguson Weir, Mary French Weir.jpeg, "Mary French" (the artist's future wife), 1862
File:John Ferguson Weir, Autumn Lights.jpg, "Autumn Lights", 1866
File:John Ferguson Weir, A Study in Black and Gold, Miss Coe.jpg, "A Study in Black and Gold, Miss Coe", 1882
File:John Ferguson Weir, Bride's Roses.JPG, "Bride's Roses", 1890
File:John Ferguson Weir, Statue of Theodore Dwight Woolsey, Yale.jpg, Statue of Theodore Dwight Woolsey, 1895–96
File:John Ferguson Weir, Peonies.jpg, "Peonies", 1899
File:John Ferguson Weir, The Rest, his daughter Edith.jpg, "The Rest, his daughter Edith", 1900–01
Notes
Sources
*
*
*
External links
* John Ferguson Weir papers (MS 550). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weir, John Ferguson
1926 deaths
1841 births
19th-century American painters
19th-century American male artists
American male painters
20th-century American painters
Yale University faculty
Painters from New York City
Weir family
20th-century American male artists