John Ferguson Weir
John Ferguson Weir (born August 28, 1841 in West Point , New York , † April 8, 1926 in Providence , Rhode Island ) was an American painter , sculptor and author , and long-time professor at the United States Military Academy in West Point .
Life
John Ferguson Weir was born as the son of the painter Robert Walter Weir and his wife Louisa Ferguson in 1841 in West Point, New York State, as one of nine children. He lost his mother in January 1845 at the age of three. In July 1946, Robert Walter Weir married Susan Martha Bayard, with whom he had seven other children. John Ferguson Weir studied with his father and at the National Academy Museum and School in New York City . As a young man he was mainly interested in still lifes . His half-brother Julian Alden Weir , who was eleven years his junior, was also a painter, but opted for the Impressionist style .
In 1862, John Ferguson Weir was first commissioned by the art patron Robert Leighton Stuart to make a landscape painting of West Point, which he called Hudson Highlands, West Point, Summer Afternoon . He made his next major work two years later. It is titled An Artist's Studio and shows Weir's father in his studio . The painting was exhibited at the National Academy Museum and School , among others , which resulted in its being made a member of the academy in 1866.
In the years that followed, Weir painted other great works, including The Gun Foundry (1866) and Forging the Shaft (1868). The latter was destroyed by a fire in 1869, but Weir then made a replica between 1874 and 1877 .
In 1866 Weir married Mary Hannah French; their daughter Edith Dean Weir later became a miniature painter . In 1868, Weir left the United States to study in Europe. On his return the following year, he received the position of director of the art school at Yale University in 1869 , which he held for 44 years until 1913.
Weir also served in the Union Army during the Civil War .
John Ferguson Weir died on April 8, 1926 at the age of 84 in Providence , Rhode Island .
Works
painting
- 1862: Hudson Highlands, West Point, Summer Afternoon
- 1864: To artist's studio
- 1866: The Gun Foundry
- 1868: Forging the Shaft
- Tapping the furnace
Portraits
- Admiral Farragut
- Timothy Dwight V , President of Yale University
- Samuel Wells Williams
Statues
- Theodore Dwight Woolsey , President of Yale University
- Benjamin Silliman , professor at Yale University
- La Fayette , French general and politician
Books
- 1902: John Trumbull and His Works
- 1903: Human Destiny in the Light of Revelation
Exhibitions
- John Ferguson Weir (1841-1926) and the Weir Family Legacy , Vose Galleries, Boston, 2013
- Providence Art Club, solo exhibition, 1915
literature
- Betsy Fahlman: John Ferguson Weir: The Labor of Art. University of Delaware Press, Newark 1997, ISBN 0-87413-602-4 .
- Marian Wardle: The Weir Family, 1820-1920: Expanding the Traditions of American Art. University Press of New England, 2011.
Web links
- Works by John Ferguson Weir on the-athenaeum.org
- The Weir Family and the Flowering of American Art Education on the New Britain Museum of American Art website, June 27, 2012.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Weir, John Ferguson |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American painter, sculptor, author, and professor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 28, 1841 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | West Point |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 8, 1926 |
| Place of death | New York City |