Julian Alden Weir
1852-1919
American Tonalist Painter and founding member of the Ten American Painters
Stylistically influenced by the following painters and movements - Impressionism, Japanese Prints, Claude Monet Jean Leon Gerome John Henry Twachtman, Jules Bastien-Lepage, Robert Swain Gifford and James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Education - studied at the National Academy of Design in the United States and later at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France under Jean Leon Gerome
Cause of Death - Old Age
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Description of the Julian Alden Weir's Tonalist and Impressionist Painting Style and Technique
Julian Alden Weir was born into a family of notable nineteenth-century painters. Instructed at first by his demanding father, and later at painting academes at home and abroad. The artist was a master at depicting the natural environment. His Connecticut landscapes richly record the changing of the seasons, with spring and, especially, summer, much more often depicted than the winter and fall preferred by the American tonalists. Weir's varied technique successfully incorporated both totalistic and impressionist elements into his artworks. Both his portraits and landscapes reflect a certain fascination with light and atmospheric effects most often associated with impressionism. Weir's later portraits show his fondness for 19th century Japanese prints.
The American Tonalist Practice
The American Tonalist style is rooted in the French Barbizon movement, which emphasized atmosphere and shadow. The unifying factor is that all the colors in the tonalist palette are nearly the same value, resulting in an understated and harmonious composition. Resulting in a understated and compelling overall effect. The tonalist subject matter is never entirely apparent; their is no effort to communicate a message or narrate a story. Instead of relating a story, each sensitively chosen color, composition, and line is arranged to create an intriguing visual poem.
The interiors of tonalist paintings are generally elegant and sparsely decorated, tonally uniform, simplified and indistinct; the figures are usually presented alone in silent contemplation. Landscapes are typically luscious and luminous with evocative atmospheric effects featuring misty backgrounds illuminated by moonlight. Tonalists painters were drawn to both the natural and spiritual realms. They sought to awaken the viewers consciousness by shrouding the subject in a misty indistinct veil of emotionalism. The palette is minimal, characterized by warm hues of brown, soft greens, gauzy yellows and muted grays. Preferred themes were evocative moonlight nights and poetic, vaporous landscapes. Tonalist painters seemed to favored unconscious states and psychological experiences over reality.
Major Painters of Tonalism Movement
Ralph Albert
Blakelock American,
1847-1919
Thomas Wilmer Dewing
American, 1851-1938]
Robert Swain Gifford
American, 1840-1905
Alexander Thomas
Harrison
American, 1854 -1929
Lowell Birge Harrison
American, 1854-1929
George Inness
American, 1825-1894
John
La Farge
American, 1835-1910
Arthur Frank Mathews
American, 1860-1945
John Francis Murphy
American, 1853-1921
Albert Pinkham Ryder
American, 1847-1917
John Henry Twachtman
American,1853-1902
Julian Alden Weir
American,1852-1919
James Abbott McNeill
Whistler
American, 1843-1903
Key terms and phrase associated with the tonalist movement - obscured details, single-figure themes, the natural and spiritual domain, waking, unconscious states, sleep, dreams, death, aura, religious significance, emotionalism, emotionalists, pictorial space, compositional space, diffused light, incandescent glow, organic forms, artistic inspiration, illusionistic representation, luminous, transcendentalist, glowing, metaphysical, emotional expression, poetic, evocative
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