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Artwork of the Week

Artwork of the Week: June 2, 2019

Julian Alden Weir (1852 – 1919),

In the Sun, c.1899, oil on canvas, 34 x 26 inches. Brigham young University Museum of Art, gift of the Mahonri M. Young Estate, 1959.

This month we celebrate the June birthday of Dorothy Weir Young. The daughter of prominent American artist Julian Alden Weir and wife of artist Mahonri M. Young, Dorothy enjoyed her own career as a professional artist. She studied under James McNeill Whistler at the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors at the Brooklyn Museum, and at the National Academy of Design. This youthful portrayal of Dorothy sitting in the bright summer sun was painted by her father, Julian Alden Weir, in 1899. Weir captures his daughter in the broken brushstrokes and brilliant outdoor light of a true impressionist. The exploration of the effects of light and atmosphere on form, along with the flattened decorative elements and the shallow composition, are all a departure from Weir’s earlier well-modeled faces. Who among us doesn’t wish to be a carefree child in the warm June sunshine?