Artwork of the Week: June 24
The BYU Museum of Art’s collection contains many spectacular painterly works by the American Impressionist Julian Alden Weir; however, this early studio sketch grants a rare insight into his initial trajectory.
One of the few Americans to have been admitted into the French Academy of the Fine Arts, Weir advanced through multiple years of rigorous artistic training before he was allowed to enter the studio of the renowned academic painter Jean-Léon Gérôme. This was the capstone of his artistic training during which he was finally allowed to paint from the nude model. His enthusiasm for the exercise is punctuated in this study by his inclusion of a portrait bust depicting Gérôme in the top right. This bust was given to Wier by Gérôme soon before he graduated. Its prominent placement in this painting signals Weir’s esteem for his teacher and the academic curriculum that this painting exemplifies.
In a notable twist, this work was likely painted around the same time that Weir first encountered French Impressionism at their 1877 exhibition. With eyes trained in Gérôme’s studio, Weir was appalled by what he saw, declaring the show to be a “Chamber of Horrors” not worth the entrance fee. While Weir’s view of Impressionism would soon soften, Gérôme would continue to vehemently oppose modernism for the rest of his life. This study demonstrates Weir’s early allegiance with Gérôme and his fellow academics, even though he would eventually become an important American Impressionist in his own right.
