Weir Farm National Historic Site

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Weir House, Weir Studio, and Young Studio.
Photo courtesy of Weir Farm National Historic Site.

Weir Farm

735 Nod Hill Road

Wilton, CT

Website:  Weir Farm National Historic Site

The Treasure:  American Impressionist painter J. Alden Weir spent decades designing the landscape of his rural property to serve as an inspiration for both his own artwork and that of his artist friends.

Accessibility:  From April to November, the Burlingham House Visitor Center is open daily from 10 to 4;  from December through March, the Visitor Center is only open on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 to 4. The grounds are accessible daily from dawn until dusk. Three important historic structures—the Weir House, Weir Studio, and Young Studio—are currently closed for restoration.

J. Alden Weir.
Source:  Wikimedia Commons

Background:  Connecticut’s important role in American Impressionism began at Weir Farm where J. (Julian) Alden Weir (1852-1919) graciously welcomed fellow artists to enjoy a nearby and convenient retreat from the New York City art scene. Artists like Weir, Childe Hassam, and John Twachtman would set up their easels on the property and endeavor to capture the play of light across the varied landscape.

As a young man studying art in Europe, Weir’s initial response to the work of the emerging French Impressionists was one of disgust. “I have never in my life seen such horrible things,” he wrote in a letter to his parents after viewing an Impressionist exhibition. “They do not observe drawing nor form but give you an impression of what they call nature. It was worse than a chamber of horrors.” At the time, Weir’s allegiance was to the precision drawing of the Academic style, as well as the romantic plein-air work of the Hudson River School as practiced by American artists such as Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt.

Weir’s artistic views changed over time, particularly as he developed an intense relationship with the153 acres of land in Branchville, Connecticut that he purchased in 1882. As he designed his own property to create a pleasing variety of attractive views, he increasingly drew upon Impressionist-style techniques to capture these scenes on canvas.

Weir invited artist friends to visit, most notably Hassam, Twachtman, and the eccentric tonalist painter Albert Pinkham Ryder. The budding art colony nicknamed Weir’s home “the Land of Nod,” and the name stuck.

Weir put much time and thought into the ever-evolving landscape design of his property. Like the famous French Impressionist Claude Monet, Weir endeavored to surround himself with the color and beauty that he desired to celebrate in his paintings. In the decades following his death, first Weir’s daughter Dorothy Weir Young and then artist Doris Andrews conscientiously preserved Weir Farm’s landscape as a tribute to him. When Weir Farm was officially established as a National Historic Site in 1990, the property still appeared much like the bucolic “Land of Nod” that Weir had labored to create approximately a century before.

"Autumn Days" (circa 1900-1910) by J. Alden Weir.
Oil on canvas, 29.3 x 39.5 inches.
Source:  Wikimedia Commons

Notes from the Editor:  The Weir House, Weir Studio, and Young Studio are currently closed to the public for restoration, but don’t let that deter you from a visit. Weir Farm remains a busy and popular location because of the great importance of the grounds. The National Park Service has always approached Weir Farm—the only National Historic Site dedicated to American painting—as a place for celebrating the practice of art as much as the study of history.

As part of their Take Part in Art program, the National Park Service provides free art supplies to any visitors who want to follow in the footsteps of J. Alden Weir, Childe Hassam, John Twachtman, and Albert Pinkham Ryder. On some days (check the schedule), professional artists visit Weir Farm to offer guidance and instruction. Youth programs are particularly popular, and teachers are encouraged to capitalize on the park’s rich history, art, and nature to inspire their students.

Following years of planning and preparation, Weir Farm completed the conversion of the historic Caretaker’s House into a modern studio facility to serve the Artist in Residence program of the Weir Farm Art Center in May 2010. Launched in 1998, the Art Center’s Artist in Residence program has nurtured the work of 140 artists to date. With the opening of the Artist-in-Residence Studio, artists may now enjoy their one-month residencies at a comfortable studio located right on the historic property.

The Artist-in-Residence Studio during construction.
Photo courtesy of Weir Farm National Historic Site.

The exterior of the completed Artist-in-Residence Studio.
Photo courtesy of Weir Farm National Historic Site.

Interior of the new Artist-in-Residence Studio at Weir Farm.
Photo courtesy of Weir Farm National Historic Site.

Other Recommended Sites:  Approximately a half-hour drive north of Weir Farm, the city of Danbury was best known as the “Hat Capitol of the World” during J. Alden Weir’s life. During its peak years in the late 19th century, the city’s hat factories manufactured around 5 million hats per year, accounting for nearly a quarter of the hats sold in the country. The Danbury Museum and Historical Society uses the historic John Dodd House, built circa 1790, to interpret Danbury’s proud history of hatting.

"Road to the Land of Nod" (1910) by Childe Hassam.
Oil on canvas.  From the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum.
Source:  Wikimedia Commons

Tour America's History Itinerary

Tuesday’s destination:  The Charles W. Morgan at Mystic Seaport

© 2012 Lee and Terry Price