View source for Irene Weir

{{short description|American artist and art educator}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name             = Irene Weir
| honorific_suffix =
| image            =
| image_size       =
| alt              =
| caption          =
| birth_name       =
| birth_date       = {{birth-date|January 15, 1862}}
| birth_place      = St. Louis, Missouri
| death_date       = {{Death-date and age|March 22, 1944|January 15, 1862}}
| death_place      = [[Yorktown Heights, New York]]
| education        =
| alma_mater       = [[Yale School of Art]]
| known_for        =
| occupation       = Artist, art educator
| notable_works    =}}
'''Irene Weir''' (January 15, 1862{{ndash}}March 22, 1944), was an American artist and art educator.
==Biography==
Irene Weir was born to Walter and Annie Field Weir (née Andrews) in [[St. Louis]], Missouri on January 15, 1862.<ref name="HUP">{{cite book |last1=James |first1=Edward T. |last2=Boyer |first2=Paul S. |last3=College |first3=Radcliffe |title=Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary |year=1971 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-62734-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVLOhGt1BX0C&q=irene+weir}}</ref><ref name="nytimes" /> Weir came from a long line of artists and educators. Her grandfather [[Robert Walter Weir]] was an artist and an instructor at the U.S. Military Academy at [[West Point]].<ref name="nytimes" /> Her uncles [[John Ferguson Weir]] was an artist and director of the School of Fine Arts at [[Yale]] and [[Julian Alden Weir]], a leading figure in New York's art world.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|last1=Heller|first1=Jules|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ReZkAgAAQBAJ&q=irene+weir|title=North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary|last2=Heller|first2=Nancy G.|date=19 December 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-63889-4}}</ref>
[[File:Opera stories - 10871658855.jpg|thumb|[[Chromolithograph]] by Weir]]
Weir attended Yale from 1881 to 1882 and was awarded a degree in fine arts in 1906 for cumulative artistic achievement rather than coursework.<ref name="nytimes" /><ref name=":2">{{cite journal|last1=Fahlman|first1=Betsy|date=1991|title=Women Art Students at Yale, 1869–1913: Never True Sons of the University|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1358185|journal=[[Woman's Art Journal]]|volume=12|issue=1|pages=15–23|doi=10.2307/1358185|issn=0270-7993|jstor=1358185}}</ref> She also studied in France, Spain, Holland, United Kingdom and Italy on two separate trips. On returning to the US Weir went on to teach art in [[New Haven, Connecticut]] before moving to teach in [[Brookline, Massachusetts]], public school system. There she went on to become the director of art instruction. Weir also served as director of the [[Slater Memorial Museum|Slater Museum]] School of Art in [[Norwich, Connecticut]].<ref name="nytimes">{{cite news|date=23 March 1944|title=Irene Weir, Artist, Founder of School; Ex-Head of School of Design and Liberal Arts Dies, 82|work=[[The New York Times]]|page=19|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1944/03/23/archives/irene-weir-artist-founder-of-school-exhead-of-school-of-design-and.html}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name="Weir">{{cite web|title=An Artists' Retreat : J. Alden Weir's Farm in Connecticut|url=https://www.nps.gov/wefa/learn/management/upload/Historic-Resource-Study-Weir-Farm-NHS-2009_1.pdf|website=National Park Service|publisher=Weir Farm National Historic Site}}</ref>
In 1911, Weir became the director at the Ethical Teaching School and taught pottery, bookbinding, illustration, etching, illustration, sculpture, and painting.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Reymond|first=Rhonda L.|date=2010|title=Looking in: Albert A. Smith's Use of "Repoussoir" in Cover Illustrations for the "Crisis" and "Opportunity"|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23025189|journal=American Periodicals|volume=20|issue=2|pages=216–240|jstor=23025189|issn=1054-7479}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=October 21, 1911|title=The Rome Exposition (Concluded)|jstor=25590764|journal=[[American Art News]]|volume=10|issue=2|pages=1–8 (2)|issn=1944-0227}}</ref> In 1917, she founded the School of Design and Liberal Arts and served as director until 1929.<ref name="nytimes" /> As an educator, she championed the idea that art should be for everyone and not just the elite and was enmeshed in everyday life.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Weir|first=Irene|date=1915|title=A New Kind of Art School|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20561448|journal=Art and Progress|volume=6|issue=7|pages=217–219|jstor=20561448|issn=2151-2531}}</ref>
In 1923, she attended the [[École des Beaux-Arts|École des Beaux Arts Américaine]] in [[Fontainebleau]], France, and graduated in 1927.<ref name="nytimes" />
Weir's own works hang at [[Washington Cathedral]], a prison in New York City, and Memorial hospital in New York as well as having been held in exhibitions from New York to London and Washington D.C.<ref name="HUP" /><ref name="nytimes" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Opera Stories (Primary Title) – (90.106) |url=https://www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-8537272/ |website=[[Virginia Museum of Fine Arts]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Overview and Highlights |url=https://artgallery.yale.edu/collection/search/Irene%20Weir |website=artgallery.yale.edu |publisher=Yale University Art Gallery}}</ref>
Weir was both an educator and active participant of the art organizations such as the National Society of Etchers, Independent Artists of America, the [[International Association of Lyceum Clubs|London Lyceum Club]], and the Founders Group of the [[Museum of Fine Arts, Houston]], Texas. She was also director of the Art Alliance of America. She died from cardiovascular disease in 1944 in [[Yorktown Heights, New York]].<ref name="HUP" /><ref name="nytimes" /><ref name="Weir" />
==Bibliography==
*''The Greek Painters' Art'' (1905)<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Greeks as Painters. ''The Greek Painters' Art''. By Irene Weir. 12mo. Illustrated. Pp. 361. Cloth. Decorated. Gilt top, Boston and New York: Ginn & Co.|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1905/04/29/101704832.html?zoom=16|date=April 29, 1905|access-date=2021-05-21|work=[[The New York Times]]|page=20|type=Review}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Weir|first=Irene|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I7ZJAQAAIAAJ|title=The Greek Painters' Art|date=1905|publisher=Ginn|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts}}</ref>
*''Outlines of Courses in Design, Representation and Color for High School Classes'' (1910), with Elizabeth Stone
*''Robert W. Weir, Artist (1947)''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Weir|first=Irene|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GUw1AAAAMAAJ|title=Robert W. Weir, Artist|date=1947|publisher=House of Field-Doubleday}}</ref>
==Sources==
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weir, Irene}}
[[Category:1862 births]]
[[Category:1944 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American artists]]
[[Category:20th-century American women artists]]
[[Category:Yale School of Art alumni]]
[[Category:American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts]]
[[Category:Founders of educational institutions]]
[[Category:American art educators]]
[[Category:Artists from St. Louis]]
[[Category:Artists from New York City]]
[[Category:Weir family]]