Artist:
Julian Alden Weir
(American, 1852 - 1919)
The Road to Nod
Alternate Title(s):The Road to Nowhere
Medium: Oil on panel
Date: ca. 1889-1899
Dimensions:
13 × 18 in. (33 × 45.7 cm)
Accession number: 2018.4.1
Label Copy:
Born into a family of teaching artists, Julian Alden Weir, the youngest of the family, veered from his relatives’ strictly traditional path as he chose to work in the modern style of Impressionism, becoming one of its foremost American practitioners. Many of Weir’s landscapes were rural scenes of the land around his farm, located on Nod Hill Road in Branchville, Connecticut. This painting’s title is a whimsical play on Weir’s address, as the cool pastel landscape depicts the moonrise over the road leading to the Weir property.
Born into a family of teaching artists, Julian Alden Weir, the youngest of the family, veered from his relatives’ strictly traditional path as he chose to work in the modern style of Impressionism, becoming one of its foremost American practitioners. Many of Weir’s landscapes were rural scenes of the land around his farm, located on Nod Hill Road in Branchville, Connecticut. This painting’s title is a whimsical play on Weir’s address, as the cool pastel landscape depicts the moonrise over the road leading to the Weir property.
Curatorial Remarks
Julian Alden Weir hailed from a family of artists and teachers, including his father Robert Weir, who taught drawing at the Military Academy at West Point, and his older brother John Ferguson Weir, who founded the School of Fine Arts at Yale University. Both men were renowned artists, but the younger Julian Alden Weir veered from their strictly academic path as he worked in the modern style of Impressionism, becoming one of its foremost American practitioners.
Many of Weir’s landscapes were rural scenes of the land around his farm, located on Nod Hill Road in Branchville, Connecticut, that he purchased in 1877. The painting’s title, "The Road to Nod," is a whimsical play on Weir’s address, as the landscape depicts the road leading to the Weir property. Weir’s friend, the noted American Impressionist Childe Hassam, painted a similarly titled landscape ("Road in the Land of Nod," 1910, Wadsworth Atheneum), which may have also been painted on Weir’s Branchville property.
Julian Alden Weir hailed from a family of artists and teachers, including his father Robert Weir, who taught drawing at the Military Academy at West Point, and his older brother John Ferguson Weir, who founded the School of Fine Arts at Yale University. Both men were renowned artists, but the younger Julian Alden Weir veered from their strictly academic path as he worked in the modern style of Impressionism, becoming one of its foremost American practitioners.
Many of Weir’s landscapes were rural scenes of the land around his farm, located on Nod Hill Road in Branchville, Connecticut, that he purchased in 1877. The painting’s title, "The Road to Nod," is a whimsical play on Weir’s address, as the landscape depicts the road leading to the Weir property. Weir’s friend, the noted American Impressionist Childe Hassam, painted a similarly titled landscape ("Road in the Land of Nod," 1910, Wadsworth Atheneum), which may have also been painted on Weir’s Branchville property.
On view