Artist of the week
White dresses and a red bridge
J. Alden Weir
J. Alden Weir, an American Impressionist, in the late 1880s and the 1890s. A woman in white rests on a green divan while a small girl holds a guitar, Anna Dwight Weir reads a letter beside a pot of flowers, green apples hang on a branch over ripe red fruit, and two faces under black feathered hats sit either side of a gilt frame. Outside, a red iron bridge doubles in a still river, a mill chimney smokes over a green town, and sailing boats rest in a pale bay.
As a puzzle
Start with the strongest colours: the red bridge and its broken reflection, the red fruit on its white cloth, the mill chimney against a blue sky. Then go slowly through the whites of Idle Hours and of the letter reader, whose skirt is little more than bare paper. The brown wall behind the apples, the black hats and boas of The Green Bodice and the pale bay of the boats are each nearly one colour. Idle Hours, The Red Bridge and The Factory Village take a moderate count; keep the others low.
A good size here: 40–150 pieces.
Also filed under American Impressionism
Subjects here: LandscapesRivers and LakesThe SeaTowns and CitiesStill LifePortraitsEveryday LifeBooksMusic and Dance
7 pictures, pick one to build
