School of Art

Contact Details

School of Art
Aberystwyth University
Buarth Mawr
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
SY23 1NG

Tel: +44 (0)1970 622460

Fax: +44 (0)1970 622461

Email: artschool@aber.ac.uk


Display artist/maker:

Harrison William Weir

Born: 1824, UK, England, Sussex, Lewes   Died: 1906, UK, England, Kent, Appledore

Painter, wood engraver, illustrator and writer. Son of a bank manager. Weir was apprenticed to printer George Baxter (1807-67), learning wood-engraving and drawing on the woodblock for engravers, before breaking his indenture and joining the newly founded Illustrated London News in 1843 as a draughtsman and engraver. In his spare time, he taught himself to draw and paint, especially animals. One of his first paintings of a robin, called The Christmas Carol Singer, was purchased by the newspaper’s owner, Herbert Ingram, and published as a colour-print in the Illustrated London News. Starting in 1845 with his oil painting Dead Shot at the Royal Institution, he occasionally exhibited at London venues including the Royal Academy. He was elected member of the New Watercolour Society in 1849. Weir illustrated books such as Revd. J. G. Wood’s Illustrated Natural History (1853) and W. Wingfield and G. W. Johnson’s The Poultry Book (1856) and wrote and illustrated e. g. Our Cats and All about them (1869) and Poultry and All about them (1903). Commissioned by gold- and silversmiths Garrard & Co., Weir also designed trophies for race meetings such as Ascot and Goodwood.

Objects in the collections associated with this artist/maker

Ducks and their Affections PL4828 Prints1860s

In the Woods PL4831 Prints1860s

My Aunt's Airing PL4833 Prints1860s

Pet Rabbits PL4829 Prints1860s

Rats PL4830 Prints1860s

Reflections in Rotten Row PL4832 Prints1860s




 
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