TitleRobert C. Minor
Artist
Julian Alden Weir
(American, 1852 - 1919)
Date1889
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 21 3/4 × 17 15/16 in.
Framed: 27 1/2 × 23 3/4 × 1 3/8 in.
SignedSigned upper right: "J. Alden Weir-/1899"
SubmissionANA diploma presentation, March 11, 1889
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number1394-P
Label TextMinor became an Associate the same year as Olin Warner; Weir's diploma portraits of the two men exhibit a similar directional movement to the facial brushwork. In Minor's case, he conveys a remarkable sensation of real, living skin. The beard, composed of seemingly random strokes of black over grey, gives an unidealized, scraggly impression.When the portrait was presented to the Academy Council on 25 February 1889, "It was moved that, inasmuch as it is not a recognizable portrait, that the picture be not accepted, which was seconded" (NAD minutes). Minor sent for the work on 4 March and it was resubmitted and accepted on 11 March. Some evidence suggests, however, that the present portrait may not be the reworked original, but an alternative version (Burke, Julian Alden Weir and the National Academy of Design, 23).
