The Factory Village

The Factory Village

Julian Alden Weir

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Having studied with leading academic painters in Paris, Weir was repelled by French Impressionism in the 1870s. By the 1890s, however, under the influence of Childe Hassam, Theodore Robinson, and others, he had himself adopted the style. Here, he celebrated picturesque New England industry, offering symbols of progress in harmony with nature. A large tree spreads its protective canopy over two telegraph poles, in the extreme foreground, as well as over the smokestack and spool shop (with tower) of the Willimantic Linen Company’s Connecticut factory. In the tranquil scene, there is no hint of the company’s labor woes or financial problems.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.