José Weiss (1859-1919) - L'Eglise de mon Village

Extraordinarily impressionistic painting by the renowned French artist José Weiss (1859-1919), a pupil of Henri-Joseph Harpignies, a prominent member of the Barbizon School. Weiss participated in numerous exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale of 1901. Paintings of his are in museums at home and abroad.

- Artist: José Weiss (1859, Neuilly-sur-Seine – 1919, Houghton)
- Style: Impressionism (in the manner of the Barbizon School)
- Medium: Oil on panel
- Period: early 1900s
- Title: L'Eglise de mon Village
- Dimensions: 30 x 20 cm (without frame); 39 x 28.5 cm (with frame)
- Sold with original frame

Biography

José Weiss (1859–1919) was a landscape painter born in France who gained recognition for his atmospheric British landscapes in the style of the Barbizon School and Impressionism. In addition to his artistic career, he enjoyed fame as one of the early pioneering figures in British aviation.

José Weiss (born as Joseph Vincent Nicholas Francis Weiss) was born on 21 or 22 January 1859 in Neuilly-sur-Seine (Paris).

He spent his youth sketching in nature and gradually received valuable advice and constructive criticism from fellow artists. His principal formal influence and mentor was the famous French landscape painter Henri-Joseph Harpignies, a prominent member of the Barbizon School. Harpignies' techniques formed the basis for Weiss' deep understanding of light and shadow in nature.

Weiss was an active exhibitor, and his detailed, atmospheric landscapes are highly sought after by collectors from Europe and particularly the United States.

- Royal Academy of Arts (London): He exhibited no fewer than 33 times at the prestigious Summer Exhibitions of the Royal Academy.
- Paris Salon: Between 1894 and 1914 he regularly sent works to Paris exhibitions. In 1899 he received an Honourable Mention for his painting "February".
- Other art institutions: He exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA), the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) and participated in the Venice Biennale in 1901.

José Weiss's work is represented in the permanent collections of various renowned national and international public art museums worldwide, including Southampton City Art Gallery, Falmouth Art Gallery, Laing Art Gallery (Newcastle), Kirklees Museum, Usher Gallery (Lincolnshire) and the City of London Corporation, the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), as well as museum collections in Chicago, St. Louis and Buenos Aires. His paintings are also found in public collections in Dublin (Ireland) and Johannesburg (South Africa).

The most remarkable secondary achievement of José Weiss was his role as a pioneer in early aviation. Fascinated by the flight of birds, he studied the laws of aerodynamics for many years. He developed his own theory of automatic stability based on bird forms and later built successful manned gliders. His work had a major influence on later British aircraft designers.