US Coins

Weir Farm quarter dollar designs undergo scrutiny

By Paul Gilkes

Published: Sep 23, 2018, 7 AM

Mint artists returned to the drawing board to render new designs based on the theme that the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee preferred.

Images courtesy of U.S. Mint.

The Commission of Fine Arts selected its preferred design Sept. 20 for the reverse of the 2020 Weir Farm National Historic Site quarter dollar.

Images courtesy of U.S. Mint.

This design is similar to the CFA's preferred design except the artist is not wearing a painter's smock

Image courtesy of U.S. Mint.

Proposed design depicts an easel with the beginnings of a painting of Julian Alden Weir's studio in front of the studio itself. The inscription NATIONAL PARK FOR THE ARTS also appears.

Image courtesy of U.S. Mint.

This proposed design features a stone wall and Weir House. In the foreground a French easel holds a canvas depicting Weir’s studio. The inscription NATIONAL PARK FOR THE ARTS is included.

Image courtesy of U.S. Mint.

This design depicts a portable easel holding a canvas with an artist’s painting of a scene overlaying an actual landscape at Weir Farm. This scene is of Weir House and Weir’s Studio. The canvas and easel are portrayed in greater detail than the rest of the design, underscoring the mission of the site: specifically to create a legacy of artistic expression. The inscription NATIONAL PARK FOR THE ARTS is included.

Image courtesy of U.S. Mint.

This is a slightly modified version of the previous design but with the artist's canvas in the shape of a square.

Image courtesy of U.S. Mint.

This design features a slightly larger square artist's canvas.

Image courtesy of U.S. Mint.

The Commission of Fine Arts Sept. 20 reviewed a new set of designs that the U.S. Mint generated for the 2020 Weir Farm National Historic Site quarter dollar.

The coin will be the 52nd of 56 coins to be issued under the America the Beautiful Quarters Program.

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The U.S. Mint submitted seven designs for consideration. The new designs were renditions of designs that the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee had requested be retried after viewing them at their June 12 meeting. CCAC members liked the artist’s overall concept, depicting a painting within a painting, but asked for new renditions.

The design recommended by the CFA portrays an artist in painter’s smock painting outside Julian Alden Weir’s studio at Weir Farm. It is inspired by various images of the studio and Weir’s paintings created on the property, as well as descriptions of Weir and his fellow artist’s creative inspiration from the rural environment. The design allows the viewer to feel as if he or she is standing where Weir stood, according to the Mint’s narrative.

The recommendation will have to be confirmed at the commission’s Oct. 18 meeting because the Sept. 20 session lacked a quorum.

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