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George Agnew Reid

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George Agnew Reid
Portrait of George Agnew Reid by Mary Hiester Reid, 1895
Born(1860-07-25)July 25, 1860
Wingham,Canada West
DiedAugust 23, 1947(1947-08-23)(aged 87)
Toronto,Ontario,Canada
EducationOntario School of Art(1879–82);Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,Philadelphia (1882–85);Académie JulianandAcadémie Colarossi,Paris (1888–1889)
Known forgenre painter
Spouse(s)Mary Hiester Reid(m. 1885)
Mary E. Wrinch(m. 1922)
Forbidden Fruit,George A. Reid, 1889.
Samuel de Champlain arrive à Québec,George Agnew Reid, 1909

George Agnew ReidRCA(also known asG. A. Reid) (July 25, 1860 – August 23, 1947) was a Canadian artist,painter,influential educator and administrator.[1]He is best known as agenre painter,but his work encompassed the mural, and genre, figure, historical, portrait and landscape subjects.[2]

Early life[edit]

G. A. Reid was born on his family's farm inWingham,Canada West.After briefly apprenticing with an architect, he was trained at theOntario School of Art,Toronto in 1879, where he studied withRobert Harris.Afterwards, he studied at thePennsylvania Academy of the Fine Artsfrom 1882 to 1885 where he was a protégé ofThomas Eakinswho appointed him a demonstrator in anatomy classes.[3]

He met his first wife artistMary Hiester Reidat the Pennsylvania Academy, married her in 1885 and remained with her until her death in 1921. He also studied at theAcadémie Julian,withJean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant,and at theAcadémie ColarossiinParis,and thePradoinMadrid(1888–1889). He and his wife also made a number of study trips toEuropelater, during which they visitedFrance,Italy,SpainandPortugal.

Work[edit]

In Toronto, Reid used memories of his early days on the farm and his knowledge of life in Canada inForbidden Fruit(1889).[2]He made his name with narrative pictures to which he applied his training in Paris[4]which included works such asThe Foreclosure of the Mortgage(1893; destroyed in 1919). After a 1896 trip to Spain and France, he painted or used pastel to create scenes of Canadian nature or of the figure in nature, espousing a modified form of Impressionism, having studied it in Paris.[5]

Reid became interested in mural painting in Paris, created his first mural panel in 1892, and in 1896, on his trip abroad, studied the murals ofPuvis de Chavannes.[2]In 1897, withFrederick Challener,William CruikshankandEdmund Wyly Grier,he founded the Society of Mural Decorators in Toronto.[6]In 1903, with the help of others, he founded the Arts and Crafts Society of Canada. It became the Canadian Society of Applied Art in 1905, and combined with a "City Beautiful" movement to encourage murals in civic and commercial establishments.[6]Reid createdmuralsand private and publiccommissionsnotably for theToronto City Hall(1897-1899),[2]Toronto Municipal Buildings (c. 1899), theRoyal Ontario Museum(1935-1938)[6]and for Jarvis Collegiate in Toronto (1926-1929).[7]

Career, memberships, honours[edit]

Reid showed in the Salon des Beaux-Arts exhibition such pictures as the 48 ins x 66 ins oil paintingLullaby(shown in 1892).[8]

He was elected to theRoyal Canadian Academy of Arts[9]in 1889, was President of theOntario Society of Artistsin 1897, President of the Royal Canadian Academy from 1906 to 1909, one of the founders of the Associated Watercolour Painters in 1912, and having taught at the Central Ontario School of Art since 1890,[1]became the first principal of its successor, theOntario College of Artfrom 1912 to 1929.[10][2]

He was commissioned by the Canadian War Records department to create works in 1917 and 1918.[2]His awards included a 1893 gold medal forForeclosure of the Mortgageat theWorld's Columbian Expositionin Chicago (a second gold medal was awarded the picture in San Francisco at the Midwinter Fair in 1894),[2]and a bronze medal at theCanadian exhibition at the Louisiana Purchase Expositionin St. Louis, Missouri in 1904.[11]

Later life[edit]

In 1922, after the death of his first wifeMary Hiester Reid,he married fellow artistMary E. Wrinch.[12]With her, he explored and painted the Canadian north in 1925 and the years that followed.[2]He died in 1947, leaving behind a large and varied body of work, with much of it being found in public collections, such as theNational Gallery of Canada.[13]He donated 400 of his own works to the province for distribution to schools to inspire students.[7]175 of his works remain in theGovernment of Ontarioart collection today.[14]

Legacy[edit]

Reid has been designated as an Historic Person in the Directory of Federal Heritage Designations.[15]

Record sale prices[edit]

At the Cowley Abbott Auction, Important Canadian Art (Sale 2), December 1, 2022, lot #130,Idling,oil on canvas (1892), 18 x 16 ins (45.7 x 40.6 cms), Auction Estimate: $8,000.00 - $12,000.00, realized a price of $108,000.00.[16]

At theCowley Abbott Auctionof An Important Private Collection of Canadian Art – Part III, December 6, 2023, Lot #153, Reid'sToronto Waterfront,1886, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 ins ( 61 x 91.4 cms ), Auction Estimate: $70,000.00 - $90,000.00, realized a price of $216,000.00.[17]

Architectural work[edit]

In 1892, George Agnew Reid andMary Hiester Reidbuilt two cottages from Reid's design at the artist colony in Onteora inTannersville, New York.These led to further commissions at Onteora, including a church.[18]The second cottage near their studio cottage served as a dormitory and studio for students which they taught, beginning in 1894.[19]

References[edit]

  1. ^ab"George Agnew Reid Fonds CA OTAG SC010, E. P. Taylor Library and Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario"(PDF).ago.ca.Art Gallery of Ontario.RetrievedMay 10,2021.
  2. ^abcdefghMiller, Muriel (1987).George Reid: A Biography(Second ed.). Toronto: Summerhill Press.RetrievedMay 8,2021.
  3. ^Foss, Brian."Works".cowleyabbott.ca.Cowley Abbott Auction, An Important Private Collection of Canadian Art - Part III December 6th 2023.RetrievedOctober 30,2023.
  4. ^Mcdougall, Anne."George Agnew Reid".thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.Canadian Encyclopedia.RetrievedJune 22,2020.
  5. ^Prakash, A. K. (2014).Impressionism in Canada: a journey of rediscovery.Wildenstein, Guy,, Gerdts, William H.,, Shipton, Rosemary, 1941-. Stuttgart: Arnoldsche Verlagsanstalt. pp. 658–661.ISBN978-3-89790-427-9.OCLC896814772.
  6. ^abcFoss 2010,p. 31-34.
  7. ^abJones, Donald (1992).Fifty Tales of Toronto.Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 6.RetrievedJune 26,2021.
  8. ^"Important Canadian Art (Sale 1)".cowleyabbott.ca.Cowley Abbott.RetrievedDecember 4,2022.
  9. ^"Members since 1880".Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Archived fromthe originalon May 26, 2011.RetrievedSeptember 11,2013.
  10. ^"George A. Reid".National Gallery of Canada.RetrievedMarch 8,2024.
  11. ^Williamson, Moncrieff."Robert Harris: An Unconventional Biography".search.library.utoronto.ca.McClelland & Stewart, Toronto. pp. 180–183.RetrievedMay 2,2021.
  12. ^"Female Self-Representation and the Public Trust: Mary E. Wrinch and the AGW Collection – Canadian Art".Canadian Art.RetrievedNovember 4,2017.
  13. ^Manning, Jo (1992). "George Reid". In Jamieson, Lori (ed.).Wilderness to Wawanosh, East Wawanosh Township 1867-1992.Belgrave, Ontario: East Wawanosh. pp. 424–425.ISBN0-9695159-0-1.
  14. ^"G. A. Reid".ao.minisisinc.Government of Ontario archives.RetrievedJune 26,2021.
  15. ^"Directory of Federal Heritage Designations".Parks Canada.RetrievedMay 29,2022.
  16. ^"Important Canadian Art (Sale 2)".cowleyabbott.ca.Cowley Abbott.RetrievedDecember 2,2022.
  17. ^"Works".cowleyabbott.ca.Cowley Abbott Auction.RetrievedDecember 7,2023.
  18. ^Boyanoski, Christine (2013)."Artists, Architects & Artisans at Home". Charles C. Hill (ed.)Artists, Architects & Artisans: Canadian Art 1890–1918.Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada.RetrievedMay 10,2021.
  19. ^Boyanoski 2015,p. 62.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

Cultural offices
Preceded by President of theRoyal Canadian Academy of Arts
1906-1909 		Succeeded by
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