George Agnew Reid

George Agnew Reid, also known as G. A. Reid, RCA (July 25, 1860 – August 23, 1947) was a Canadian artist and painter. He is best known as a genre painter.

George Agnew Reid
Portrait of George Agnew Reid by Mary Hiester Reid, 1895
Nationality	Canadian
Education	Central Ontario School of Art (1879–82); Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia (1882–85); Académie Julian and Académie Colarossi, Paris (1888–1889)
Spouse(s)	Mary Hiester Reid Mary E. Wrinch

Samuel de Champlain arrive à Québec, George Agnew Reid, 1909

Biography

G. A. Reid was trained at the Central Ontario School of Art, Toronto in 1879, where he studied with Robert Harris, and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy from 1882 to 1885 where he was a protégé of Thomas Eakins.

He met his first wife artist Mary Hiester Reid at the Pennsylvania Academy and remained with her until her death in 1921. He also studied at the Académie Julian, with Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, and at the Académie Colarossi in Paris, and the Prado in Madrid (1888–1889).

He made a number of study trips to Europe, during which he visited France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. It was during this time that Reid turned from portraiture to genre, as in The Foreclosure of the Mortgage (1893), making his name with narrative pictures to which he applied his training in Paris.[1] Later in his distinguished career as a painter and teacher, he painted or coloured in pastel scenes of Canadian nature, espousing a modified form of Impressionism.[2]

He was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts[3] in 1889, was President of the Royal Canadian Academy from 1906 to 1909, and was principal of the Central Ontario School of Art and Design (later OCAD University) from 1912 to 1918. He also created murals and private and public commissions, including one for Toronto's Old City Hall (Toronto). In 1922, he married fellow artist Mary E. Wrinch.[4]

George Agnew Reid died in 1947, leaving behind a body of work that often depicts scenes from nature, with much of his work now found in public and private collections.[5]

References

1. Mcdougall, Anne. "Geoege Agnew Reid". /www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/. Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
2. 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. ISBN 978-3-89790-427-9. OCLC 896814772.
3. "Members since 1880". Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Archived from the original on May 26, 2011. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
4. "Female Self-Representation and the Public Trust: Mary E. Wrinch and the AGW Collection – Canadian Art". Canadian Art. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
5. Manning, Jo (1992). "George Reid". In Jamieson, Lori (ed.). Wilderness to Wawanosh, East Wawanosh Township 1867-1992. Belgrave, Ontario: East Wawanosh. pp. 424–425. ISBN 0-9695159-0-1.

Bibliography

• Christine Boyanoski (2013), “Artists, Architects & Artisans at Home,” in Charles C. Hill (ed.) Artists, Architects & Artisans: Canadian Art 1890–1918. National Gallery of Canada, 2013, pp. 88-109. ISBN 9780888849168
• Christine Boyanoski (1986), “Sympathetic Realism: George A. Reid and the Academic Tradition.” Art Gallery of Ontario ISBN 0919777333

External links

• Finding aid to George Agnew Reid fonds at the E.P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario
• Media related to George Agnew Reid at Wikimedia Commons