Robert Reid (American painter)

American artist (1862–1929)

This article is about an American artist. For others named Robert Reid, see Robert Reid.

Robert Reid
Self-Portrait (1904)National Academy of Design
Born	Robert Lewis Reid (1862-07-29)July 29, 1862 Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Died	December 2, 1929(1929-12-02) (aged 67) Clifton Springs, New York
Resting place	Stockbridge Cemetery Stockbridge, Massachusetts 42°17′07″N 73°19′05″W / 42.285354°N 73.318018°W / 42.285354; -73.318018

Robert Lewis Reid (July 29, 1862 – December 2, 1929) was an American Impressionist painter and muralist. His work tended to be very decorative, much of it centered on depiction of young women set among flowers. He later became known for his murals and designs in stained glass.

Life and work

Robert Reid was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston under Otto Grundmann, where he was later an instructor. In 1884 he moved to New York City, studying at the Art Students League, and in 1885 he went to Paris to study at the Académie Julian under Gustave Boulanger and Jules Joseph Lefebvre. His early pictures were figures of French peasants, painted at Étaples.^[1]

Upon returning to New York in 1889, he worked as a portraitist and later became an instructor at the Art Students League and Cooper Union.

Paintings

He painted three murals for the Manufactures Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and exhibited four paintings in its Fine Arts Building. His work, including the tragic Her First Born (1888), was awarded a medal for excellence.^[2]

Reid was a member of the Ten American Painters, who seceded from the Society of American Artists in 1897. His painting Dawn was awarded the 1898 First Hallgarten Prize by the National Academy of Design.

Reid worked on several mural projects around the turn of the century. When he returned to paintings, around 1905, his work was more naturalistic, and his palette tended toward soft pastels.

• 

  Her First Born (1888), Brooklyn Museum

• 

  Girl with Flowers

• The Yellow Flower aka The Artist's Wife in the Garden (1908)

Murals

Reid's murals are in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and the Appellate Court House in New York City. The Rotunda of the Massachusetts State House in Boston contains his three large mural panels—James Otis Delivering his Speech against the Writs of Assistance, Paul Revere's Ride, and The Boston Tea Party. He executed a mural panel for the American Pavilion at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris.

His murals for the Palace of Fine Arts building at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition (San Francisco, 1915) were an extraordinary tribute to the Arts. Eight huge panels graced the ceiling of the rotunda: The Four Golds of California (Golden Metal, Wheat, Citrus Fruits, and Poppies); plus Ideals in Art, Inspirations of All Arts, the Birth of European Art and Birth of Oriental Art.{{cite book |ref=^[3] These paintings no longer exist in San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts, which was re-built in the 1960s, and their current whereabouts are unknown.

• The Five Senses (ceiling mural), Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress

• Wisdom (1896), Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress

• Knowledge (1896), Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress

• Wisdom (1896), Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress

• Ideals in Art (domed ceiling panel) (1914), Rotunda, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco

Stained glass

In 1906 Reid completed a series of ten stained glass windows depicting the Life of Christ for the Unitarian Memorial Church in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. For the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City, he created The Martyrdom of St. Paul Window, located at the southwestern end of the nave.

U.S. Navy Recruiting Poster

"Chicagoans knew Reid as the artist who painted a mammoth Navy recruiting poster that embellished the billboard at the northern terminus of Michigan Avenue for several months" (before 1918).^[4]

Honors

The National Academy of Design elected Reid an Associate member in 1904, and an Academician in 1906.^[a]

Personal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert Lewis Reid.

Reid also taught Nan Sheets.^[5]

Reid died in Clifton Springs, New York.

Bibliography

Annotations

1. Post-nominal initials "A.N.A." and "N.A." were added to Reid's name in 1904 and 1906, respectively – the National Academy of Design's acronyms for membership designations: "Associate National Academician" and "National Academician."

Notes

1. Encyclopædia Britannica, 1910, p. 50.
2. Flinn, 1893.
3. Neuhaus, 1915, p. 85.
4. Stuart, January 1918.
5. Heller & Heller, 1995, p. 507.

References linked to inline notes

• Encyclopædia Britannica, The (1910). "Reid, Robert (1862–  )". Vol. 23 (of 29) (11th ed.). Cambridge: University Press. pp. 4–22. Retrieved October 11, 2009 – via Internet Archive. LCCN agr16000592 ; OCLC 3571848.
• Flinn, John Joseph (1851–1929) (compiler) (1893). Official Guide to the World's Columbian Exposition (Hand Book ed.). Chicago: The Columbian Guide Company. p. 102–103. Retrieved October 6, 2019 – via Google Books → See World's Columbian Exposition. LCCN 45-53112; LCCN 05-28672; LCCN ca05-2193; OCLC 1140702 (all editions).
• Heller, Jules (1919–2007); Heller, Nancy Gale, PhD (born 1949), eds. (1995). "Sheets, Nan Jane (1885–  )". North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary. New York & London: Garland Publishing, Inc. p. 507. Retrieved July 22, 2021 – via Internet Archive → Jules Heller was the father of Nancy Heller. LCCN 94-49710; OCLC 955223495 (all editions).

1. 2013 ed. (preview only). Routledge. p. 507. Retrieved February 13, 2017 – via Google Books. ISBN 978-1-1356-3882-5; OCLC 868964311 (all editions).

• Neuhaus, Eugen (1879–1963) (1915). "Rotunda, Palace of the Fine Arts". The Art of the Exposition. San Francisco: Paul Elder & Company → David Paul Elder (1872–1948). p. 85. Retrieved February 24, 2015 – via Google Books → Re: Panama–Pacific International Exposition. LCCN 15-13363; LCCN 81-186551; OCLC 1132898377 (all editions).
• Stuart, Evelyn Marie (1878–1971) (January 1918). "Finished Impressions of a Portrait Painter". Fine Arts Journal. Chicago. 36 (1): 33–40. JSTOR 25587519. Retrieved July 22, 2021. OCLC 7586587588 (article).

Other references

• Reid, Robert, N.A. (artist) (March 30 – April 19, 1926). Exhibition: The Affairs of Anatol (exhibition catalog). 15 East 57th Street (2nd floor), [Manhattan] New York: The Gallery of William MacBeth, Inc. – via the Thomas J. Watson Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art. OCLC 245523075 (all editions).

Exhibited paintings:
1. Anatol
2. Vivian
3. Phryne
4. Silvie
5. Hebe
6. Chloe
7. Bettine
8. Daphne
9. Beulah
10. Amoris – The Death of Anatol
11. Laleen
12. Laleet
13. Mildred