I wish to express my most sincere gratitude to the editors and staff of the Art Canada Institute for helping this book come into being. Both Sara Angel and Anna Hudson responded positively to my proposal and helped me hone my intentions into this manuscript. Kendra Ward provided foundational guidance and assistance at the early stages of publication. Sarah Brohman, my editor, was a stellar individual to work with who provided vision, advice, guidance, and structure throughout the entire process, and I cannot thank her enough.
Ruth Jones helped me connect with the archivists at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and I thank both her and the staff there for providing me with access to the George Agnew Reid Fonds. Emily Lawrence and Stephanie Burdzy provided invaluable assistance in the procurement of images. Finally, Michael Rattray ushered this manuscript through peer review, design, and to publication with purpose, care, and attention to detail, for which I am most grateful.
This manuscript has benefited from scholars working diligently in the field of historical art in Canada, particularly Janice Anderson, Brian Foss, and Kristina Huneault. Their research, publications, and pivotal insights have shed much light on the depth, complexities, and span of this particular sphere.
Finally, a special thanks goes to my family. To my mother, Mary Ormerod, to my father, Ken Terry, and to my stepfather, Marsha Terry—thank you for always being in my corner. To Andrew Scott, my husband, mere words cannot capture how much I appreciate and love you. And to all the scholars, curators, historians, and artists out there whom I call my colleagues, my mentors, and my friends, your work continually inspires me to keep pushing the boundaries.
From the Art Canada Institute
The Art Canada Institute gratefully acknowledges the generosity of Alexandra Bennett, in memory of Jaylnn Bennett, the Title Sponsor of this book.
The Art Canada Institute gratefully acknowledges the other sponsors of the 2019–2020 Canadian Online Art Book Project: Anonymous, Cowley Abbott, Kiki and Ian Delaney, the Jay and Barbara Hennick Family Foundation, the Sabourin Family Foundation, Scotiabank, and Bruce V. Walter.
We also sincerely thank the Founding Sponsor for the Art Canada Institute: BMO Financial Group; and the Art Canada Institute Patrons: Butterfield Family Foundation,* David and Vivian Campbell,* Connor, Clark & Lunn Foundation, Albert E. Cummings,* the Fleck family,* Roger and Kevin Garland,* Glorious and Free Foundation,* Charlotte Gray and George Anderson, The Scott Griffin Foundation,* Jane Huh,* Lawson Hunter, Gershon Iskowitz Foundation,* Alan and Patricia Koval Foundation, Phil Lind,* Nancy McCain and Bill Morneau,* John O’Brian, Gerald Sheff and Shanitha Kachan,* Stephen Smart,* Nalini and Tim Stewart,* and Robin and David Young.*
We thank our Lead Benefactors: Alexandra Baillie, Alexandra Bennett and the Jalynn Bennett Family Foundation,* Grant and Alice Burton, Kiki and Ian Delaney,* Jon S. and Lyne Dellandrea,* Michelle Koerner and Kevin Doyle,* Sarah and Tom Milroy,* Partners in Art,* Sandra L. Simpson,* Pam and Michael Stein,* and Sara and Michael Angel.*
*Indicates a Founding Patron of the Art Canada Institute
The Art Canada Institute gratefully acknowledges the support and assistance of Archives of Ontario; Art Gallery of Alberta (Kerrie Sanderson); Art Gallery of Hamilton (Christine Braun); Art Gallery of Ontario (Tracy Mallon-Jensen, Lee-Ann Wielonda); Art Gallery of Windsor (Nicole McCabe); Blackwood Gallery (Michael DiRisio); Burchard Galleries (Jeffrey Burchard); Canadian Women Artists History Initiative (Janice Anderson); City of Toronto Archives; City of Toronto Art Collection (Neil Brochu, Christophe Jivraj); Heffel Fine Arts Auction House (Molly Tonken); Ingram Gallery (Tarah Aylward); Library and Archives Canada; Museum London (Janette Cousins Ewan, Krista Hamlin); National Gallery of Canada (Raven Amiro); Peel Art Gallery Museum and Archives (Carrie Kitzul, Rachel Leaton); Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Alexander Till); Philadelphia Museum of Art (Richard Sieber); Poot & Poot Auctions (Deirdre Magarelli); Reading Public Museum (Ashley J. Houston); Robert McLaughlin Gallery (Sonya Jones); Roberts Gallery (Susan Tietvainen); The Rooms (Chris Batten); Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library (Paul Armstrong, Danielle Van Wagner); Toronto Reference Library (Christopher Coutlee); Waddington’s Auctioneers and Appraisers (Julia Deo, Anna Holmes, Nicole Schembre).
ACI recognizes the private collectors who have given permission for their work to be published in this edition.
IMAGE SOURCES
Every effort has been made to secure permissions for all copyrighted material. The Art Canada Institute will gladly correct any errors or omissions.
Credit for Banner Images
Biography: George Agnew Reid, Mary Hiester Reid, 1898. (See below for details).
Key Works: Mary Hiester Reid, A Harmony in Grey and Yellow, 1897. (See below for details).
Significance & Critical Issues: Mary Hiester Reid, Morning Sunshine, 1913. (See below for details).
Style & Technique: Mary Hiester Reid, A Garden in September, c.1894. (See below for details).
Sources & Resources: Mary Hiester Reid, Interior with a Garden View, n.d. (See below for details).
A Fireside, 1912. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, purchase, 1987 (87/174).
A Garden in September, c.1894. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, gift of G.A. Reid, Toronto, 1923 (667).
A Harmony in Grey and Yellow, 1897. Government of Ontario Art Collection, Toronto, purchased from the 25th annual OSA Exhibition, Toronto, 1897 (619739). Courtesy of the Archives of Ontario.
A Poppy Garden, n.d. Government of Ontario Art Collection, Toronto, purchased from the 28th annual OSA Exhibition, Toronto, 1900 (692728). Courtesy of the Archives of Ontario.
A Study in Greys, c.1913. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, gift of Friends of Mary Hiester Reid, 1923 (665).
Adirondack, 1891–1917. Peel Art Gallery Museum and Archives, Brampton, gift of Al and Simmie Rain, 1996 (1997.012.009).
Afterglow, Wychwood Park, n.d. Private collection.
Afternoon Sunlight, 1903. Government of Ontario Art Collection, Toronto (635838). Courtesy of the Archives of Ontario.
At Twilight, Wychwood Park, 1911. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, bequest of Mary Hiester Reid, Toronto, 1922 (634).
Autumn, Wychwood Park, c.1910. Museum London, Ontario, gift of Mrs. Mary Wrinch Reid, Toronto, 1950 (50.A.40).
By the Fireside, n.d. Roberts Gallery, Toronto.
Cactus Dahlias, c.1919. Collection of Barry Appleton.
Castles in Spain, c.1896. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, gift of the Gordon Conn-Mary E. Wrinch Trust, Toronto, 1970 (70/18).
Chrysanthemums, 1891. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, gift of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Toronto, 1893 (28).
Chrysanthemums: A Japanese Arrangement, c.1895. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, gift of Friends of Mary Hiester Reid, Toronto, 1923 (666).
Chrysanthemums in a Qing Blue and White Vase, 1892. Edwin R. Procunier Collection at The Rooms, St. John’s, bequest of Edwin R. Procunier, 2011 (2004.01.03).
Daffodils, 1888. Private collection. Courtesy of Bonhams Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers.
Early Spring, 1914. Private collection. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Floral Still Life, n.d. Private collection. Courtesy of Burchard Galleries.
Flowers, 1889. Private collection. Courtesy of Heffel Fine Art Auction House.
Hollyhocks, 1914. Collection of the Reading Public Museum, Pennsylvania, gift of the artist (1922.1.1).
Interior with a Garden View, n.d. Private collection. Courtesy of Heffel Fine Art Auction House.
Interior with Spinning Wheel, 1893. Private collection. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Landscape with Sheep, c.1902-10. Collection of the Reading Public Museum, Pennsylvania, gift of Mrs. Isaac Hiester (1927.1786.1).
Looking East, 1899. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, purchase, 1908 (75).
Moonrise, 1898. City of Toronto Art Collection, donation of the Industrial Exhibition Association, 1903 (A75-162).
Morning Sunshine, 1913. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, purchase, 1913 (787).
Night in the Village (England), n.d. Museum London, Ontario, gift of Mrs. Mary Wrinch Reid, Toronto, 1950 (50.A.19).
Nightfall, 1910. Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, purchase, 1983 (1983RM79).
Nude Study, n.d. Collection of Museum London, Ontario, gift of Mrs. Mary Wrinch Reid, Toronto, 1950 (50.A.44).
Pansies, n.d. Art Gallery of Windsor, Ontario, gift of Gordon Conn, 1959, (1959.014).
Past and Present, Still Life, 1918. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, gift of George A. Reid, Toronto, 1922 (636).
Portrait of George Agnew Reid, 1895. Private collection. Photo credit: Toni Hafkenscheid.
Roses, n.d. Government of Ontario Art Collection, Toronto (635838). Courtesy of the Archives of Ontario.
Roses in a Vase, 1891. Collection of Jeffrey and Betsey Cooley.
Roses in Antique Vase, n.d. Ingram Gallery, Toronto.
Still Life with Flowers (Roses in a Green Ginger Jar), n.d. Art Gallery of Windsor, gift of Dr. and Mrs. Douglas Biggar, 2017 (2017.018).
Still Life with Silver Pitcher, n.d. Private collection. Courtesy of Heffel Fine Art Auction House.
Study in Rose and Green, before 1917. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, purchase, 1917 (1428).
Studio in Paris, 1896. Art Gallery of Hamilton, gift of Mr. Gordon Conn, 1975 (75.18).
Study for “An Idle Hour,” c.1896. Museum London, Ontario, gift of Mrs. Mary Wrinch Reid, Toronto, 1950 (50.A.23).
Study of a Head, n.d. Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, purchased in 1982 with funds donated by the Women’s Society of The Edmonton Art Gallery (82.18).
Street Scene, Malaga, Spain, n.d. Private collection. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Woodland Garden, n.d. Private collection. Courtesy of Pook & Pook Inc.
Credits for Photographs and Works by Other Artists
A group of George Agnew and Mary Hiester Reid’s students in Onteora, New York, c.1894. Photograph by George Agnew Reid. George Agnew Reid Fonds, Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
A Rose, 1907, by Thomas Anshutz. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, Marguerite and Frank A. Cosgrove Jr. Fund, 1993, (1993.324).
A Still Life of Lilies, Roses, Iris, Pansies, Columbine, Love-in-a-Mist, Larkspur and Other Flowers in a Glass Vase on a Table Top, Flanked by a Rose and a Carnation, 1610, by Clara Peeters. National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
Actoea Alba & Rubra, Red and White Baneberry, 1853, by Maria Frances Ann Morris Miller. Peter Winkworth Collection of Canadiana, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (R9266-2458). Courtesy of The Brechin Group Inc.
Drawing in ink presented to George Agnew and Mary Hiester Reid from their students, June 10, 1887. George Agnew Reid Fonds, Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
George Agnew Reid at work on his murals for the Earl’s Court Library (now a branch of the Toronto Public Library) in Toronto. Photographer unknown. George Agnew Reid Fonds, Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
George Agnew Reid playing guitar in front of the studio fireplace, Onteora, New York, c.1893. Photographer unknown. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (PA-050638). Courtesy of The Brechin Group Inc.
George Agnew Reid and Mary Hiester Reid, n.d. Photographer unknown. George Agnew Reid Fonds, Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Flower Still Life, c.1726, by Rachel Ruysch. Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey (1956.57).
Illustration of Mary Hiester Reid’s An Idle Hour, published in the Montreal Herald, March 7, 1895. Courtesy of the Canadian Women Artists History Initiative, Concordia University, Montreal.
Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant), 1872, by Claude Monet. Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, gift of Don Eugène and Victorine Donop de Monchy, 1940 (4014). Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Photograph of memorial exhibition of paintings by Mary Hiester Reid, 1922. Gordon Conn Papers, Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
In Memoriam MHR (headpiece), c.1922, by J.E.H. MacDonald. Gordon Conn Papers, Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Life School at the Royal Academy, 1773, by Richard Earlom. Paul Mellon Collection, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut (B1978.43.1125).
Mary Hiester Reid, 1898, by George Agnew Reid. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, gift of Mary Wrinch Reid, Toronto, 1954 (53/36).
Mary Hiester Reid, c.1911. Photographer unknown. Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Mary Hiester Reid’s June 1897 Massey’s Magazine article, featuring illustrations by George Agnew Reid. George Agnew Reid Fonds, Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Mary Hiester Reid in her Paris studio at 65 Boulevard Arago, 1888–89. Photograph by George Agnew Reid. George Agnew Reid Fonds, Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Mary Hiester Reid in her studio, c.1911. Photograph by William James. William James Family Fonds, City of Toronto Archives (Fonds 1244, Item 703G).
Monna Rosa, 1867, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Private collection. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Mont Saint-Éloi, c.1919–20, by Mary Riter Hamilton. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (1988-180-53). Courtesy of The Brechin Group Inc.
Mortgaging the Homestead, 1890, by George Agnew Reid. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts diploma work, deposited by the artist, Toronto, 1890 (86).
Nocturne in Black and Gold, The Falling Rocket, c.1872–77, by James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Detroit Institute of Arts, gift of Dexter M. Ferry, Jr. (46.309).
Olivia Paring Apples, n.d, by Charlotte Schreiber. Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto Mississauga, gift of J.R.G. Leach and Mrs. O.M. Browne (1987.03).
Ontario Society of Artists members, 1925. Photographer unknown. Ontario Society of Artists Fonds, Archives of Ontario, Toronto (F 1140).
Page 358 of the George Agnew Reid scrapbooks dedicated to Mary Hiester Reid. George Agnew Reid Fonds, Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Penstemon pubescens, c.1863–65, by Agnes Chamberlin. Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto.
Photograph of Mary Heister Reid’s Autumn, c.1913. Photographer unknown. Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875, by Thomas Eakins. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, gift of the Alumni Association to Jefferson Medical College in 1878 and purchased by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2007 with the generous support of more than 3,600 donors, 2007 (2007-01-01).
Portrait of Mary Hiester Reid, 1885, by George Agnew Reid. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, gift of Mary Wrinch Reid, Toronto, 1965 (14701).
Self-Portrait, 1902, by Thomas Eakins. National Academy of Design, New York City, gift of the artist, ANA diploma presentation, May 5, 1902.
Signed drawing in ink presented to George Agnew and Mary Hiester Reid from their students, June 10, 1887. George Agnew Reid Fonds, Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Courtesy of the AGO.
Study for “The Croppy Boy,” c.1879, by Charlotte Schreiber. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, gift of Wilfred Weymouth Schreiber, Milton, Ontario, 2007 (42261).
Summer Morning, Wychwood Park, Toronto, 1889, by Marmaduke Matthews. Baldwin Collection, Toronto Reference Library (984-10-10 Fra).
The Ontario Society of Artists Hanging Committee, 1904. Photographer unknown. Ontario Society of Artists Fonds, Archives of Ontario, Toronto (F 1140).
The Women’s Globe, 1895. Larry Becker Newspapers, City of Toronto Archives (Fonds 70, Series 655, File 20).
Upland Cottage in Wychwood Park, Toronto, c.1908. Photographer unknown. George Agnew Reid Fonds, Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Vase with Auspicious Animals, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Kangxi period (1662–1722). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913 (14.40.330).
View of Reading, Pennsylvania, from the Neversink in the Neighborhood of the White Cottage, 1834, by A. Zeno Schindler. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, New York Public Library, New York City (b0f63a30-c5ed-012f-21ea-58d385a7bc34).
Women’s Modeling Class with Cow in Pennsylvania Academy Studio, c.1882, by the circle of Thomas Eakins. Charles Bregler’s Thomas Eakins Collection, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, purchased with the partial support of the Pew Memorial Trust (1985.68.2.801).
Mary Hiester Reid (1854–1921) was a trailblazing artist who steadily gained critical and commercial acclaim for her oil paintings, especially her sophisticated floral still lifes.
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