Robert Lewis Reid | Impressionist painter

Robert Lewis Reid (July 29, 1862 - December 2, 1929) was an American Impressionist🎨 painter and muralist.

Robert Reid was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston under Otto Grundmann, where he was also 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.

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. Much of his work centered on the depiction of young women set among flowers.

His work tended to be very decorative, and he became known for mural decoration and designs for stained glass. He contributed with others to the frescoes of the dome of the Liberal Arts Building at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, in 1893.

In 1897, Reid was a member of the Ten American Painters🎨, who seceded from the Society of American Artists.
In 1906 he became a full member of the National Academy of Design. Around the turn of the century, Reid worked on several mural projects and when he returned to paintings, around 1905, his work was more naturalistic, even though his palette trended toward soft pastels.

He has work in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., the Appellate Court House, New York, and the State House, Boston, where are his three large panels, “James Otis Delivering his Speech against the Writs of Assistance”, “Paul Revere's Ride” and the “Boston Tea Party”.

He executed a panel for the American Pavilion at the Paris Exhibition, 1900, and in 1906 he completed a series of ten stained glass windows for the Unitarian Memorial Church at Fairhaven, Mass.. Reid's “The Martyrdom of St. Paul” is located at the southwestern end of the nave of the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City.

Robert Reid's 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 These paintings no longer exist in San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts, which was re-built in the 1960s. Their current whereabouts is unknown. He died in Clifton Springs, New York. | Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Reid, Robert". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Robert Lewis Reid (Stockbridge, 29 luglio 1862 – Clifton Springs, 2 dicembre 1929) è stato un pittore impressionista Statunitense🎨. Fece parte del Gruppo dei Dieci (Ten American Painters).

Nato in una cittadina del Massachusetts, Reid studiò nella School of the Museum of Fine Arts di Boston, allievo di Otto Grundmann. Nel 1884 si recò a New York City pensando di continuare i suoi studi d'arte presso l'Art Students League. Un anno dopo, però, decise di partire per Parigi.

Nella capitale francese scelse di seguire i corsi dell'Académie Julian, dove insegnavano Gustave Boulanger e Jules Joseph Lefebvre🎨. Le sue primissime opere, infatti, raffigurano dei contadini francesi nelle campagne presso Étaples.

Ritornò a New York nel 1889 e lavorò inizialmente come ritrattista. In seguito divenne insegnante di pittura alla Art Students League e alla Cooper Union. Nella maggior parte dei suoi quadri Reid raffigurò giovani donne in mezzo ad una natura rigogliosa; i suoi lavori, infatti, tendevano ad essere molto decorativi e ciò lo condusse ad una carriera di decoratore e affrescatore d'interni. Lavorò quindi alla cupola del Palazzo delle Arti liberali e in molti altri edifici, nonché alla Columbian Exposition di Chicago nel 1893.

Nel 1897 Reid entrò a far parte del gruppo dei Ten American Painters, i dieci pittori impressionisti che si dimisero per protesta dalla "Società degli Artisti americani". Negli anni intorno alla fine del secolo, Reid lavorò ancora a diversi progetti di affreschi e decorazioni murali e nel 1906 divenne membro ordinario della National Academy of Design. Quando tornò a dipingere quadri, verso il 1905, i suoi lavori divennero ancor più naturalistici e la sua gamma cromatica si riempì di morbide tinte pastello.

Lavorò anche alla Biblioteca del Congresso, a Washington, al Palazzo della Corte d'Appello e a diversi importanti edifici, producendo grandi pannelli decorativi. A fianco di queste opere però, Reid non smise di dipingere ancora ritratti, paesaggi, scene di genere e scene immaginarie, sempre con soggetti femminili e quasi sempre in una natura piena di fiori. Reid morì a 67 anni nel villaggio di Clifton Springs, nella Contea dell'Ontario (New York). | Wikipedia