Docent’s Corner | Robert Reid, American Impressionist
Image credit: Robert Reid (American, 1862-1929) Woman with Blue Bird and Fan, n.d. Oil on canvas. On loan from the Alexander family.
Sometimes I think it must be harder to title a work of art than paint it! Perhaps this is the case of Robert Reid’s painting “Woman with a Blue Bird and Fan” currently displayed in the Alexander Collection, but what a beauty it is!
Robert Reid was born in Massachusetts into a family of New England clergymen. He was a student and teaching assistant at the Boston Museum School and then journeyed to Paris to study for three years. In France, he mainly painted peasant scenes of religious tone. Upon returning to the United States, he painted still-lifes, figures, and murals, which are still enjoyed in government buildings today.
It’s difficult to pinpoint his conversion to Impressionism. He went from classical female nudes of his murals to loose paintings of fashionably dressed figures in vivid colors with slashing brushstrokes, which brings me back to the beautiful portrait gracing the walls of BRAHM.
This painting is typical of his subject matter, which was idealized young women holding flowers or in this case a fan with a bird. The background is filled with flowers painted with the quick brushstrokes of the Impressionist style, but take note how his style slightly changes with the figure. His brushstrokes are more smooth and solid; her beautiful face more defined, reminiscent of his earlier work.
Critics called Reid’s paintings “pretty and sentimental,” but the public loved them and he was quite successful during his lifetime.
In 1927 Robert Reid suffered a stroke, but undaunted he learned to paint with his left hand. He died in a New York sanatorium at the age of 67.
This Docent’s Corner is brought to you by Kat Leahey