Robert Lewis Reid Biography | Oil Paintings

Robert Lewis Reid attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston under Otto Grundmann, in 1884 he moved to New York City, to attend the Art Students League, and in 1885 at the age of twenty-three, he went to Paris to study at the Académie Julian under Gustave Boulanger and Jules Joseph Lefebvre.

On his return to New York in 1889 after four years in France, Robert Lewis Reid worked as a portrait artist and later became an instructor at the Art Students League and the Cooper Union. Much of his work at this time was of young women set among flowers.

In 1897, Robert Lewis Reid was a founding member of the Ten American Painters, who rebelled against the Society of American Artists. Around the turn of the century, Reid worked on several mural projects and when he returned to painting, around 1905, his work was more naturalistic. He became a full member of the National Academy of Design in 1906.

Reid’s painting, Woman with a Vase of Irises, typifies his Impressionist style with his handling of high-hues, and little contrast of light and dark. This painting is also typical of his subject matter, which was idealized young women sitting in landscapes with flowers.

Robert Lewis Reid's murals for the Palace of Fine Arts building at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, in 1915 was 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. San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts was rebuilt in the 1960s and these paintings no longer exist.

Art Movement: Impressionism.
Artists Influencing Robert Lewis Reid: Otto Grundmann, Gustave Boulanger, Jules Joseph Lefebvre.
He Traveled To France
Painters Robert Lewis Reid Influenced: Nan Sheets.
Artist Biography compiled by Albert L. Mansour at The World's Artist, with text adapted from Wikipedia.