Meadow Brook by George Agnew Reid

Provenance:
Mrs. Agnes Reid, Toronto
Mary Wrinch Reid, Toronto
Gordon Conn, Toronto, 1965
Private Collection, Ontario

Literature:
Muriel Miller Miner, “G.A. Reid, Canadian Artist”, Toronto, 1946, listed page 210

George A. Reid was a leading proponent for the advancement of art in Canada throughout his illustrious artistic career. Reid’s painting style evolved to become looser and more impressionistic in the 1910s and 1920s, but the artist forever stayed loyal to the academic tradition in which he was taught. “Meadow Brook” of 1916 is a finely executed study for a canvas in the collection of the Ontario Government, “The Meadow Brook, near Woodbridge”, 1924. “Meadow Brook” exemplifies a lighter approach and better understanding of l’effet, as the atmosphere is unified by the softly diffused light in the landscape composition. As A.K. Prakash notes, this painting captures “a beautiful moment of the influence of Gauguin on [Reid’s] work.” This artistic period marks Reid’s foray into landscape painting, when he took a sojourn from recording social history, and instead fully embraced depicting lakes, rivers, countryside and scenes of serenity.