John Robertson Reid (6 August 1851 – 10 February 1926) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

who spent his early working life in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, and then from the early 1880s in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

in the wild south-west of England. He became the president of the

Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fi ...

in 1886 and the Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers in 1898. These posts gave him an entree into London society, and from the early 1900s he made his home in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In Reid's later years, the young

Sir Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

used to paint outdoors in the company of Reid. He trained under George Chalmers and

William MacTaggart Sir William MacTaggart, (1903–1981) was a Scottish painter known for his landscapes of East Lothian, France, Norway and elsewhere. He is sometimes called William MacTaggart the Younger to distinguish him from his grandfather, the painter Willi ...

. His mature style was influenced by the move in painting toward rural Naturalism (

Sir George Clausen Sir George Clausen (18 April 1852 – 22 November 1944) was a British artist working in oil and watercolour, etching, mezzotint, drypoint and occasionally lithographs. He was knighted in 1927. Biography George Clausen was born at 8 William Str ...

) and the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Realists (

Jules Bastien-Lepage Jules Bastien-Lepage (1 November 1848 – 10 December 1884) was a French painter closely associated with the beginning of naturalism, an artistic style that grew out of the Realist movement and paved the way for the development of impressioni ...

) and also owes a little to

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

. He first found success with natural outdoor scenes of the

countryside, and was notable at the time for painting his scenes entirely on location, with the use of hired local people posing in the scene. He also painted notable rural

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

match scenes, one of which now contain details of interest to cricketing historians. This is ''A Country Cricket Match'', painted in the grounds at the rear of The Well House, West Sussex. His sisters, Lizzie Reid and Flora MacDonald Reid (1879-c.1929), were also exhibiting artists. Reid was the great-uncle of

Sir Norman Reid Sir Norman Robert Reid (27 December 1915 – 17 December 2007) was an arts administrator and painter. He served as the director of the Tate Gallery from 1964 to 1979. Early life Norman Reid was born in Dulwich, London,Buckman, David (2006), ''Di ...

, Director of the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

External links

Reid at The Tate website
an
Reid's ''A Country Cricket Match'' at The TateLiverpool Museum podcast
about Reid's ''A Country Cricket Match'' (10 minutes).
''Arrest of a Smuggler''
now at

Looe Looe (; , ) is a coastal town and civil parish in south-east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, with a population of 5,280 at the 2011 census. Looe is west of Plymouth and south of Liskeard, divided in two by the River Looe, East Looe () a ...

in Cornwall. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, John Robertson 19th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters 20th-century Scottish painters Scottish landscape painters 1851 births 1926 deaths 19th-century Scottish male artists 20th-century Scottish male artists