The son of Thomas and Amelia Reid, David Graeme Reid was born in Scotland sometime between 1860-62. Little is known of his upbringing apart from that he was educated at the Lancastrian School in Edinburgh. Reid arrived in Sydney in November 1883 and established himself as a plumber and gas fitter in Newtown, Sydney. The following year he married Sarah Bignell (1865-1954) and the couple had six children between 1885-1903. Reid later established a successful plumbing business in King Street, Newtown, and lived in Black Street, Marrickville, from around 1900.
Despite his work commitments, Reid maintained his interest in art and took lessons at the Art Society School under instructors A.J. Daplyn and Julian Ashton, teachers who were advocates of the plein air method of painting. Reid first came to public notice when he exhibited a sketch at the Art Society of New South Wales’ annual spring exhibition in 1890. The following year he exhibited a watercolour view of the Cooks River, then a picturesque waterway near his home. Reid continued his involvement with the Art Society up to 1894. In 1895 he joined the newly established Society of Artists (SoA) and exhibited with them until their (first) disbandment in 1902. Despite Reid’s status as a non-professional artist, he was elected to the committee of the SoA in 1897. A highlight of Reid’s art career from this period was when three of his watercolours were included in the 1898 'Exhibition of Australian Art’ at the Grafton Gallery, London.
Following state government pressure over public funding, the SoA and the Art Society reunited as the Royal Art Society of New South Wales (RAS). Reid joined the amalgamated group in 1902 and maintained membership in the RAS for the rest of his life. He was an active member and served on its executive council for twelve years from 1908-18 and 1920-22. Several of his works and his photographic portrait were reproduced in Fifty Years of Australian Art, 1879-1929 (RAS Press). In 1929 he was formally recognised as an Associate Member of the RAS (ARAS). A newspaper review of the 1931 RAS annual exhibition described Reid as “a painter with some feeling and imagination” ( Sydney Morning Herald , 1 August 1931, p. 15). While most of his images were painted in the Sydney region, an oil entitled, Montville, Queensland , was exhibited at the 1929 RAS annual exhibition.
While he did dabble in other media, Reid is best known as a watercolourist specialising in views of riverbanks and farmland close to gentle flowing rivers, most notably the Hawkesbury-Nepean river system. After the death of watercolourist J.J. Hilder in 1916, there was an increasing male interest in watercolour painting that led to the formation of the Australian Watercolour Institute (AWI). Although never a member of the Institute, Reid exhibited at their first exhibition in 1924 and occasionally at other AWI shows.
As well as demonstrating an interest in watercolour, Reid also responded to the increasing popularity of printmaking in the early twentieth century and experimented with etching. Before the start of the Great War, he produced over thirty-five intaglio etchings, mainly of pastoral landscapes and Sydney architectural subjects. His first known works were The Brewery and St. Stephen’s, Newtown , images that were reproduced in the September-October issue of Salon . Reid was a regular exhibitor with the Australian Painter-Etchers’ Society from 1925.
The artist concluded his career when he exhibited three watercolours at the Sydney AWI exhibition in April 1933. Reid died suddenly at his home in Black Street, Marrickville, on 20 April 1933 and was buried in the Church of England section of Woronora cemetery, Sutherland, Sydney. He was survived by his wife and five sons, his only daughter, Nellie, having predeceased him in 1926. He is represented by the 1916 watercolour An unfrequented by-way in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. An exhibition of thirty-eight of his watercolours was held at the Christopher Day Gallery, Paddington, Sydney, in December 1986. The artist signed his work either as 'David G. Reid’ or 'D.G. Reid’.
- Writers:
- Silas Clifford-Smith
- Date written:
- 1999
- Last updated:
- 2010
