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Biography |
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 ¶ 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 ¶ 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 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 |