In 1922, the Art Gallery of Toronto (now the Art Gallery of Ontario) opened an extraordinary and historic solo exhibition of more than 300 paintings. This exhibition marked the Gallery’s largest solo exhibition ever at that time, and its first by a woman artist. 

The artist was Mary Hiester Reid (1854 – 1921), an acclaimed fixture in the Toronto art community and a trailblazing teacher. Her success was remarkable in an era when women artists rarely had the opportunity to study and exhibit, let alone sell their work.  

American by birth, Hiester Reid moved to Toronto in 1885, setting up a studio with her husband and fellow artist George Agnew Reid (1860 – 1947) on King St. East. Her works capture the beauty that surrounded her everyday life, and she gained critical acclaim for her painted floral still lifes, interiors, and landscapes. Her practice attracted numerous students, both men and women, to her studio and buyers from across the country.  

Alongside being one of the first women to achieve success as a professional artist in Canada, she was also one of the first women accepted into the Ontario Society of Artists and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. It wasn’t long after her arrival in Toronto that the Art Gallery of Toronto (now AGO) purchased its first Hiester Reid artwork, Daisies (mid-19th-early 20th century). Before the turn of the century, the Gallery would acquire two more works by Hiester Reid.  

Mary Hiester Reid. Daisies, mid 19th-early 20th century. Oil on canvas, Overall: 45.7 x 40.6 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario. Gift of Mary Wrinch Reid, 1954. Photo © AGO. 53/44

In 1908, the couple designed and built a home in Toronto’s artistic Wychwood Park. With this move, Hiester Reid became neighbours with Mary Wrinch (1877 – 1969), a fellow influential woman painter and a major figure in Hiester Reid and her husband’s artistic circle. 

Hiester Reid died on October 4, 1921, at the age of 67. Opening almost a year to the date of her death, the memorial exhibition drew big crowds and national attention. She was celebrated in the press for her "study and interpretation of nature in those aspects that appealed most to her...[g]limpses of spring and autumn woodland, moonlit vistas, gorgeously colourful gardens, lovely skies, divinely tinted 'ends of evening,' and the countless flowers of the fields...." 

Installation view: Memorial Exhibition of paintings by Mary Hiester Reid, A.R.C.A.,O.S.A., 1922. Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives. Photo © AGO.

Her friend and fellow artist C.W. Jefferys remarked, "The number of [Canadian] painters of distinction is as yet small, but in the short list of those who have shed light upon the path and given direction to the early steps of Canadian Art, the name of Mrs. Reid will always have a prominent role." 

Installation view: Memorial Exhibition of paintings by Mary Hiester Reid, A.R.C.A., O.S.A., 1922. Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives. Photo © AGO.
 

For Saturday Night magazine, arts commentor Hector Charlesworth wrote on the exhibition: “One gets a sense of Mrs. Reid’s versatility,” with “the 76 paintings of flowers and still life; nearly thirty garden pieces; a dozen interiors; over one hundred landscapes; and many studio sketches of various subjects.” 

Among the many compliments bestowed on her for her art, for her technique, for her many charms and her “eminently sane” approach, perhaps the biggest praise of all is the simple truth stated in the exhibition catalogue: “…although the exhibition contains 300 examples, this represents only part of her life work, many of her paintings not being available for exhibition.” 

Installation view: Memorial Exhibition of paintings by Mary Hiester Reid, A.R.C.A., O.S.A., 1922. Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives. Photo © AGO.
 

Works by Hiester Reid are currently on view at the AGO in the Richard Barry Fudger Memorial Gallery (gallery 125) and in the Carol Tanenbaum Gallery (gallery 116) as part of the exhibition Steam: Impressionist Painting Across the Atlantic. Numerous notable Canadian women artists are also on view, including the exhibitions and installations of Joyce Wieland, Sarindar Dhaliwal, Louise Noguchi and many more.  

In celebration of the AGO’s 125th anniversary, Foyer is highlighting foundational moments in the Gallery’s history that have helped make the AGO the institution it is today. Stay tuned for more Foyer stories and public events celebrating this milestone.