Nano Reid

Nano Reid (1900–1981) was an Irish painter.

Biography

The Irish landscape artist, figure painter and portraitist Nano Reid was born in Drogheda, County Louth. In 1920, she won a scholarship to study fine art painting and drawing at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art - now the National College of Art and Design - under Harry Clarke. At the time, she was - in the words of fellow student Hilda van Stockum - "a fierce redhead... uncompromising and looking for truth". In 1925 she started showing at the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), submitting a total of 42 canvases until the late 1960s. In 1928, she went to Paris and enrolled briefly at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, after which she spent a year in London studying fine art at the Central School of Arts and Crafts under Bernard Meninsky.

She returned to Ireland in 1931 and once more began exhibiting her landscape painting at the RHA.

In 1950, with Norah McGuinness, Nano Reid represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale. This was followed by the Exhibition of Contemporary Irish Art in Aberystwyth (1953), and the Mostra Internazionale di Bianco e Nero in Lugano (1956), the Guggenheim International Award Exhibition in New York (1960) and the Twelve Irish Painters show in New York (1963).

In 1974, the Arts Council and the Northern Ireland Arts Council staged a major retrospective of Nano Reid's artworks. She died in Drogheda in 1981.Retrospectives for Nano Reid were held at Taylor Galleries in Dublin (1984), Droichead Arts Centre in Drogheda (1991), and at Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar, County Mayo (1999).

An individual, expressionistic artist, Nano Reid is acknowledged to be one of the finest Irish woman painters of twentieth-century visual art in Ireland. Her works are represented in many public collections throughout Ireland.

Exhibitions

Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), submitting a total of 42 canvases from 1925-late 1960s.Engineer's Hall (1931) with artists Marion King and Olive Cunningham; a solo exhibition at St Stephen's Green Gallery (1934); a solo show at the Daniel Egan Gallery, Dublin (1936), which was repeated in Drogheda; the Water Colour Society of Ireland (1939). Reid was also involved in portrait art, having her works displayed at the Irish Drawings and Paintings Exhibition in New York (1938), and at the Dublin Painters Exhibition (1939) in Dublin. She continued to show her artworks throughout the 1940s, adding the Oireachtas, Dawson Gallery and Victor Waddington Galleries to her list of venues. During this time, Nano Reid also exhibited her paintings in London: at the Living Irish Art Exhibition at the Leicester Galleries (1946), St George's Gallery (1950), Hanover Gallery (1952). In 1950, with Nora McGuiness, Nano Reid represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale. This was followed by the Exhibition of Contemporary Irish Art in Aberystwyth (1953), and the Mostra Internazionale di Bianco e Nero in Lugano (1956), the Guggenheim International Award Exhibition in New York (1960) and the Twelve Irish Painters show in New York (1963). On the home front, Reid exhibited in Belfast and several times at the Dawson Gallery in Dublin. At the end of the 1960s she showed at the Hugh Lane Art Gallery. In 1972, she won the Douglas Hyde Gold Medal at the Oireachtas for the best history painting - Cave of the Firbolg. In 1974, the Arts Council and the Northern Ireland Arts Council staged a major retrospective of Nano Reid's artworks.

Work in collections

• Crawford Art Gallery, Cork
• Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda
• Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin
• Trinity College Dublin
• The Arts Council of Ireland including
  • Cave of the Firbola
  • Wreckage No.1
• Santa Barbara Museum California
• Irish Institute, New York

Model Niland, Sligo, Ireland (www.modelart.ie)

Quotes About

• A born artist and a born stylist...This young artist from Drogheda has to be saluted as a genius.
  • Thomas MacGreevy, The Irish Times, 27 November 1942, p. 3 link
• One can say, without pretension, that she has her place in European painting.
  • Patrick Swift, Envoy, March 1950 (read article). Reid painted Swift's portrait that year.
• For my money the best Irish painter, mo cheol thú, a Nano.
  • Pearse Hutchinson, The Irish Imagination 1959-1971^[2] (1971)

References

1. ↑ In The Modern Art Collection, Trinity College, Dublin David Scott says
2. ↑ See Brian O’Doherty, The Irish Imagination 1959-1971, 1971 [Rosc Exhib. Cat.] - http://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-data/authors/h/Hutchinson_P/life.htm

References & Further Reading

• Irish Art from Nathaniel Hone to Nano Reid: The Drogheda Municipal Art Collection in Context". Dr Denise Ferran. Highlanes Gallery (Drogheda). 2006
• Boylan, Henry (1998). A dictionary of Irish biography. Roberts Rinehart Pub. ISBN 978-1-57098-236-1. 
• The Modern Art Collection: Trinity College Dublin. 1989. ISBN 978-1-871408-01-0. 
• Arnold, Bruce (1995). Irish Art. ISBN 978-0-500-20148-0. 
• Declan Mallon (1994), Nano Reid. Drogheda, Co. Louth: Sunnyside Publications.
• Patrick Swift, Envoy, A Review of Literature and Art, March 1950 read article
• Visual Arts Cork