Alexander Reid (art dealer)
Alexander Reid (1854–1928) was a Glasgow art dealer and amateur artist, and friend of James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Vincent van Gogh.
He was one of the most influential art dealers in Europe in the early 20th century, exhibiting and selling artworks by some of the finest artists of his period, including the Impressionists, the Post-Impressionists, the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists.
He was born in Glasgow on 25 March 1854 the first of six children of James Gardner Reid (1828-1907) a cabinet maker and ship carver (specialising in figureheads) with premises at 47 Carrick Street, living at 10 Minerva Place in the Finnieston district.
In particular he studied at the gallery of Boussod & Valadon on Boulevard Montparnasse in Paris, working there for 18 months under the guidance of their employee Theo van Gogh, who managed their modern art section.
Whilst Reid's father played a role it was Alexander's own unwillingness to invest in Post-Impressionist Art at this stage which delayed his decision.
[10] Reid left Boussod & Valadon at some point in 1888 but stayed in Paris as a "marchand en chambre" selling from his own apartment at 6 Place d'Anvers and amassed a large number of paintings by Monticelli.
[11] Returning to Glasgow in 1889 with both experience and a collection of art he set up a gallery at 227 West George Street under the name of A.
[12] In November 1889 he organised an exhibition of "Japanese art" by Hokusai (but actually by Edward Arthur Walton) and this coincided with the Glasgow Art School's Fancy Dress Ball at which Walton appeared dressed as Hokusai and revealed his identity and also announced his engagement to Helen Law.
[13] In December 1891 he organised an important exhibition of Impressionist work (Sisley, Monet, Pissarro, and Monticelli) at Arthur Collie's rooms at 39b Old Bond Street in London.
[16] In the 1890s, Reid grew closer to the Glasgow Boys giving both encouragement, sponsorship and selling their work in his gallery.
[17] In April 1894 he moved to a larger gallery at 124 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow, opening with Joseph Crawhall III's first one-man show.
In relation to this Reid through a dinner party on 13 April, mainly of artists (Crawhall, Hornell, Guthrie, Lavery, Henry, Kennedy and Macaulay Stevenson, but critically inviting a potential sponsor in the form of William Burrell.
He returned to Paris with 63 paintings which were auctioned at Hotel Drouot on 10 June the sale realising 62,200 francs in total, but temporarily rescuing Reid.
[22] Reid's Glasgow-based art gallery, La Société des Beaux-Arts, was located at 117 West George St, from 1904 until 1932, continuing for four years after his death in the magnificent Sun Life Insurance Building designed by William Leiper.
[24] In 1909/10 he took an extended six month holiday in Canada, Japan and Ceylon, leaving Ada and his son with his in-laws in Vancouver for part of the time.
[25] In December 1911 he organised an exhibition of 30 works by James Lawton Wingate and a similar number by William McTaggart in the same display.
[26] From 1913, rather than his previous position of rivalry, he went into a joint deal with Aitken & Dott in Edinburgh for the sale of works by William McTaggart and Horatio McCulloch.
[28] In January 1920 he exhibited 70 French works including: Vollon, Bonvin, Ribot, Corot, Hervier, Boudin, Lucien Simon, and masterpieces by Monet, Degas, Pissarro, Sisley, Renoir, Guillaumin and Vuillard.
Later that year in Glasgow he allowed McNeill Reid to exhibit an important collection of works by the new wave of French artists: Matisse, Dufy, Dufresne, Dunoyer de Segonzac, Rouault, Vlaminck and Braque.
In March 1892, at the Registrar's Office in Glasgow, he married Harriet Elizabeth Adriana ("Ada") Stevenson of Birdston near Kirkintilloch, whom he had met through the Scottish artist Alexander Ignatius Roche.
Ada's younger sister, Louisa Stevenson (1872-1939), was a model much used and admired by the Glasgow Boys and called "Miss Loo" by the group.
[33] Ada died of peritonitis on 6 May 1915 and was buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church on Kilbride Road in Dunoon.
