Richard Reid: The London Paintings

February 23 - April 7, 1996

The Art Gallery of the South Okanagan is very pleased to organize an exhibition of earlier work by Richard Reid. The exhibition that had originally been planned was to have focused on the artist's more recent work. When I began working on the project however, in an effort to discover the origins of the new figurative work in the artist's development, I was afforded a glimpse at some of his earliest work. Although I have known Richard Reid for more than 10 years, and had seen some of these works at his home, it was not until a visit to his Grand Forks studio that these works began to be pulled out of the storage racks. It soon became evident that here was a group of paintings representing the artist's first important body of work. It also demonstrated that his interest in the figure has been with him since his days at art school.
Many living artists resist the idea of an exhibition featuring work they have done long ago rather than what they are currently doing. Fortunately, Richard Reid had no such reservations and thought this foray into the past would be of interest to him as well.

The result is this exhibition. I am very grateful to the artist for his interest and assistance in organizing this exhibition, and this publication, as well as to Beverley Reid whose memory of this time in London has also been of great help in reconstructing a chronology of events that influenced this work, directly and indirectly.

Roger H. Boulet
Director and Curator


These Web pages are divided into three principal sections:

A Curatorial Essay by R. H. Boulet
The Paintings (in two groups)
Remembering Britain and Europe in the early 1960's by Richard Reid