Item NMC/2012 - Night and Day

Night and Day (Version 1) Night and Day (Version 2)

Key Information

Reference code

NMC/2012

Title

Night and Day

Date(s)

  • 1920 (Creation)

Level of description

Item

Extent

1 item

Content and Structure

Scope and content

Oil painting on canvas, framed, featuring winged figures of Night and Day. Night wears a crown of stars and is cloaked in black. Day is nude. The reverse of the canvas is also painted with a scene of women bathing in a landscape. A label on the reverse reads: "MAY REID 4 The Oriels, 31 Mt Stuart St, Shawlands, Glasgow".

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

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General Information

Name of creator

Biographical history

Mary Reid was born in 1897. She embarked on a prolific academic career at The Glasgow School of Art, where she studied from 1914 until 1921. Reid originally resided at 'The Oriels' in Shawlands, moving address to Stuartville, Dunlop, for the academic year 1919 and finally moving again in 1920 to West Princes Street, Helensburgh.

Throughout her lengthy time at The School, Reid studied predominantly Drawing and Painting as a day student. This would have likely been under the tutelage of the renowned professor Maurice Greiffenhagen. She is also recorded as studying Modelling, likely taught by Paul Wayland Bartlett and also Needlecraft and Embroidery, which would have been taught by Ann Macbeth. Reid was absent for the first academic term of 1917 due to illness.

Mary was also known as 'May' and is recorded as being a minor painter of figurative subjects and informal portraits, her work 'Night and Day' being particularly note-worthy for its Pre-Raphaelite style. 'May' Reid lived in Monte Carlo and continued her artistic career before marrying and settling in London, after which it is unknown whether she continued her work.

Sources: The Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture by Peter J. M. McEwan

Archival history

Exhibited "Glasgow Girls: Women in Art and Design 1880-1920", Glasgow Museums and Art Galleries, 24 August - 21 October 1990.

Custodial history

Purchased from Bonhams, Edinburgh, Oct 2023 via The Fine Art Society with assistance from the National Fund for Acquisitions and the Friends of Glasgow School of Art. Lot 42 of 11/10/2023 Scottish Art sale; https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28775/lot/42/mary-may-reid-british-1897-1986-night-and-day-1920-the-reverse-of-the-canvas-is-also-painted-with-a-scene-of-women-bathing-in-a-landscape/

Physical Description and Conditions of Use

Conditions governing access

Glasgow School of Art Archives and Collections are open for research by appointment. For further details, please refer to our Access Policy @ https://gsaarchives.net/policies

Conditions governing reproduction

Application for permission to reproduce should be submitted to The Archives and Collections at The Glasgow School of Art.

Reproduction subject to usual conditions: educational use and condition of material.

For further details, please refer to our Reprographic Service Guide @ https://gsaarchives.net/policies

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Physical Description

Oil on canvas, framed.

Dimensions: 1630 x 1020 mm

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Publication note

Illustrated J. Burkhauser, Glasgow Girls: Women in Art and Design, 1880-1920, Canongate Books, 2001, p. 216. Burkhauser refers to Reid's diploma piece as 'a competent large-scale oil study of two winged 'presences' which echoes Pre-Raphaelitism'.

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Catalogued by Michelle Kaye, Collections Lead, Nov 2024.

Language(s)

  • English

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