Dennis Reid (courtesy University of Toronto)
Noted art historian Dennis Reid, a champion of Canadian art and a former chief curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario, died of heart failure on April 27 in Toronto. He was 80.
The author of A Concise History of Canadian Painting, which has been in print since its first edition in 1973, he also taught Canadian art history at the University of Toronto, becoming a full professor in 1987 and retiring in 2018.
Reid's obituary notes his "encyclopedic knowledge of all sorts of subjects, his lively conversation and his fast wit."
Born in Hamilton, his family settled in nearby Burlington after the Second World War, and then moved to Oshawa in 1959, where Reid completed high school.
He studied art history at the University of Toronto, earning a bachelor's degree in 1966, and a master's degree in 1967.
He joined the National Gallery of Canada as an assistant curator in 1967, when Jean Sutherland Boggs was director. His first major project was curating a 1970 exhibition that marked the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Group of Seven.
Another landmark was taking a touring exhibition of historical Canadian paintings to China in 1975, an experience that left him with a love of Chinese food and culture.
Later appointed curator of post-Confederation Canadian art, he organized exhibitions at the National Gallery until 1979, when he was hired as curator of Canadian art at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
He was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1998.
Reid was required to leave the AGO suddenly in 2010 for reasons that were never clear.
Reid leaves his wife, Alison, two daughters and two grandchildren.
Source: Legacy.com
