09/18/2024
January 1886: A famous American art teacher was done with the outdated thinking of his times and broke the rules by introducing in his class, the first male model for his female students to draw from.
In those days, women artists were not allowed to study a man's body. Instead, they would learn to draw from still life like flowers, fruits and sometimes, a cow would be brought in as a live model.
So this was a very bold and progressive move and to complete what he had done, he went all the way through and removed the loincloth from his male model.
Unsurprisingly, this caused a scandalous sensation and got him fired from the school. However, most of the women in that class were secretly delighted and this paved the way towards a social revolution that demanded women artists be treated as equals as their male counterparts.
During that fateful class, was a brilliant art student from Pennsylvania, named Mary Hiester.
She would later move to Toronto with her husband and open a first world class art school in Ontario.
An outstanding and dedicated professional painter and teacher, Mary Hiester Reid became one of the most commercially successful artists of her time. A trailblazer that inspired many Canadian artists, both men and women.
Have a look at her works.
Canadian Master Painter, Mary Hiester Reid (1854 - 1921).
