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Forbidden Fruit / Fruit défendu

Artist REID, GEORGE AGNEW CANADIAN / CANADIEN, 1860-1947

Date1889

Mediumoil on canvas / huile sur toile

DimensionsOverall (Published): 77.8 x 122.9 cm (30 5/8 x 48 3/8 in.)

ClassificationsPAINTING

Credit LineGift of the Women's Committee, 1960 / Don du Comité des femmes, 1960

Terms

Object number60.105.Y

DescriptionAGH holds copyright of this work as per letter from Mrs. G. A. Reid dated May 1966 (in Dofasco calendar file - as per original catalogue card) "... 'Forbidden Fruit' is an autobiographical work, recalling the days when young George Reid used to hide in the lay loft on his father's farm and read such 'undesirable' books as "The Arabian Nights". True to his academic training, Reid constructed such a loft in his studio in the Arcade Building by erecting a scaffold in front of the window and covering it with straw. He had already used this stage set for an earlier work, 'The Story', and one of the models for that picture was rehired to pose for 'Forbidden Fruit'. According to Muriel Miner the painting was completed early in the summer of 1890, although it is clearly dated 1889. The problem of the exact date is compounded by Reid's own Scrapbook, in which he kept an invaluable record of his career. Under a photograph of the picture on page 146, he has written "Forbidden Fruit / Arcade Studio 1890 / Sold in Philadelphia exhib., 'while on page 18 is pasted an original pencil drawing of the boy inscribed 'Reading in the Hay Loft G.A.R. 1891'. A possible solution is that the painting was begun in 1889 and finished in 1890, the drawing having been done later as a personal reminder of a work which has been 'lost' to the United States ..." (William C. Forsey, "The Ontario Community Collects", 1975)

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