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JOHN SIMON GUGGENHEIM MEMORIAL FOUNDATION
Confidential Report on Candidate for Fellowship

Copy

Requested of:
Mrs. Elaine K. Benson
Benson Gallery
Montauk Highway
Bridgehampton, L. I., New York  

Name of Candidate: Reid, Robert

79:5 REPORT:

Robert Reid is a sensitive artist, a modest, gentle man, and a competent teacher. In the eight years I have known him and his work, I have been aware of its growing depth, growing out of a richly felt interior vision. Although Reid is black (and this should not be ignored)), he is not a "Black artist". There is no exploitation or militancy in his approach to art. His statement is poetic. Reid worked at a Manhatten [[Manhattan]] post office job for many years to support his art. Only in the past several years, after several successful Gallery shows, was he able to establish himself as an artist sufficiently to get a teaching job. I am told he has succeeded well in the teaching role. But, it seems to me, he needs time now to work, free of the demands of schedules and having the pressures of preparation as primary consideration.

For that reason, I am particularly willing to endorse his application of the Guggenheim foundation for a grant. In fact, he is so self-effacing, it was difficult to urge him to apply, and I am pleased to see that he was able to do so.

Reid is a big, powerful looking man whose surface makes his work come as a surprise. The mystery of his dreamed landscapes, evanescent buildings, and strange iconographic symbols produce after-images. You can't seem to get them out of your mind. He belongs to no school, no band-wagon. He is a fine, original artist.

Signed __________
Date 12/9/75
Position or Title Elaine KG Benson, Director Benson Gallery
Address Montauk Highway, Bridgehampton NY 11932

(Please return to John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, 90 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. at your earliest convenience. An addressed envelope is enclosed.)
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