Doel Reed Aquatints Collection
Collection
Identifier: 1999-296
Scope and Contents
Collection contains three black and white aquatints signed and authenticated by Doel Reed and dated 1932. Subjects of the pictures include pueblos, mountains, and kitchen.
Also contains two books on Reed and his works.
Also contains two books on Reed and his works.
Dates
- 1932, 1998, 2006
Creator
- Reed, Doel, 1894-1985. (Artist, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research use. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the Oklahoma Open Records Act (http://www.odl.state.ok.us/lawinfo/docs/2006-LibraryLaws-PartE.pdf), and other relevant regulations. Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which Oklahoma State University Libraries assumes no responsibility.
Conditions Governing Use
The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of copyright. Whenever possible, Oklahoma State University Archives will provide information about copyright owners and related information. Securing permission to publish or use material is the responsibility of the researcher. Note that unless specifically transferred to Oklahoma State University Libraries, any applicable copyrights may be held by another individual or entity. Copyright for material published by Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College/Oklahoma State University is held by the Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges. All rights reserved.
Further information about copyright policy can be obtained by contacting Oklahoma State University Archives by email at libscua@okstate.edu or by phone at 405-744-6311.
Finding aid © 2017 Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges. All rights reserved.
Biographical Sketch
Doel Reed formalized and chaired the Art Department at Oklahoma A & M College starting in 1924 until his retirement from the position in 1959. He became nationally recognized as a modern master of aquatint, a unique form of engraving that uses an acid biting process to create fields of shading instead of using hatching or stippling.
Doel Reed, N. A. was born May 21, 1894 in Logansport, Indiana. Shortly after he moved to Indianapolis where he would spend the years of his youth. As a young man, Reed attended Saturday drawing classes at the John Herron Art Museum in Indianapolis; here he developed his tastes for and in art as well as his interest in its pursuit. One of the figures from the museum that strongly influenced his work was the famous painter and engraver Francisco Goya. Goya inspired the strong contrasts that exist in Reed’s own work. Reed also found inspiration from more contemporary artists such as Laura Knight’s “beautifully designed plates” (from the preface of Doel Reed Makes An Aquatint), Arthur Davis, Earl Horter, and Emil Ganso all of whom he mentions in the preface of Doel Reed Makes An Aquatint.
After high school Reed took an apprenticeship to an architect for four years before enrolling at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Here Reed discovered graphic design, the area in which he would make his name in aquatinting. After being enrolled at the Art Academy of Cincinnati for 1916 and 1917, Reed volunteered for service in World War I. Gas blinded Reed while he fought with the 47th Infantry in the U.S. Army, and his injuries hospitalized him for year. On his recovery he returned to the Art Academy where he discovered his interest in graphics. Since very few schools specialized in or taught graphics, Reed taught himself. His work in oils and caseins helped establish him; his aquatints, though, made him famous.
Reed married in 1920 and made his first etching for the birth announcement of his daughter. An associate, Joseph Henry Sharp, had told him about the “boundless beauty of the Southwest,” and reed moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma where he chaired the art department at Oklahoma State University from 1924 until retiring to Talpa, New Mexico in 1959. While at Oklahoma State, the National Academy of Design elected him to an Associate membership position, and in 1952 he achieved full Academician status. Talpa, the surrounding pueblos, and countryside of the Taos area had served as the subjects of many of the sketches he turned into prints during his time in Stillwater. He visited New Mexico and Arizona often on the advice of his associates and friends. It was his practice to sketch in the field, to set down the mood as quickly as possible, and then finish the painting or print back in his studio. His early base in architecture made buildings a focal point of much of his work.
A prominent member of the art community in Taos and New Mexico after 1960, Reed’s work has been exhibited in somewhere close to 350 juried shows, and he has won over 100 national and international awards for art. His subject matter consists mainly of southwest geography and the female form. He expressed that he felt that landscape is “most sympathetic to creative work” (from preface). The Gardiner Art Gallery on the Oklahoma State University campus started its permanent collection with prints by Reed, the department’s founder. Doel Reed passed away in 1985, but his work continues to be shown and sold especially in the southwest where he made his home. Reed has work in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France; the Victoria and Albert, London, England; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia; the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts; the Fine Arts Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico; the Philbrook Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma; the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa and more.
Doel Reed, N. A. was born May 21, 1894 in Logansport, Indiana. Shortly after he moved to Indianapolis where he would spend the years of his youth. As a young man, Reed attended Saturday drawing classes at the John Herron Art Museum in Indianapolis; here he developed his tastes for and in art as well as his interest in its pursuit. One of the figures from the museum that strongly influenced his work was the famous painter and engraver Francisco Goya. Goya inspired the strong contrasts that exist in Reed’s own work. Reed also found inspiration from more contemporary artists such as Laura Knight’s “beautifully designed plates” (from the preface of Doel Reed Makes An Aquatint), Arthur Davis, Earl Horter, and Emil Ganso all of whom he mentions in the preface of Doel Reed Makes An Aquatint.
After high school Reed took an apprenticeship to an architect for four years before enrolling at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Here Reed discovered graphic design, the area in which he would make his name in aquatinting. After being enrolled at the Art Academy of Cincinnati for 1916 and 1917, Reed volunteered for service in World War I. Gas blinded Reed while he fought with the 47th Infantry in the U.S. Army, and his injuries hospitalized him for year. On his recovery he returned to the Art Academy where he discovered his interest in graphics. Since very few schools specialized in or taught graphics, Reed taught himself. His work in oils and caseins helped establish him; his aquatints, though, made him famous.
Reed married in 1920 and made his first etching for the birth announcement of his daughter. An associate, Joseph Henry Sharp, had told him about the “boundless beauty of the Southwest,” and reed moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma where he chaired the art department at Oklahoma State University from 1924 until retiring to Talpa, New Mexico in 1959. While at Oklahoma State, the National Academy of Design elected him to an Associate membership position, and in 1952 he achieved full Academician status. Talpa, the surrounding pueblos, and countryside of the Taos area had served as the subjects of many of the sketches he turned into prints during his time in Stillwater. He visited New Mexico and Arizona often on the advice of his associates and friends. It was his practice to sketch in the field, to set down the mood as quickly as possible, and then finish the painting or print back in his studio. His early base in architecture made buildings a focal point of much of his work.
A prominent member of the art community in Taos and New Mexico after 1960, Reed’s work has been exhibited in somewhere close to 350 juried shows, and he has won over 100 national and international awards for art. His subject matter consists mainly of southwest geography and the female form. He expressed that he felt that landscape is “most sympathetic to creative work” (from preface). The Gardiner Art Gallery on the Oklahoma State University campus started its permanent collection with prints by Reed, the department’s founder. Doel Reed passed away in 1985, but his work continues to be shown and sold especially in the southwest where he made his home. Reed has work in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France; the Victoria and Albert, London, England; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia; the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts; the Fine Arts Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico; the Philbrook Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma; the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa and more.
Extent
2 Linear feet (1 flat box, 2 folders)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Arranged into two series.
Location
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog or contact the Oklahoma State University Archives Reference staff.
Provenance
Gift of Martha Reed
Processing Information
Processed by Evan Rogers, June 2002.
Updated by Tawny Taylor, October 2010; Sarah Coates, February 2015.
Updated by Tawny Taylor, October 2010; Sarah Coates, February 2015.
Creator
- Reed, Doel, 1894-1985. (Artist, Person)
- Title
- Doel Reed Aquatints Collection Collection Number 1999-296
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Evan Rogers
- Date
- June 2002
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Oklahoma State University Archives Repository
Contact:
204 Edmon Low Library
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater 74078-1071 USA
libscua@okstate.edu
204 Edmon Low Library
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater 74078-1071 USA
libscua@okstate.edu