Review 538: Flower Diary

Flower Diary: In Which Mary Hiester Reid Paints, Travels, Marries & Opens a Door by Molly Peacock
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I first heard about this book, a cursory description from the publisher, I thought it sounded interesting. Later, after receiving a print copy of the book I wasn’t so sure. What do I know about art and painting? Nothing.

I started reading just the beginning to see if I actually wanted to read the book, and I just kept going. The author started her writing career as a poet and it shows in this book’s writing style. Without knowing who these people are, nor anything about art, the writer drew me in and had me keep reading.

This book describes the life of an American-Canadian woman painter, Mary Hiester Reid (1854-1921). The author does a thorough job of researching her life and finding what little there is her through letters or from the biography of her perhaps more well known husband George Reid (1860-1947). (Knowing nothing about the art world, maybe both are equally well known?) She was a force for her time, breaking through the art world when it was male dominated.

The book includes images of Mary’s paintings, and a few from George. The print copy I have they are all in black and white, unfortunately. I did look a few up on the internet, but the author actually describes the paintings somewhat well, such as discussing the color and brush strokes. The paintings are analyzed, meaning is found and placed upon Mary (or George) and emotion, quite a lot of emotion. And it is using these paintings that give significant meaning to Mary’s life and this biography.

Between each chapter is an “Interlude”. The paper here is not white, but a light gray. Many times the interlude is about the author’s life, Molly Peacock, but sometimes it is tangential to the lives of the Reids. With this interlude we get a bit of autobiography, without this I would say the book tended towards the academic, even though it is fairly readable.

This turned out to be quite an enjoyable and interesting book, and just maybe I learned a tiny bit about art.