Robert James Reed Jr.

Robert James Reed Jr. of New Haven passed away December 26, 2014 at Yale Heath Services.

He is the husband of Susan Whetstone. Robert was born in Charlottesville, VA July 9, 1938 son of the late Robert J. and Elsie Armstead Reed Sr. He received a BS from Morgan State College in 1958, and a BFA and MFA from the Yale University School of Art in 1960 and 1962, respectively. In the summer of 1960, he attended the art division of the Yale Summer School of Music and Art, a program he would later serve as director of from 1970 to 1974. He was appointed to the faculty of Yale University School of Art in 1969 and has been a member of the faculty of the Yale School of Art’s Department of Printmaking and Painting for almost fifty years.

Robert has developed several intensive studio programs and is the founder and director of the Institute for Studio Studies in Auvillar, France, which is associated with the Yale Summer Session. He has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1980, an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2001, and the College Art Association’s Distinguished Teaching of Art Award in 2004.

Reed lectured extensively in this country and taught at Skidmore College and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where he was head of the Foundation Studies Division in 1964. He is the author of several intensive studio programs. He has also been a fellow at Yaddo and a board member for the McDowell Colony and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. In 1980 he was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2000 he received the national award from the National Council of Art Administrators, and in 2001 he received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. In 2004 Mr. Reed received the Distinguished Teaching of Art award from the College Art Association, and in 2009 he was elected to the National Academy Fellowship in New York. His work is represented by David Findlay Jr. Fine Art in New York. He is a lifetime member of the Silvermine Arts Center, New Canaan, CT and has served on the Board of Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, Old Lyme, CT.

Reed’s boldly articulated and richly hued geometric abstractions were widely exhibited and collected. Among the places they appeared in group shows were the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, the Biennial of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C., the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Yale University Art Gallery. Reed had solo shows at the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Bayly Museum in Charlottesville, Virginia; the Washburn Gallery in New York; and the McIntosh Gallery in Atlanta. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Hirshhorn Museum, the Walker Art Center, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Yale University Art Gallery, and the Bayly Museum.

Reed has been a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Alpha Iota Chapter, Morgan State since 1956.

He is the father of Dr. Lisbeth Jordan MD, and Mark Armstead Reed and his wife Christina Buchanan Reed, both of Seattle, WA. Brother of the late Fredericka Taylor. Grandfather of Rachel Reed and Kamile and Monroe Jordan. Also survived by his nephew Charles Taylor.

A memorial service will be held at a later date. Memorial contributions in Robert’s name may be made to and made payable to Yale University School of Art c/o Monica Robinson, Office of Development, Box 2038, New Haven, CT 06521 – 2038 with a notation for the Robert Reed Scholarship Fund. Please sign Robert’s guest book online at www.iovanne.com and please include your email address to be contacted with service information. The IOVANNE FUNERAL HOME INC. is in care of the arrangements. Sign Roberts guest book online at www.iovanne.com