A long time ago, on a palette far far away, Mary Hiester Reid died, a virtually unknown Canadian cultural commodity. Well, thanks to the Art Gallery of Ontario, this artist's works are coming to light. But first, an interesting slice of history.

Mary Hiester Reid Chrysanthemums, A Japanese Arrangement c.1895 oil on canvas ©Art Gallery of Ontario

Mary Hiester (a Yank by birth) went to the Pennsylvania Academy of Art to study under the tutelage of Thomas Eakins, a controversial arts teacher. There she met her future husband, Canadian George Agnew Reid. The two returned to Toronto to set up house and Hiester set out to become one of central figures in the city's local art community.

Hiester was one of the first women accepted into the Ontario Society of Artists and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. She was celebrated for her "study and interpretation of Nature in those aspects that appealed most to her...glimpses of spring and autumn woodland, moonlit vistas, gorgeously colourful gardens, lovely skies, divinely tinted ends of evening, and the countless flowers of the fields...."

Her friend and colleague, C.W. Jefferys once remarked, "The number of Canadian painters of distinction is as yet small, but in the short list of those who have shed light upon the path and given direction to the early steps of Canadian Art, the name of Mrs. Reid will always have a prominent role." Now as bonny as all of this sounds, in terms of artistic recognition it meant virtually nothing. Female artists of her generation weren't taken seriously and Hiester's ouevre remained untouched for nearly 80 years.

Fast-forward to the 21st century. Arts lovers can see "Reid's artistic vision, expressed through her flower still-lifes, interiors and landscapes, integrated with the beauty of Nature into domestic life," on show at the AGO. The artist incorporated poetic colour harmonies with an exquisite sense of composition to embrace an ideal of refined taste and artistic expression.

The AGO hope that this exhibition will revive Mary Hiester Reid's "name and present her work for public viewing once more."

Forty-five paintings are accompanied with essays which place a special emphasis on Mary Hiester Reid's life, as well as her interest in the burgeoning women's rights movement of the time.