FOR EMBARGOED RELEASE
October 11, 2014
Contact: Sarah Smith
336.758.5524
smithsr@reynoldahouse.org
@SarahatReynolda
Reynolda House Receives Gift of Major Abstract Expressionist Painting
from Museum Founder Barbara Babcock Millhouse
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Oct. 11, 2014) – Reynolda House Museum of American Art recently
acquired “Birth,” a large-scale oil painting by Lee Krasner, one of American art’s most
distinguished abstract expressionist painters. Museum Executive Director Allison Perkins
announced the gift to an audience of more than 300 guests Friday, Oct. 10, at the museum’s
annual black-tie fundraising gala, An Evening for Reynolda.
The painting is on view in the museum’s exhibition “Love and Loss,” which opens to the public
today.
“Birth” is a gift from museum founding president Barbara Babcock Millhouse, who established
the museum’s American art collection in 1967 with nine paintings. Millhouse is the
granddaughter of R.J. Reynolds and Katharine Smith Reynolds, and daughter of Mary Reynolds
and Charles Babcock. She was the driving force behind the museum’s nationally recognized
collection that has grown to include masterworks of American painting, sculpture and
photography by such artists as Mary Cassatt, Frederic Church, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia
O’Keeffe and Gilbert Stuart, in addition to Krasner.
“Lee Krasner’s ‘Birth’ is a significant example of abstract expressionism, the first international
art movement to have its roots in New York rather than Europe,” said Perkins. “This gift from
our founding president Barbara Millhouse is an important addition to the collection at Reynolda
House Museum of American Art. The museum – and our audiences who visit us in person or
online – are fortunate to benefit from the generosity of such an esteemed collector.”
“Birth,” painted in 1956, is one of the first paintings Krasner created after the death of her
husband, fellow abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock, and is a vivid representation of her loss
and rage. The large canvas measures 83 inches tall by 48 inches wide and is marked by bold,
expressive brushstrokes in thick black paint and pink flesh tones.
“Birth” makes its debut as a part of the Reynolda House collection in an exhibition titled “Love
and Loss.” The exhibition examines the power of art to transform individual loss into
expressions of shared experience. In addition to “Birth,” the exhibition features three prints, one
painting and one sculpture by artists responding directly to the recent death of a beloved child,
spouse, sibling or friend. Reynolda House thanks its partner in presenting “Love and Loss,” the
Northwest Area Health Education Center of Wake Forest School of Medicine and part of the NC
AHEC Program. “Love and Loss” is on view through Oct. 18, 2015.
Images and detailed information about “Birth” are available on the museum’s website,
reynoldahouse.org.
Reynolda House Museum of American Art is one of the nation’s premier American art museums,
with masterpieces by Mary Cassatt, Frederic Church, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O’Keeffe and
Gilbert Stuart among its collection. Affiliated with Wake Forest University, Reynolda House
features changing exhibitions, concerts, lectures, classes, film screenings and other events. The
museum is located at 2250 Reynolda Road in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in the historic
1917 estate of Katharine Smith Reynolds and her husband, Richard Joshua Reynolds, founder of
the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Reynolda House and adjacent Reynolda Gardens and
Reynolda Village feature a spectacular public garden, dining, shopping and walking trails. For
more information, please visit reynoldahouse.org or call 336.758.5150. Connect at
facebook.com/rhmaa or @CurateReynolda.