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In the early 1960s, Charles H. Babcock (1899–1967) gave the house and its contents, presumably including this painting, to the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. The house was then incorporated as a museum and collection—Reynolda House, Inc.—on December 18, 1964, with the signing of the charter at its first board meeting. The museum first opened to the public in September 1965.
Notes:
[1] Various sources disagree about Gordon’s birth date, citing 1882, 1888, and 1890.
ProvenanceFrom 1964
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, acquired in 1964. [1]
Notes:
[1] In the early 1960s Charles H. Babcock (1899-1967) gave the house and its contents to the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. The house was then incorporated as a museum and collection (Reynolda House, Inc.) on December 18, 1964 with the signing of the charter at its first board meeting. The museum first opened to the public in September 1965.
Exhibition History
DepartmentHistoric House
Nancy Jane Cox Reynolds
Artist
Boris Bernhard Gordon
(1882 - 1976)
Datecirca 1920
Mediumoil on canvas
DimensionsFrame: 41 1/2 x 36 1/2 in. (105.4 x 92.7 cm)
Canvas: 30 1/4 x 25 in. (76.8 x 63.5 cm)
SignedBoris B. Gordon.
Credit LineReynolda Estate
CopyrightPublic Domain
Object number1966.2.95
DescriptionThis portrait by Boris Gordon depicts Nancy Jane Cox Reynolds (1825–1903), the mother of tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds. [1] Against a plain brown backdrop, she wears an austere black dress, white lacy collar, and decorative brooch. Her expression is serious and unsmiling. Her hair is parted in the middle and arranged in a bun on the top of her head. Her hair and clothes appear to date to the late nineteenth century rather than the twentieth, when Gordon painted this work. It is likely that the painting was based on a photograph, since Mrs. Reynolds had died in 1903.In the early 1960s, Charles H. Babcock (1899–1967) gave the house and its contents, presumably including this painting, to the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. The house was then incorporated as a museum and collection—Reynolda House, Inc.—on December 18, 1964, with the signing of the charter at its first board meeting. The museum first opened to the public in September 1965.
Notes:
[1] Various sources disagree about Gordon’s birth date, citing 1882, 1888, and 1890.
ProvenanceFrom 1964
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, acquired in 1964. [1]
Notes:
[1] In the early 1960s Charles H. Babcock (1899-1967) gave the house and its contents to the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. The house was then incorporated as a museum and collection (Reynolda House, Inc.) on December 18, 1964 with the signing of the charter at its first board meeting. The museum first opened to the public in September 1965.
Exhibition History
Status
Not on view