Boris Bernhard Gordon

The portrait painter Boris Gordon (1882–1976) had a skill for capturing likenesses and presenting his subjects in a straightforward but pleasing manner that appealed to his clients. For this reason, Katharine Smith Reynolds commissioned him to create portraits of several family members. The reason for the commissions between 1919 and 1921 may have stemmed from her desire to create a posthumous portrait of her husband, tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds, who had died in 1918.

Few biographical details are known about Gordon, including his birth date, which is variously given as 1882, 1888, or 1890. It is believed that he was born abroad, either in Switzerland or Russia, that he studied painting in Europe, and that he came to this country in 1906. He settled first in California but eventually moved east. Around 1920, he appears to have been living in New York, as one portrait of Katharine Reynolds is signed “Boris B. Gordon N.Y. 1920.” Gordon eventually settled in Texas but also had a studio in Washington, D.C., where he frequently painted statesmen including Presidents Hoover, Eisenhower, and Truman. According to the United States Senate website, “thirteen works by Gordon hang in the U.S. Capitol; another thirty-seven paintings are found in the collections of state capitols.” [1]

By the time Katharine Smith Reynolds invited him to Winston-Salem, Gordon appears to have established a solid reputation; the Winston-Salem Journal called him a “world-famous painter of portraits” when he visited in 1920. [2] Certainly, the Gordon portraits were highly prized by the Reynolds family. According to the 1922 Reynolda inventory, Gordon’s portraits of R.J.’s parents hung on the walls of the Reception Hall just outside the dining room, and the portrait of R.J. and his daughter Nancy hung on the north wall. [3]

[1] http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/artifact/Painting_32_00021.htm

[2] Winston-Salem Journal, May 22, 1920.

[3] Reynolda House inventory, 1922, Reynolda House Archives.