Freeman’s | Hindman to Offer the Collection of Renowned Garden & Event Designer Renny Reynolds
On September 21, Freeman’s Hindman will proudly offer Garden Party: The Collection of Renny Reynolds, an evocative and curated group of Pennsylvania Impressionists, British and American Furniture and Decorative Arts. The event conveys the refined sensibility of one of America’s foremost lifestyle experts, and offers a rare glimpse into the aesthetic sensibilities of a man whose work has redefined the American landscape.
A VISIONARY
Renny Reynolds (b. 1947) has been celebrated for decades for transforming both indoor and outdoor spaces into experiences of effortless elegance. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a degree in Landscape Architecture, Reynolds opened his first New York City shop in the early 1960s. His breakthrough came when fashion icon Bill Blass commissioned him to design the terrace garden for his townhouse—a project that set the stage for a storied career spanning five decades.
Founder of Renny & Reed, Reynolds’s lavish events and cultivated garden designs graced the pages of Architectural Digest, House & Garden, Town & Country, W, and Garden Design. He authored the best-selling The Art of the Party, lauded as the “party planner’s bible,” and orchestrated receptions at the White House for Presidents Ford, Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton.
His legendary soirées at Studio 54, complete with gilded Chinese junks for Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium launch and Bianca Jagger atop her iconic white horse, are now legendary
cultural lore. In 2008, the American Horticultural Society honored him with its highest accolade, the “Great American Gardener” Award.
AN ODE TO BUCKS COUNTY
In his ‘Dogs and Frogs’ Estate in the heart of Bucks County, Reynolds recreated a vision of Eden, both outside and inside, through a personal collection of paintings that echo the region’s bucolic charm.
Daniel Garber (American, 1880-1958) | Sycamore and Elm | Estimate: $50,000 - 80,000
Among the Fine Art highlights of the Reynolds collection are works by giants of the New Hope School, such as founder William L. Lathrop and Edward Redfield, as well as Fern Coppedge and Daniel Garber, the latter being represented by Sycamore and Elm (estimate: $50,000-80,000) a delicate view of bare trees on the verge of burgeoning, slowly transitioning to their Spring form and poetically illustrating Earth’s soft awakening from a long Winter.
Robert Spencer (American, 1879–1931) | Waterloo Row, 1917 | Estimate: $60,000 - 100,000
The top lot of the sale is Waterloo Row, a rare 1917 canvas by Robert Spencer (estimate: $60,000-100,000). Depicting a row of tenements in New Hope, where the artist relocated in the early 1910s, it shows the artist’s empathy for the local working class, which he often depicted - unlike other artists from the New Hope colony.
George Sotter, one of Redfield’s protégés, is well-represented in the Collection via three examples. From his luminous early summer scenes to the deeper purples of his later palette, Country Road at Twilight (1916, estimate: $40,000-60,000), Winter Evening (c. 1940s, estimate: $30,000-50,000) and Valley in Winter (estimate: $30,000-50,000) retrace Sotter’s stylistic evolution alongside Reynolds’s own lifelong passion for quaint and serene open-air vistas.
George William Sotter (American, 1879–1953) | Country Road at Twilight, 1916 | Estimate: $40,000 - 60,000
Other works by Clarence Johnson, Lilian Montague, Harry Leith-Ross, and RAD Miller complete the offering, emphasizing Reynold’s admiration for the Bucks County landscape over the years and across various styles.
The exquisite collection is complemented by a combination of British and American furniture, along with decorative arts. Renny’s lively interior style shines through in the carefully curated pieces. Formal Pennsylvania furniture is cleverly combined with unpretentious rustic items. Whimsical small objects and patterned textiles, such as an extensive array of English and European majolica, hooked rugs, metal lighting fixtures, and groups of miniature collectibles, enhance this arrangement. Outside, garden items take prominence, merging the boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces.
Exhibition & Auction Details
Highlights Exhibition
Phillips’ Mill, 2619 River Road, New Hope, PA – May 19, 12 pm–5 pm – May 20–21, 10 am–5 pm
Freeman’s | Hindman NYC Galleries, 32 E. 67th Street, New York, NY – July 21–25, 10 am–5 pm
Freeman’s | Hindman New York Galleries, 32 E 67t St, New York, NY – July 14-18, 10 am–5 pm (daily)
Pre-Sale Exhibition
Freeman’s | Hindman Philadelphia Galleries, 2400 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
September 15-21, 10am-5pm
Auction
Freeman’s | Hindman Philadelphia Galleries, 2400 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
Sunday, September 21 at 12 pm
Contact
Alasdair Nichol | [email protected]