Morrell's Spinning Wheel and Wool Winder

In 1948 Katharine Renninger started experimenting with the quick-drying medium casein, which allowed her to develop a style by which images are rendered in a crisp, meticulous manner while also allowing the brushstroke and canvas texture to remain visible. As early as the 1950s and ’60s, Renninger began creating a series of paintings that took their subject matter from the changing display of antiques in the windows of Morrell’s Antique Shop in Newtown, Pennsylvania. These works reveal the artist’s interest in using dramatic light to create mood and distill the essence of form. During the 1980s she began to explore the structure, form, and abstract patterns found in such objects as old wooden boxes and crates.