Samuel George Phillips

(American, 1890-1965)

Point Pleasant Home–Bucks County, Pennsylvania

oil on canvas

signed S. George Phillips (lower right)

25 x 30 in.

Property from the Collection of Renny Reynolds

Provenance:

Private Collection, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Gratz Gallery, New Hope, Pennsylvania, July 2005.

Lot Note:

Though well regarded during his lifetime for his commissioned portraits, landscape painting was really what Samuel George Phillips relished the most. He described his weekends spent in the Bucks County countryside as relaxing, but they also proved productive, yielding an important output of quaint Impressionist views. In Point Pleasant Home–Bucks County, Pennsylvania and Summer Shade Phillips showcases rural Pennsylvania through a bright, refreshing palette, keen draftsmanship, and a clever composition.

Point Pleasant Home–Bucks County, Pennsylvania and Summer Shade are works of both overt and concealed charm. A majestic tree takes up most of the composition, spreading its branches towards all four corners of the painting, but behind it, tucked in its shade, a cottage is revealed. In a similar gesture, the path in Point Pleasant Home slowly narrows as it winds and disappears into the wooded scenery, withdrawing from the viewer its likely idyllic destination.

The paintings thus morph into a playful escapade, a quest for enchantment, suggesting through subtle interplays of light and shade, of conspicuous and obstructed details, that a seemingly ordinary landscape is replete with beauty, if one is curious or attentive enough to discern the hidden charm in its folds.

In overall good condition. Stretcher stress visible across top left. Scattered surface soiling present throughout, predominantly dust accumulation (most noticeable in impasto areas). Area of what appears to be cosmetic retouching at upper right under UV. Additional images available upon request.

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Alasdair Nichol

EVP, Deputy Chairman

anichol@freemansauction.com 267.414.1211

Alasdair Nichol is Deputy Chairman of Freeman's. He previously served as Chairman of Freeman's, and he and two colleagues acquired the company in a friendly management buy-out in 2016.

He joined Freeman’s in 1999, and as an auctioneer of almost 30 years, has sold many significant collections, including The George D. Horst Collection of Fine Art, The Lehman Brothers Collection, The Collection of Dorrance "Dodo" H. Hamilton, The Stanley Bard Collection: A Life at the Chelsea, and numerous works that set new world auction records. He was instrumental in establishing Freeman’s departmental fine sales and has spearheaded the company’s mission of showcasing single-owner collections.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, he studied fine art at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen. He later graduated with a master's degree from the University of Ulster in Belfast, Northern Ireland. In 1985, he embarked on his career in the auction world in Edinburgh before moving to Glasgow, where he organized the first sale of Scottish contemporary art at the world-renowned Glasgow School of Art. He subsequently moved to a flagship saleroom in London where he specialized in Modern and Impressionist art before transferring to New York as Head of Fine Art in 1997. Since 1998 he has been a familiar face on the top-rated PBS television program Antiques Roadshow.

Adam Veil

VP, Head of Department, American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists

adamveil@freemansauction.com 267.414.1221

Adam Veil serves as Vice President and a Fine Art Specialist at Freeman’s.

Veil joined Freeman’s in 2021 following years of experience in both the auction world and the academy. His area of specialization is pre-WWII American Art, although he has lectured and published on topics ranging from Mexican landscape painting and Old Master printmaking to art market economics.

Veil earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in art history from Penn State University and pursued doctoral studies at Indiana University Bloomington. Prior to joining Freeman’s, Veil was Head of Fine Art at a Washington, D.C.-area auction house, and Executive Director of the Santa Fe Art Auction, where he oversaw market-setting auctions of classical and contemporary Western, Southwestern, and California art. He has also held positions in provenance research, art fair operations, and as editor and producer of The Conversation, a popular Los Angeles–based contemporary art podcast. Concurrent with his role at Freeman’s, Veil is a professor at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches courses in Renaissance, Modern, and American art history.

Garden Party: The Collection of Renny Reynolds

Point Pleasant Home–Bucks County, Pennsylvania

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