WINSTON-SALEM, NC.-Reynolda House Museum of American Art will roll its fall exhibition opening and fortieth anniversary celebration into one wonderful weekend. Friday night, September 7, the public is invited to an opening reception for Wings of Adventure: Smith Reynolds and the Flight of “898 Whiskey”. A major focus of this exhibition is the 17,000 mile solo flight twenty year old Smith Reynolds took in 1931 and ’32 from London to Hong Kong in a Savoia Marchetti, a single engine Italian-made amphibious biplane. Smith was the youngest of R.J. Reynolds and his wife Katharine’s four children, and he and his siblings were completely swept up in the adventurous “golden age of aviation.” In fact, at age sixteen he was the youngest licensed pilot in America . At age ten, he and his fifteen year-old brother Dick built their own airplane on the estate, and to everyone’s amazement, it flew.

The centerpiece of Wings of Adventure will be an actual 1930 S-56 Savoia Marchetti displayed in the exhibition gallery and a wall map detailing Smith’s entire trip. The written chronicle he kept during his journey will be reissued and available for purchase. In addition the exhibition will contain art and decorative accessories that illustrate the excitement and influence aviation had on popular culture and the arts at that time. Related programs will further explore the impact of aviation on the national imagination and on cultural fields from film to literature to art.

September 8 marks the fortieth anniversary of Reynolda House as a museum featuring a superb collection of American art. The public is invited to a free visitation day on that Saturday, and there will be musical performances, readings and storytelling, and art activities for children throughout the day. Balloons and birthday cake will create a festive mood, and visitors and local celebrities will be asked to name their favorite Reynolda House art work. Museum staff and volunteers will be stationed throughout the historic house to discuss the art in each room and answer questions about Reynolda House and its history.