Kay Renninger, photograph courtesy of the artist

I found that they (people) interfered with my designs, and I thought that if I didn't like people in my paintings, nobody else would either.-Katharine Steele Renninger, 1984

Painter Katharine Steele Renninger was interested in objects: their structure, forms and patterns. The objects tended to be common, such as egg beaters, baby carriages, orange crates, or gingerbread molding on a Victorian house. Often the groupings created abstract patterns using the themes of repetition and the effects of light and shadow.
Renninger worked almost exclusively in casein, a quick-drying milkbased medium that allowed her to depict intricate detail. Casein remained Renninger's exclusive medium for over forty years, helping to define her style. Her work can be compared with several important American realist painters including Charles Sheeler, Charles Demuth, Edward Hopper and with trompe l'oeil painters John Haberle and John Peto. She was an active supporter of the arts in Bucks County, Renninger was honored by a retrospective exhibition at the James A. Michener Art Museum in 1995. She had a solo exhibition at the William Penn Museum in Harrisburg in 1975 and was honored as Distinguished Pennsylvania Artist award the same year. She was awarded numerous prizes including Purchase Prizes at the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1978) and at the Woodmere Art Museum (1968); as well as four prizes from the National Society of Painters in Casein.