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Exhibition History“Folk Art from Cooperstown,” Museum of American Folk Art, New York, NY, March 29, 1966 – June 5, 1966.
“American Folk Painters of Three Centuries,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, February 26, 1980 – May 13, 1980.
“Is She or Isn’t He? Identifying Gender in Folk Portraits of Children,” Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, Sandwich, MA, May 13, 1995 – October 29, 1995.
“Folk Art Masters,” The Mennello Museum of American Folk Art, Orlando, FL, September 19, 2001 – January 6, 2002.
“A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster Jr.,” Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, January 25, 2007 – March 25, 2007; American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY, October 4, 2006 – January 7, 2007; Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT, May 17, 2006 – September 10, 2006; The Mennello Museum of American Folk Art, Orlando, FL, February 5, 2006 – April 30, 2006; Fenimore House Museum (traveling), Cooperstown, NY, April 1, 2005 – December 31, 2005
“Securing the Shadow: Posthumous Portraiture in America,” American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY, October 5, 2016 – February 26, 2017.
BibliographyPaul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, "Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association," (Cooperstown, New York, 1987), pp.44-45, ill. No. 17.
Agnes Halsey and Louis C. Jones, "New-Found Folk Art of the Young Republic" (exh.cat., Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1960), pp. 27-28, no. 57, ill. 57.
Harlan Lane. A Deaf Artist in Early America: the Worlds of John Brewster Jr., (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2004), front cover, pp.3, ill., 26-53, ill.
Peter Tillou, Where Liberty Dwells: 19th-Century Art by the American People; works of art form the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Tillou (exh. cat. 1976), pp. 13, 14, 104.
Nina Fletcher Little, “John Brewster Jr. 1766-1854: Deaf-Mute Portrait Painter of Connecticut and Maine,” Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin, vol.25, n.4, (October 1960), p. 108, fig. 26, on p.125, fig.25, fig. 34 and 35 on p.127, pp.97-129.
Louis C. Jones and Agnes Halsey, “New-Found Folk Art of the Young Republic” (exh. cat., Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1960), pp. 27-29, n.60, ill.60.
Artist
John Brewster Jr.
(1766 - 1854)
Subject
Francis O. Watts
(1803 - 1860)
Francis O. Watts with Bird
Date1805
MediumOil on wood panel
DimensionsSight: 40 1/4 × 31 in. (102.2 × 78.7 cm)
Object numberN0265.1961
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextBrewster's serene and ethereal portrait of Francis O. Watts is one of his most compelling portraits of a child. In this work Francis' white dress and the peaceful landscape he inhabits emit a palpable sense of the silence that was familiar to Brewster as a deaf artist.
Watts was born to the Kennebunkport couple Francis and Mehitable (Lord) Watts. Brewster used muted colors, a bird, a wide-eyed expression and a naturalistic landscape to express the child's innocence. The bird on the string symbolizes mortality because only after the child's death could the bird go free, just like the child's soul. Infant mortality was high during Brewster's time and artists employed this image often in association with children.
Watts married Caroline Goddard also of Kennebunkport. He entered Harvard at the age of fifteen and by 1825 was a practicing lawyer. As an adult he was a community leader, becoming the first President of the Young Men's Christian Association. He died in 1860.Exhibition History“Folk Art from Cooperstown,” Museum of American Folk Art, New York, NY, March 29, 1966 – June 5, 1966.
“American Folk Painters of Three Centuries,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, February 26, 1980 – May 13, 1980.
“Is She or Isn’t He? Identifying Gender in Folk Portraits of Children,” Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, Sandwich, MA, May 13, 1995 – October 29, 1995.
“Folk Art Masters,” The Mennello Museum of American Folk Art, Orlando, FL, September 19, 2001 – January 6, 2002.
“A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster Jr.,” Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, January 25, 2007 – March 25, 2007; American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY, October 4, 2006 – January 7, 2007; Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT, May 17, 2006 – September 10, 2006; The Mennello Museum of American Folk Art, Orlando, FL, February 5, 2006 – April 30, 2006; Fenimore House Museum (traveling), Cooperstown, NY, April 1, 2005 – December 31, 2005
“Securing the Shadow: Posthumous Portraiture in America,” American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY, October 5, 2016 – February 26, 2017.
BibliographyPaul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, "Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association," (Cooperstown, New York, 1987), pp.44-45, ill. No. 17.
Agnes Halsey and Louis C. Jones, "New-Found Folk Art of the Young Republic" (exh.cat., Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1960), pp. 27-28, no. 57, ill. 57.
Harlan Lane. A Deaf Artist in Early America: the Worlds of John Brewster Jr., (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2004), front cover, pp.3, ill., 26-53, ill.
Peter Tillou, Where Liberty Dwells: 19th-Century Art by the American People; works of art form the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Tillou (exh. cat. 1976), pp. 13, 14, 104.
Nina Fletcher Little, “John Brewster Jr. 1766-1854: Deaf-Mute Portrait Painter of Connecticut and Maine,” Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin, vol.25, n.4, (October 1960), p. 108, fig. 26, on p.125, fig.25, fig. 34 and 35 on p.127, pp.97-129.
Louis C. Jones and Agnes Halsey, “New-Found Folk Art of the Young Republic” (exh. cat., Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1960), pp. 27-29, n.60, ill.60.
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