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Exhibition History“A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster, Jr.,” Portland Museum of Art, 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, June 4, 2006 – September 10, 2006; Mennello Museum of American Art, Orlando, FL February 5, 2006 – April 30, 2006; Fenimore House Museum, April 1, 2005 – December 31, 2005.
BibliographyHarlan 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.
Nina Fletcher Little, "John Brewster, Jr., 1766-1854: Deaf-Mute Portrait Painter of Connecticut and Maine," Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin 25 (October 1960), p.107, illus. as fig. 20 and fig. 21 on p. 123.
Paul 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.46-48, illus. as no. 18 on p. 47..
Agnes Halsey and Louis C. Jones, "New-Found Folk Art of the Young Republic" (exh. cat, Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1960), pp. 27-28, no. 58 and 59, ills. 58 and 59.
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.
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.
Attributed to
John Brewster Jr.
(1766 - 1854)
Gentleman in a Landscape
Datec. 1805
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsSight: 28 1/4 × 23 1/4 in. (71.8 × 59.1 cm)
Object numberN0268.1961(01)
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextBrewster created these dramatic compositions by depicting the unidentified solemn-faced sitters against a vast and open landscape. Typical of Brewster’s style are the subjects’ penetrating gazes, the precise rendering of their facial features, and the lesser expertise applied to their hands. These portraits are a departure for the artist, who typically placed his subjects in an interior scene against a neutral background or outdoors in an intimate setting. Exhibition History“A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster, Jr.,” Portland Museum of Art, 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, June 4, 2006 – September 10, 2006; Mennello Museum of American Art, Orlando, FL February 5, 2006 – April 30, 2006; Fenimore House Museum, April 1, 2005 – December 31, 2005.
BibliographyHarlan 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.
Nina Fletcher Little, "John Brewster, Jr., 1766-1854: Deaf-Mute Portrait Painter of Connecticut and Maine," Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin 25 (October 1960), p.107, illus. as fig. 20 and fig. 21 on p. 123.
Paul 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.46-48, illus. as no. 18 on p. 47..
Agnes Halsey and Louis C. Jones, "New-Found Folk Art of the Young Republic" (exh. cat, Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1960), pp. 27-28, no. 58 and 59, ills. 58 and 59.
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.
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.
On View
Not on viewc. 1885-1887