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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 Art: Collection from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, January 25, 2001 – March 24, 2001.
“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.
“Art of the Everyman: American Folk Art from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT, May 28, 2014 – September 29, 2014.
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.
Paul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association, (Cooperstown, NYSHA ,1987), pp.42-43, ill. no. 16.
Agnes Halsey and Louis C. Jones, New-Found Folk Art of the Young Republic ([exh. cat.], Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1960), pp.27-28, n0. 56, ill. 56.
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, Paintings by New England Provincial Artists (exh. cat. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1979), pp.56-63.
Attributed to
John Brewster Jr.
(1766 - 1854)
Related Person
Eliphaz Thayer
Related Person
Deliverance Thayer
Deacon Eliphaz Thayer and His Wife, Deliverance
Date1795-1805
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsSight: 30 5/16 × 40 in. (77 × 101.6 cm)
Object numberN0271.1961
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextJohn Brewster, Jr. was deaf-mute from birth. He studied painting under Rev. Joseph Steward (1753-1822) and began to paint professionally by the early 1790s in the area around his native Hampton, Connecticut. By 1796, he relocated to Buxton, Maine, where he lived between periods of itinerancy. Brewster was enrolled in the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons from 1817 until 1820, after which he resumed his career as a painter. Throughout his successful career, Brewster traveled widely in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and eastern New York State. Eliphaz Thayer was a Revolutionary War veteran and deacon in the First Congregational Church in Braintree, Massachusetts. His house, built in 1785, still stands at the corner of Liberty and Middle Streets in Braintree.
Exhibition History“Folk Art from Cooperstown,” Museum of American Folk Art, New York, NY, March 29, 1966 – June 5, 1966.
“American Folk Art: Collection from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, January 25, 2001 – March 24, 2001.
“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.
“Art of the Everyman: American Folk Art from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT, May 28, 2014 – September 29, 2014.
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.
Paul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association, (Cooperstown, NYSHA ,1987), pp.42-43, ill. no. 16.
Agnes Halsey and Louis C. Jones, New-Found Folk Art of the Young Republic ([exh. cat.], Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1960), pp.27-28, n0. 56, ill. 56.
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, Paintings by New England Provincial Artists (exh. cat. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1979), pp.56-63.
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