Rosie Returns

One of the loveliest images in my book Sisters in Art is Rosie, a painting by Margaret Bruton from around 1926. This portrait of a woman with dark, bobbed hair wearing a flowered pareu was exhibited on multiple occasions in 1927. The work received glowing reviews and was reproduced three times in Bay Area newspapers. 

Rosie was first exhibited in January 1927 at Margaret Bruton's solo exhibition at the Galerie Beaux Arts in San Francisco. The Oakland Tribune stated that Rosie was "strongly and crisply handled...[with] planes and colors from the modern viewpoint." 

Oakland Tribune
Jan. 23, 1927

The painting then traveled south, where it was exhibited at the Painters' and Sculptors' Exhibition at the Los Angeles Museum of Art in April 1927. Rosie won second prize, notable because Margaret's piece outperformed that of her former teacher, Armin Hansen, whose work Tropic Waters took third prize in the competition. 

Rosie was exhibited a few months later at the Oakland Art Gallery in July 1927 and was described by the Oakland Tribune as "one of the stronger works...suggestive of Gauguin."

Oakland Tribune
July 24, 1927

I had learned from my research that the sitter for this portrait was not in fact a Tahitian native, but a resident of Monterey. I didn't know anything more until 2021, when I was contacted by a woman who hoped to get more information about the painting; her grandmother -- a spirited young woman from 1920s Monterey -- was the model for Rosie! Apparently, in 1926, her grandmother went to the barber to get her hair bobbed, without her parents' permission. A few weeks later she was approached by Margaret Bruton about posing for a painting, which she agreed to do (again, it is unlikely that her parents knew what she was doing!) Later, she saw the portrait reproduced in the Oakland Tribune; she clipped the article and added it to her scrapbook. 

The model for Rosie passed away in 1967. Her granddaughter, who discovered the reproduction of Rosie in her grandmother's scrapbook, spent years searching for the painting, calling museums, galleries, and art dealers and asking for advice on how to locate the piece. She was unsuccessful until 2021, when she learned about my research on the Bruton sisters and contacted me. I was able to provide her with a color reproduction of the work, its dimensions, and information about where and when it was exhibited. I could not, however, tell her where the work was presently located, or even if it had survived.

What I did know was that Margaret Bruton held on to Rosie for almost sixty years. It was one of many works she sold to the private collectors Walter Nelson-Rees and James Coran in 1982. Tragically, their home and extensive art collection was destroyed in the 1991 Oakland Hills wildfire.

Los Angeles Times
Oct. 23, 1991

What happened to Rosie? Did the collectors hold on to this piece until 1991, meaning it was destroyed in the fire? Or did they sell it earlier, meaning it might be out there somewhere? I just didn't know.

I didn't think much more about Rosie until a few months ago, when I was contacted again by the woman who had reached out five years ago with the story about her grandmother's connection to the painting. Remarkably, with the help of her son-in-law who did a google image search, she found Rosie for sale in a gallery in Santa Fe! Not only that, she was able to purchase this stunning painting of her grandmother which now hangs with pride in her home. 

Rosie returns and is back with her family

What a remarkable ending to this story! Not only did this beautiful work survive, it found its way "home" almost exactly one hundred years after it was painted. The family now has an heirloom -- and unique piece of art history -- that will be passed down for generations.

Sisters in Art was published almost five years ago, but the story of the Bruton sisters continues to develop and inspire. I can only hope that additional works will come forward as we uncover more about the remarkable careers of these talented women artists.