Brothers

Susan C. Waters (1823-1900) was an American painter known for the portraits and animal paintings that make her one of the most interesting women artists of the 19th-century American folk art tradition. Brothers from c. 1845 depicts two boys in the direct, unaffected manner that distinguishes Waters's best work from the more formal portraiture of her contemporaries. The c. 1845 date places this in Waters's early period, when she was producing the portraits and animal paintings that are her most accomplished works in the American folk art tradition.

Brothers is important in the context of 19th-century American folk art because it demonstrates the direct, unaffected manner that Waters brought to portraiture as one of the most interesting women artists of the American folk art tradition. Waters's portraits—combining direct observation with the unaffected charm of folk art—represent an important alternative to the more formal portraiture of the period, and the c. 1845 painting shows this alternative at its most accomplished.

Brothers is Waters's American folk portraiture: two boys rendered in the direct, unaffected manner of one of the most interesting women artists of the 19th-century American folk art tradition. The c. 1845 painting shows the folk art alternative to formal portraiture—direct observation with unaffected charm.