Recensori in anteprimaWendy Van Wyck Good

Featuring color photographs and artwork, Sisters in Art is the first biography ever written about Margaret, Esther, and Helen Bruton, the three exceptionally talented sisters whose mark on the modernist California art scene still surrounds and impacts our world today. In the 1920s and 1930s, the press and elite artistic circles would have quickly recognized the distinguishable names of Margaret, Esther, and Helen Bruton for creating an eclectic body of modern art and creativity. Originally from Alameda, California, the sisters experimented with several mediums and styles, each eventually finding a specialization that expressed her the best: Margaret turned to oil paintings, watercolors, and terrazzo tabletops, one of which is showcased in a house in Carmel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; Esther became known for her murals, etchings, fashion illustrations, and decorative screens and contributed to the Cirque Room at the luxurious Fairmont Hotel; and Helen lost herself in large-scale mosaics, which are still displayed at the San Francisco Zoo and both UC Berkeley and USC campuses. All three sisters often collaborated with one another as well, one of their most important pieces being a celebrated mural that was the largest work of art at the 1939 World’s Fair in San Francisco. They often found themselves in the company of luminaries including Diego Rivera, Henry Matisse, Armin Hansen, Maynard Dixon, Frida Kahlo, Imogen Cunningham, Ansel Adams, and others. Disinterested in self-promotion, the Brutons received little to no credit—until more recently, as art historians and collectors unearth new discoveries and understandings of the sisters. Carefully researched and written by Wendy Good, recognized as the foremost expert on the Bruton sisters, Sisters in Art is the detailed history of the contributions that these three women made whose works continue to be eagerly studied and appreciated today.