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Esther Bruton
Bruton with a section of "The Peacemakers", a bas relief mural during the Golden Gate International Exposition
Born
Anne Esther Bruton

(1896-10-17)October 17, 1896
Alameda, California, U.S.
DiedAugust 31, 1992(1992-08-31) (aged 95)
Monterey, California, U.S.
EducationArt Students League of New York, New York School of Fine and Applied Arts
Known forPainting, Printmaking, Mosaic, Ceramics, Commercial Art
Esther Bruton as a queen of Cambodian Parilia pageant with Victor Arnautoff, 1936

Anne Esther Bruton (October 17, 1896 – August 31, 1992), known professionally as Esther Bruton, was an American artist whose activities included painting, printmaking, mosaics, ceramics, and commercial art.

Early life and education

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Born in Alameda, California, Esther was the middle child in an artistic family, with sisters Margaret Bruton and Helen Bell Bruton. After high school in Alameda, she moved to New York City to study at the Art Students League of New York, under the tutelage of George Bridgeman from 1917 to 1918.[1]: 32  She also studied commercial art at the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, now known as Parsons The New School for Design.[2][3]

Career

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Marker 871 on Cass Street, Monterey

Esther began her career as an advertising illustrator for Lord and Taylor Department store where she worked until 1921. She later worked for the San Francisco I. Magnin department store as a fashion illustrator upon her return to Alameda in 1921. Her travels took her to Tahiti in 1924 and Europe in 1925, studying at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris with her sister Margaret Bruton.[1]: 33  In 1929, she left commercial art to focus on painting and joined her mother and sister Margaret in Taos, New Mexico, where she created significant works inspired by the local culture.[1]: 33 

There were two periods when Esther Bruton resided in Monterey, California. The family built and furnished a house in Monterey[1]: 52  and stayed in it "on and off" as it was their summer place and "Monterey was small and simple at that time".[4] Helen recalls:[5]

"[..] we were here in Monterey from about 1922 to 1929, and that’s what I consider the golden age of Monterey from my standpoint because it was so lovely and there was such an interesting group of artists here at the time. It was a very stimulating period. Of course, Armin Hansen had a class and a lot of the younger people gravitated around his class, but there were others. There was Price, and Gay, and the other people who were painting on their own, and I was on the fringe, sculpting, supposedly."

In 1929 her etching "Gentlemen of the Jury" was part of an exhibition in the Beaux Art Galerie. [6]

Cirque Room Esther Bruton Panorama
Cirque Room Esther Bruton Panorama
The Cirque Room at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco

When Timothy L. Pflueger designed cocktail lounges in several hotels, following the end of Prohibition, she painted murals for the Fairmount Hotel's Cirque Room in San Francisco in 1935.[1]: 32  She was associated with the Monterey Group of painters who were meeting at the Stevenson's House. Some of them were associated with the Society of Six.[7]

Throughout the 1930s, Esther exhibited her work widely in California and served as the chairman of the jury for the fifty-seventh Annual Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association at the San Francisco Museum of Art. She was an active member of the California Society of Etchers and continued her involvement with the San Francisco Art Association.[1]: 45 

Esther was a lifelong friend of Ina Perham.[2]: 165  They traveled to Virginia City in September 1932 where they worked together.[2]: 61  They would wake up at 6:30 a.m. and begin to work at 8 a.m. or "a little later". There is a movie fragment of Bruton sisters riding horses with Ina. [8]: 37:55 

In 1936 she was selected as a queen of the Parilia pageant with Victor Arnautoff as a king. [9][10] [11]

Together with her sisters, she created The Peacemakers, a historic mural for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition. [2]: 104  Housed within Timothy Pflueger's Court of Pacifica, the mural was a dramatic work spanning 144 feet wide by 57 feet tall, representing the collaborative peace between the countries of the East and West. The mural combined elements from Eastern and Western cultures, symbolizing peace across the Pacific. At its center stood two large figures, a Buddha and a kneeling woman, flanked by friezes of 24-foot tall figures and famous architectural landmarks. The Bruton sisters utilized a unique technique, carving the design into masonite panels to create a bas-relief effect, allowing for depth and shadow play when illuminated.

Esther's renderings for the Dole Pineapple Company captured the essence of Hawaiian landscapes in an advertising booklet with such success that selections were featured in national magazine advertisements in Ladies Home Journal and Pictorial Review in late 1936. Although not personally acquainted with Hawaii, Esther infused her work with the tropical ambiance gleaned from her visit to Tahiti. In addition to her work for Dole, Esther contributed to the California-Hawaiian Sugar Company's marketing efforts. She illustrated a booklet entitled "Behind Your Sugar Bowl" and was responsible for the design of murals in the company's San Francisco office in the Matson Building.[12][1]: 44 

In 1963, she, along with her sisters, created one of the images of Buddha in the Buddha’s Universal Church in Chinatown.[13] Esther portrayed Buddha at the approximate age of 20, with his right hand upturned, symbolizing welcome and guidance. [8]: 46:16 

She was married in 1941 to Carl Hooper Gilman.[8]: 45.33  [14]

Death

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Esther Bruton died in Monterey, California, at the age of 95 on August 31, 1992.

References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bruton sisters art.
  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Helen Bruton". California Art Research, Volume Sixteen, First Series, Abstracts from the WPA project 2874 (PDF). 1937. pp. 51–67.
  2. ^ a b c d Good, W. V. W. (2021). Sisters in Art: The Biography of Margaret, Esther, and Helen Bruton. West Margin Press. ISBN 978-151-328-9519.
  3. ^ "Interview with Helen Bruton, Margaret Bruton, and Edith Hamlin. Videorecordings relating to New Deal art in California, 1975-1976. February 27th, 1975. Creator: de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University. Tape 2". Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  4. ^ "Interview with Helen Bruton, Margaret Bruton, and Edith Hamlin. Videorecordings relating to New Deal art in California, 1975-1976. February 27th, 1975. Creator: de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University. Tape 1". Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  5. ^ "Oral history interview with Helen and Margaret Bruton, 1964 December 4 (An interview of Helen and Margaret Bruton conducted by Lewis Ferbraché on 1964 December 4 for the Archives of American art New Deal and the Arts Project.)". Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  6. ^ Kistler, Aline (December 1, 1929), "Bruton Sisters Exhibit work at Galerie", ?[section Notes of Art and Artists]
  7. ^ Boas, Nancy (1997). The Society of Six: California Colorists. University of California Press.
  8. ^ a b c William Lorton (Director) (2020). Ina's Circle (Documentary). United States: DAvenport 3-2614.
  9. ^ Anne Esther Bruton, Santa Rosa Republican, Santa Rosa, California, 02 Jan 1936, Thu • Page 6
  10. ^ Cherny, R. W. (2017). Victor Arnautoff and the Politics of Art. University of Illinois Press.[Section 7 and Figure 7.1]
  11. ^ In the book "Victor Arnautoff and the Politics of Art" it is Helen Bruton who was selected as a queen. "On January 17, 1936, the San Francisco Art Association presented the fourth Parilia pageant at what is now known as the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, previously called the San Francisco Exposition Auditorium. A massive crowd witnessed participants from various art groups showcase their talents, backed by an orchestra of thirty instruments. The spectacle started at 11 p.m., ran for an hour and a half, and concluded with dancing that went on until the early hours. Victor Arnautoff took on the role of Kambu, the monarch of the Kambuja realm of the Khmers. Kambu was believed to have wed Nāga, a divine deity who adopted human appearance for their marriage. The role of Nāga was enacted by Helen Bruton. The event was organized by the San Francisco Art Institute."
  12. ^ Papanikolas, Theresa and DeSoto Brown, Art Deco Hawai'i, Honolulu, Honolulu Museum of Art, 2014, ISBN 978-0-937426-89-0, p. 65
  13. ^ The San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, California, 25 Sep 1963, Wednesday, Page 24
  14. ^ Anne Esther Bruton wed Carl Hooper Gilman in Apr 1941 in New Orleans. Monrovia News-Post Monrovia, California, 19 Apr 1941, Sat • Page 3
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