Ada Augusta Brewster, artist

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The Art of Ada Augusta Brewster
Born 1842 - Died 1929
Presented by: George Langford

Note: All of the fifty-four original paintings (and the photographic print of Miss Brewster)
whose images are shown here are my personal property.

About 1960 I met Miss Charlotte Cutts of Kingston, Massachusetts, a family friend, who gave me the personal collection of Miss Brewster's work which I describe here. Miss Cutts had been a friend of the Brewster family; and she died in 1961. One of the paintings has Miss Brewster's Kissimmee, Florida address and Miss Cutts' Massachusetts address written on the back.

Miss Ada Augusta Brewster was a Mayflower descendant who was born in the house called Woodside in Kingston, Massachusetts. She remained single her entire life. She chose art as her career and lived in Florida, California, New York, Georgia and crossed the American continent. She also frequented Cape Cod and Nantucket, finding suitable scenes.

As the photograph at left and the one painting below show, Miss Brewster also painted portraits. She was a contemporary of artist Louis Comfort Tiffany and in 1898 was Curator of the Ladies Art Association, 107 West 125th Street, NYC.

No Title: Girl in big hat.	No Title: Sailing.	No Title: Sailing.

No Title: Sailboats.	No Title: Swamp.

No Title: A pair of vignettes on a black mat.

No Places Named

The little girl's eyes have to be seen to be believed - this is a watercolor.

The sailboats and sailing images as well as the swamp are probably from Cape Cod ... Kissimmee, Florida is in the state's interior, near Lakes Tohopekaliga and Kissimmee.

On the other hand, the two vignettes at left have a more southern atmosphere ...

Title: "California."	Title: "Finest Tree in Ygnacio Valley."

California

These are the only two California paintings in this collection.

Each thumbnail image is linked to a larger image on a separate webpage.

High-resolution images are located separately in a protected directory.

Connecticut [?] Title: "Nowalk Fog."	Georgia: "Tallulah Falls."

Click on an image title to see the painting at maximum resolution; requires password.

Miss Brewster resided in Tallulah Falls, Georgia for a time. The view in her painting at left is presumably from the falls, looking downstream.

The painting at far left is titled "Nowalk Fog," and so I am guessing that Miss Brewster meant Norwalk, Connecticut.

Both paintings are watercolor on paper.

Title: "Oceanic Fog, New Jersey."	Title: "Willow, Red Bank, New Jersey."

Title: "Young Willows - New Jersey."

New Jersey

The upper two paintings at left are on both sides of a single sheet of paper.

The monochrome is on a separate sheet.

Title: "Hudson River Craft."	Title: "Road to Kissimmee."

Title: "Rainbow, Florida."	Title: "Sunrise, Florida."	Title: "Lemons & Blossoms, Florida"

Title: "Houseboats on Lake; Kissimmee, Florida"

Florida

Miss Brewster lived for a while in Kissimmee, Florida, where she painted the scenes shown at left and below.

The scene entitled, "Hudson River Craft" might bear some explanation, as the trees are festooned with Spanish moss, which isn't found in New York, where the Hudson River is located ...

The two paintings at left are oil on paperboard; the one at right is falling apart.

The two scenes entitled, "Rainbow, Florida" and "Sunrise, Florida," are on opposite sides of the same sheet of paper.

The scene at left, entitled, "Houseboats ..." is oil on canvas and has some explanation written illegibly (to me) on the reverse.

No title: Beached Dory.	Title: "Bradford Lane."	Title: "Bradford Rock" and "Thomas Bailey's house."

No title: Bird hunting.	No title: Chimney ruins.	No title: Church cluster.

Title: "Commercial Wharf."	Title: "Milford's Memorial Monument."	Title: "Madame Clisbey's Staircase."

No title: Fishermen's shacks.	No title: Shore train; there are two of these paintings.

No title: House and well.

Cape Cod, Massachusetts

These are with one exception all watercolors on paper; the one I call "Bird hunting" is oil on stiff paper.

Title: "Captain's Hill, Duxbury, Mass."	Title: "Whitewood on the Saguish."

Duxbury, Massachusetts

There are actually two of the small painting entitled, "Captain's Hill;" the other one came from eBay recently.

Title: "Cornstalk or Bamboo Teapot."	Title: "Screw Auger Invented by John Washburn."	Title: "Hartshorn for Medicinal Use."

Kingston, Massachusetts

Three drawings made for some sort of publication.

Marshfield, Mass.: Title: "Blue Fish Rocks."	Plymouth, Mass. Title: "Old Bagnall House."

Title: "Clam Shell Alley."	Title: "In Plymouth."	Title: "Clam Shell Alley."

Plymouth, Massachusetts

Except for the one from Marshfield ...

The two paintings entitled, "Clam Shell Alley" are not the same at all; they show the alley from different ends, with the same tree appearing in both paintings. They are watercolors on paper. The monochrome is also on paper.

Title: "Auld Lang Syne."	Title: "Dr. Sharp's House"	Title: "Old Coffin House."

Title: "Old Mill Built 1746."	Title: "Oldest House in Siasconset, Mass."	Title: "Old Mill in Orleans, Mass."

Title: "Tea Garden, Nantucket."	Title: "Waldorf Astoria, Jr."	Title: "West Dover Street, Nantucket."

Nantucket, Massachusetts

Some of these houses may still be standing.

For example, the house called "Old Lang Syne" is featured in a number of Nantucket postcards; some of the pictures show quite a little growth of the beech tree standing behind the house in Miss Brewster's painting; in others, the tree is gone, sadly.

The mills in the two paintings at left are clearly the same one, viewed from different directions.

These are all watercolors on paper.

Title: "Over The Hill."