Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower left, Watkins '68. With an inscription on the upper stretcher detailing the subject and circumstances of the portrait, presumably written by the subject. 

This portrait of Mrs. Garrett (1924-2012) was painted in the same studio as the accompanying portrait of her husband (lot 91)), over 20+ sittings between January and May of the following year, with Watkins suffering from health issues, a surgery and hospitalization between sittings.  

28 1/2" x 21 1/4", framed to 37" x 30"

Watkins was a well known painter of dramatic realism.  After serving in WWI as a camouflage artist with the US Navy, studying in Europe, and working as a commercial artist, Watkins had long careers as a painter, muralist and teacher in Philadelphia.  He won the Carnegie Prize in 1931, introducing Watkins to Philadelphia high society, where he quickly rose to prominence as a portraitist.  In 1941 he was commissioned to paint President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but the sitting was cancelled and never rescheduled due to the attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent war. 

In 1950, the Museum of Modern Art held a solo exhibition of his work. In the exhibition essay, Andrew Richie writes “Watkins has produced some of the finest portraits painted today in America … Most modern painters have avoided the commissioned portrait because they refused to be bound by conventional portrait requirements of a good likeness or a flattering pose.  Watkins … has succeeded in dignifying his sitters by going beyond mere likeness and studio pose and painting a picture first of all.  His sensitive perception of personality, often conveyed through a casual gesture, and by relating the sitter to his own intimate surroundings, is the most outstanding feature of his work.”

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