The Peacemakers (mural)

The Peacemakers was a historic mural created by the Bruton sisters for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco.

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.

[2]: 104 The great colored relief of the Peacemakers, at the entrance to Treasure Island’s Court of the Pacific is the work of three artists known to their friends and public as The Brutons.

This collective term rather conceals the separate personalities of Margaret, Helen and Esther Bruton — but the truth is that since they are sisters, all blondes, all equally expert artists and craftsmen, and usually to be found working in a state of quite unsisterly harmony on some large commission, the average mind is incapable of disentangling one Bruton from the others.

Despite its grand scale, some contemporary critics have later critiqued the mural for its simplistic and naive portrayal of eastern cultures, reflective of the period's Eurocentric views.

Seated in the foreground is Esther Bruton ; Helen Bruton is wielding the brush; while Margaret Bruton stands watching the work with a critical eye. 1938. San Francisco Public Library.
Esther Bruton is shown here with a section of "The Peacemakers", a mural relief presented during the Golden Gate International Exposition.