Brady, Carolyn (American, 1937-2005) Watercolor Painting. “Blue, Blue Delphiniums and Pink Orange Tulips”. Watercolor on handmade rag paper. Signed and titled on label on reverse. Deckle edge. In good condition. Measures 31” x 44 ”. Frame measures 39 ” x 53 ”. The painting is from the estate of Countess Consuelo Crespi (1928-2010), an American-born Italian countess who served the world of high fashion as a style-setting model and editor of Vogue (magazine) and Vogue Italia. Countess Crespi and her twin sister Gloria Schiff were famous New York fashion models in the 1940s and went on to become international fashion trendsetters and high-society insiders. Countess Crespi married Count Rudolfo Crespi (1924 -1985) in 1948 and they took up residence at the Palazzo Colonna in Rome. The count and countess were great sponsors of cultural life in Italy and the most elegant couple in Rome. Guests at the Crespis' Rome and New York dinner parties included Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Nureyev, Audrey Hepburn, Andy Warhol, the Fendi's, Steve Rubell, Valentino, Balthus, Maria Callas, Doris Duke, Henry Ford, Marcello Mastroianni, Gore Vidal, Cy Twombly, Bobby and Ethel Kennedy and the Shah of Iran and Empress Soraya.

NY Times: Brady was an American photorealist painter. Her work often consists of hyper-realistic watercolors of flowers and table settings. Brady arrived at her signature style in the mid-1970's, when realism was enjoying a revival. She began painting flowers in vases, table settings, and other scenes based on photographs that she took in and around her home. With their sharp focus, luminous colors, and dimensions as great as 60 by 90 inches, her paintings have a hyper-realistic visual impact rarely encountered in the medium of watercolor. Carolyn Brady was born on May 22, 1937, in Chickasha, Oklahoma. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Oklahoma in Norman in 1959 and went on to earn her Master of Fine Arts degree at the same school in 1961. She had her first solo exhibition in 1975 at Nancy Singer Gallery in St. Louis and the first of many New York solo shows at Nancy Hoffman Gallery in SoHo in 1977. Ms. Brady's works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington; and the Art Institute of Chicago, among numerous other institutions.

From Artsy: Carolyn Brady was a leading photorealist painter, who worked exclusively in watercolor and focused on three subjects: tabletop tableaux, gardens, and interiors—all of which included flowers. She once said, “I think that flowers are mediators between the human world and the spiritual world. I think that’swhy [people] like to see flowers, and have flowers.” Brady began her career as a textile designer, working in the studio of Jack Prince alongside Audrey Flack and Joseph Raffael. In 1991, Brady was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full member in 1994.