“Daughters” appears to be a classical portrayal of the female nude in nature. Upon closer inspection, however, the scene is more surreal, as the perched figures of five unclothed women emerge from a web of branches, their own limbs growing from the tree in a Daphnean depiction. Intimate and powerful, there is no trace of romantic sexuality here, but rather a commentary on the inextricable connection between human and nature. The complexity of detail, which obscures direct narrative and allows the viewer to be led by their own imagination, recalls the work of Max Klinger.
Tobacco-Forrester’s work often centered around trees, with both her watercolors and her prints conveying the silent strength of cypress, oaks, and other flora of her surroundings in their twisting, aged beauty. This etching was done while the artist lived in California and another impression from the edition was exhibited in “Prints California” at the Oakland Museum in 1975.