The painter Joan Brown and the sculptor Manuel Neri, both among the second generation of artists associated with the Bay Area Figurative movement, met in 1957 in a painting class taught by Elmer Bischoff at the California School of Fine Arts (later the San Francisco Art Institute)."Seated Girl II (Bather)" exemplifies the rich artistic exchanges shared by Brown and Neri throughout the early 1960s while they were married and sharing a studio and both exploring the expressive possibilities of the human figure. Brown likely sat for this work, which Neri sculpted in his signature material of roughly textured plaster. Brown and Neri collaborated on painting the sculpture, using bursts of primary colors and loose, gestural brushstrokes.