Maurice Prendergast 1858-1924
Works
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Study St. Malo, ca. 1907 Sold -
Park Scene Near Bay, c. 1910-13
Biography
Photo of Maurice Prendergast by Gertrude Käsebier
Born in St. John's, Newfoundland, Maurice Brazil Prendergast moved to Boston with his family in 1861. By his early twenties, the young Prendergast was apprenticed to a card painter, to which he attributed his life-long interest in flat, boldly-colored patterns. In 1891, Prendergast traveled with his brother Charles to Paris, where he studied and painted for the next four years, with Gustave Courtais at the Atelier Colarossi, and at the Académie Julian. His Parisian watercolors focus on the city's cosmopolitan splendors and invoke the fêtes champêtres of Watteau and the idylls in French parks by Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
Unlike these artists, however, Prendergast's technique assimilated the latest advances by Post-Impressionists including Cézanne, Matisse, and the Fauves. This second group of artists revolted against fidelity to nature by permitting artistic expression to dominate subject matter, and their innovations liberated Prendergast from a strictly academic or representational approach in his work. Prendergast mastered the post-impressionist techniques of flat, abstract fields of pure color, decorative patterning, and unusual angles and framing devices, earning him recognition as one of the first American modernists. He would replace nature with his own imagination, painting whimsical patterns in bold colors to create charming and sophisticated views of leisure – the parade of strollers in the park, the bustle of shoppers along the streets, and the holiday atmosphere of summer outings at the beach. Indeed, his work has been aptly described as tapestry-like or as resembling mosaics.
During the next twenty years, Prendergast spent time in Boston, Venice and Paris, where he continued to develop his painting technique. During the late 1890s, he began exhibiting at the New York Watercolor Club and by 1900, had his first one-man show at Macbeth Gallery. In New York, Prendergast affiliated himself with Robert Henri and The Eight, who shared Prendergast's rejection of academic tradition. In 1908, he participated in the exhibition of The Eight, also at Macbeth, and several years later, exhibited seven paintings in the pivotal 1913 Armory Show, for which he also served on the organizational committee.
Unlike these artists, however, Prendergast's technique assimilated the latest advances by Post-Impressionists including Cézanne, Matisse, and the Fauves. This second group of artists revolted against fidelity to nature by permitting artistic expression to dominate subject matter, and their innovations liberated Prendergast from a strictly academic or representational approach in his work. Prendergast mastered the post-impressionist techniques of flat, abstract fields of pure color, decorative patterning, and unusual angles and framing devices, earning him recognition as one of the first American modernists. He would replace nature with his own imagination, painting whimsical patterns in bold colors to create charming and sophisticated views of leisure – the parade of strollers in the park, the bustle of shoppers along the streets, and the holiday atmosphere of summer outings at the beach. Indeed, his work has been aptly described as tapestry-like or as resembling mosaics.
During the next twenty years, Prendergast spent time in Boston, Venice and Paris, where he continued to develop his painting technique. During the late 1890s, he began exhibiting at the New York Watercolor Club and by 1900, had his first one-man show at Macbeth Gallery. In New York, Prendergast affiliated himself with Robert Henri and The Eight, who shared Prendergast's rejection of academic tradition. In 1908, he participated in the exhibition of The Eight, also at Macbeth, and several years later, exhibited seven paintings in the pivotal 1913 Armory Show, for which he also served on the organizational committee.
In 1914, Prendergast moved to New York. He lived there for the rest of his life and spent his summers painting on the New England coast. He was ardently supported by the collectors John Quinn and Albert C. Barnes and his work resides in many institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
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