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Park by the Sea
192217 3/8 x 22 3/8 in. (44.1 x 56.8 cm)
Maurice Prendergast
United States (St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, 1858 - 1924, New York, NY)
Object Type:
Watercolor
Medium and Support:
Watercolor with graphite on paper
Credit Line:
Gift of Mrs. Charles Prendergast
Accession Number:
1963.28
Location: Not currently on view
Throughout his life, Maurice Prendergast found delight and inspiration in the pleasant, sun-filled parks and beaches along the New England shore. He recalled happy moments there in brilliant watercolors, so remarkable in their energy and hue that they were likened, in Prendergast's day, to "an explosion in a color factory."
Trained as a theater poster painter, Prendergast became extraordinarily facile in watercolor, and he employed it throughout his career. The fluid medium was especially appropriate to Prendergast's expressions of the momentary, as the dance of light across the landscape and the rhythmic movements of bathers and picnickers could be suggested in quick dashes of luminous color.
Under the influence of French post-impressionistic painting, Prendergast's watercolors became increasingly abstract. This late example is typical in its brevity. The design is realized through a loose pattern of strong primary and secondary colors set against the bright white ground. Much of the sheet has been left to create scattered highlights and to heighten the viewer's awareness of the work as pure paint on paper.
[Gallery label text]
Trained as a theater poster painter, Prendergast became extraordinarily facile in watercolor, and he employed it throughout his career. The fluid medium was especially appropriate to Prendergast's expressions of the momentary, as the dance of light across the landscape and the rhythmic movements of bathers and picnickers could be suggested in quick dashes of luminous color.
Under the influence of French post-impressionistic painting, Prendergast's watercolors became increasingly abstract. This late example is typical in its brevity. The design is realized through a loose pattern of strong primary and secondary colors set against the bright white ground. Much of the sheet has been left to create scattered highlights and to heighten the viewer's awareness of the work as pure paint on paper.
[Gallery label text]
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Exhibition List
This object was included in the following exhibitions:
- Yesterday and Today: American Paintings of the Past Hundred Years Oswego Arts Center 6/4/1963 - 6/14/1963
- American Painting: the Tradition of Realism Tioga County Historical Society Museum 10/5/1964 - 10/30/2018
- Selections from the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery Albany Institute of History & Art 11/15/1964 - 12/20/1964
- Riches for Rochester: Recent Additions to the Permanent Collection 9/22/1965 - 10/31/1965
- John Sloan: Paintings, Prints, Drawings Hood Museum of Art 10/2/1981 - 1/2/1983
- American Drawings and Watercolors, 1800-1945: Selections from the Permanent Coll Memorial Art Gallery 10/31/1987 - 1/3/1988
- American Impressionism from MAG's Permanent Collection Memorial Art Gallery 4/13/2008 - 6/15/2008
- Becoming Modern: Armory Show Artists at MAG Memorial Art Gallery 1/25/2013 - 5/12/2013
Bibliography
This object has the following bibliographic references:
- Article Title: Rochester's Riches. Article Scope: Article and reproduction. Memorial Art Gallery. Gallery Notes. Rochester, New York: Memorial Art Gallery, 1935-1995. Volume Number: 31, Issue Number: 2. Issue Date: October, 1965.
- Memorial Art Gallery. ARTiculate. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 2000--.
- Article Author: Owens, Gwendolyn. Article Title: Maurice Prendergast: The Ships; Woodland Bathers. Article Scope: Mention and reproduction. Marjorie B. Searl, ed. Seeing America: painting and sculpture from the collection of the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 2006. Page Number: 131
- Article Scope: Exhibition Checklist. American Painting: The Tradition of Realism. Owego, NY: Tioga County Historical Society Museum, 1964.
Portfolio List
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Web Links
See links to web pages and lesson plans
Seeing America Inservice
Materials from a teacher in-service presentation Spring 2008
Seeing America
Mentioned & illustrated in chapter on Maurice Prendergast's paintings The Ships, and Woodland Bathers, written by Gwendolyn Owens.