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Maurice Prendergast was one of the first Americans to understand and incorporate European modernism into his work, especially the imagery of the Nabis and Post-Impressionists. His watercolors, monotypes and oils are among the finest achievements of the early twentieth century.
Born in St. Johns, Newfoundland in l858, Prendergast grew up in Boston. As a youth, he was apprenticed to a commercial artist and learned illustration skills that were to provide an income while he was painting his early watercolors.
It was not until he went to Paris in l89l that he began his formal training, studying at Colarossi's and the Academie Julian. He befriended a number of artists, notably the Canadian painter James Morrice, with whom he made a number of sketching excursions. It was also through Morrice that he was first exposed to contemporary French art: the Neo-Impressionists, the Symbolists and the Nabis. Henceforth, Prendergast would express his preference for boldly colored, flat forms in brilliantly patterned works.
By l895 he had returned to his brother Charles' home in Winchester, Massachusetts, where he assisted him in his framing business and embarked on sketching trips to nearby beaches and parks.
A second European trip from l898 to l900 brought Prendergast in contact with Italian Renaissance paintings, particularly the work of Vittore Carpaccio. His sparkling Venetian watercolors and monotypes are of this period. Prendergast continued to make periodic trips to Europe throughout his career in order to gain exposure to fresh influences.
In l908, the artist was included in the famous Macbeth Gallery show of the "Eight." Reviewers were more astonished by his bright promenade scenes than by Robert Henri's and John Sloan's depictions of the bleak side of urban life. Yet Prendergast continued to exhibit in group and solo shows with little praise until the Armory Show of l9l3 when his work suddenly appeared in line with contemporary European painting. By the l920s, Maurice was mentioned in reviews as "the first American Modernist," and his fellow artists, such as Walter Pach, credited him with being the first American to understand Cézanne.
Both brothers, but especially Maurice, who went deaf, were reclusive. In Boston, they were out of the crosscurrents of modern art, and even after they moved to New York in l9l4, they spent most of their time working on their own artistic pursuits. Charles was a painter in his own right but also carved the frames for most of his brother's work.
Maurice's late work included portraits, imaginary landscapes, nudes and mural decoration. He explored the oil medium beginning around l900 until his death, using increasingly thicker applications of paint.
Prendergast is represented in most of the major public and private collections in this country, including the Barnes Foundation, Carnegie Institute, Cleveland Museum of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
LB
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