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Maurice Brazil Prendergast 1858 - 1924
Description
- Maurice Brazil Prendergast
- Park Street Church, Boston
- signed Prendergast (lower right)
- watercolor and pencil on paper
- 11 by 15 1/4 inches
- (27.9 by 38.7 cm)
- Executed circa 1905-07.
Provenance
Mrs. William Steele Gray (acquired from the above)
Mrs. G. Holmes Perkins
Davis & Long Company, New York, 1981
Mr. and Mrs. L.S. MacPhail, Jr., New York, 1981 (acquired from the above)
Acquired by the present owner, circa 1994
Exhibited
Literature
Condition
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
In November 1899, after spending 16 months in Italy, Prendergast returned to America and settled outside of Boston, where he shared a studio with his brother, Charles, a wood craftsman, decorator, and framemaker. Executed circa 1905-07, Park Street Church, Boston demonstrates the artist's absorption of many European influences, including the vibrant palette and spontaneous brushwork of the Impressionists, evident in the strokes he employs to render the figures who parade along the bustling route. Prendergast’s fluid, easy brushwork animates the urban landscape by infusing it with movement and levity, and he includes many of his most familiar motifs: the screen-like fence alongside the street and strong vertical framework of the trees and church contribute to a clearly articulated compositional space that, writes Carol Troyon, “served Prendergast like a stage set: his colorfully costumed players move across our field of vision generating countless little dramatic incidents” (Awash in Color: Homer, Sargent and the Great American Watercolor, Boston, Massachusetts, 1993, p. 189).