Summer 2017

2017 Antiques & Fine Art 121 The art of watercolor turned a page with Maurice Prendergast, whose work departed from the pleinairism of impressionism with more deliberation and consistency, moving into a fresh, original style in watercolor. After returning from study in Paris to settle in Boston as a graphic designer, Prendergast spent free time painting watercolors depicting holiday crowds at local parks and beaches. A trip to Italy in 1899–1900, however, turned his career around. In front of Saint Mark’s church in Venice he was delighted by the reflections in the puddles left after a shower. Alive with light, color, and a sense of bustling tourists, he portrays the dignified, symmetrical façade of Saint Marco skewed by the diagonal pattern of the paving, broken by erratic puddles and disconcertingly giant flags. Though capturing a moment in time, this picture was probably painted slowly, indoors, from memory, using notebook sketches and a postcard of the church. When his Italian watercolors were shown in Boston and New York, his reputation as an innovative post-Impressionist was confirmed and he met a new set of friends, who gathered Prendergast into the progressive group that would become “The Eight.” Maurice Prendergast (1858–1924), Splash of Sunshine and Rain (Piazza San Marco, Venice), 1899. Watercolor and graphite on paper, 19⅜ x 14¼ inches. Private Collection.