Maurice Brazil Prendergast
Figures on Rocks (recto); Study of Three Figures (verso)
1905-1906
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Maurice Brazil Prendergast
Figures on Rocks (recto); Study of Three Figures (verso)
1905-1906
Physical Qualities
Watercolor over graphite; graphite, Sheet: 285 x 385 mm. (11 1/4 x 15 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Francis Keally
Object Number
1960.17
Figures on the Shore depicts a group of ladies picking their way along a rocky jetty on a windy day. So free and loose are the brushstrokes that figures are difficult to distinguish from the waves and rocks. One critic described Prendergast's works as akin to "an explosion in a color factory." The application of color and forms to suggest the figures and landscape hints at Prendergast's interest in modern European art, particularly the work of Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), an artist who Prendergast studied in Europe and championed in the United States.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1967 (according to object file, the work was here on loan from 1960-67 and then given, although the Museum erroneously give the work a 1960 accession number); Mrs. Francis Keally, New York, 1958; purchased from Kraushaar Galleries, NY
possibly Daniel Gallery, NY, January 1920, no #.
Jay Fisher, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "American Art 1900-1930: Paintings and Works on Paper from the BMA Collection," 5 September - 22 October, 1978.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "American Watercolors, 1900-1950, From the Museum Collection," 4 February - 27 April, 1986.
Jay Fisher, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Old Master Drawings from the BMA and Gilmor Collections," 10 October - 10 December, 1989.
Katy Rothkopf, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Cezanne and the Transformed Landscape," 22 May - 25 August 2002.
David Curry & Ann Shafer, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "American Realism: Ashcan Artists," January 9-April 6, 2008.
Katy Rothkopf, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Expressions of Nature," March 10 - September 22, 2019.
Jay Fisher, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "American Art 1900-1930: Paintings and Works on Paper from the BMA Collection," 5 September - 22 October, 1978.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "American Watercolors, 1900-1950, From the Museum Collection," 4 February - 27 April, 1986.
Jay Fisher, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Old Master Drawings from the BMA and Gilmor Collections," 10 October - 10 December, 1989.
Katy Rothkopf, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Cezanne and the Transformed Landscape," 22 May - 25 August 2002.
David Curry & Ann Shafer, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "American Realism: Ashcan Artists," January 9-April 6, 2008.
Katy Rothkopf, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Expressions of Nature," March 10 - September 22, 2019.
"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums," Art Quarterly, 23 (Autumn 1960), p. 309.
Inscribed: lower right in blue watercolor: "Prendergast"
