Maurice Brazil Prendergast (American, 1858-1924) Donkey Rider

Description:

Maurice Brazil Prendergast (American, 1858-1924)

Donkey Rider, alternately titled On the Beach
c. 1920-23.
Signed "Prendergast" l.r.
Watercolor on paper, 9 x 12 in. (22.8 x 30.3 cm),framed.
Condition: Acid burn, gentle toning, subtle staining, some areas of thinning to sheet in u.r. quadrant, tack holes to each corner, hinged to back mat in two places on the top edge of the reverse.

Provenance: From the artist to his brother Charles; to Hamilton Basso, 1946; to Etolia Basso; to Private Collection, 1984; Christie's New York, September 23, 1992 Lot 135; through to the current owner by family descent.

Literature: Carol Clark, N.M. Mathews, and G. Owens, Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Charles Prendergast: A Catalogue Raisonné (Williamstown, Massachusetts: Williams College Museum of Art, 1990),cat. no. 1376 (titled Donkey Rider),p. 541 (illus.).

N.B. Maurice Prendergast was born in Newfoundland, but he grew up in Boston where his family moved in 1868. The young artist was untrained, gaining an early familiarity and facility with watercolor when he served as an assistant to a poster painter. Prendergast would continue to work in watercolor throughout his life, expanding his mediums to include works in oil after about 1915 and creating many monotypes between 1892 and 1905.

After trips to England and the continent in the 1880s, Prendergast began to develop a style based on avant-garde European trends. He received formal instruction in painting between 1891 and 1894, studying in Paris at the Atelier Colarossi and the Academie Julian. He became familiar with contemporary French painters, especially the Symbolists and the Nabis, whose paintings combined abstraction and naive art, and, in the hands of artists like Bonnard and Vuillard, delighted in the play of patterned surfaces. He returned to Paris in 1907 where he was introduced to the works of Henri Matisse and other Fauve artists whose style and palette would be an inspiration throughout Prendergast's career.

In 1908 Prendergast joined in the forming of The Eight, who rejected the structure of the academies in favor of a fresher approach focusing on urban scenes. While Henri, Sloan, and Shinn explored the slums, tenements, and burlesque theaters of New York, Prendergast preferred to paint the leisure activities of the middle and upper classes. He also loved the seaside and the festivity of ocean resorts. He often painted crowds in scenes of parks and beaches, the pursuits of the various individuals subservient to the overall decorative style, with daubs of color arranged in scintillating patterns and flattened forms emphasizing bold contours.
Estimate $25,000-35,000

According to a note accompanying the watercolor, the work was conserved by the Paper Conservation Studio, Inc., New York, in 1992. Although there is no treatment report available, the note says that the work was cleaned, old overpainting removed, foxing and staining treated.

Acid burn is more visible along the top edge and extending down each side for about three inches. There is some thinning to the paper in two locations in the u.r. quadrant where it appears, judging from staining on the reverse, some stains were removed from the recto. These areas are hard to notice from the front. The more visible area presents at the upper right edge as a place where the line of acid burn is interrupted for about 1/2 inch in a spot that may have had a bit of retouch/surface repair. There is another area of similar retouch/surface repair located on the right side, just above the water and measuring less than 3 inches across. Tack holes to each corner. Mild toning overall.


The absence of a condition statement does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition or completely free from wear and tear, imperfections or the effects of aging. Condition requests can be obtained via email (lot inquiry button) or by telephone to the appropriate gallery location (Boston/617.350.5400 or Marlborough/508.970.3000). Any condition statement given, as a courtesy to a client, is only an opinion and should not be treated as a statement of fact. Skinner Inc. shall have no responsibility for any error or omission.

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