Maurice Brazil Prendergast 1858 - 1924

Kraushaar Galleries, New York
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

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Maurice Prendergast Memorial Exhibition, February-March 1934, no. 77

Carol Clark, Nancy Mowll Mathews and Gwendolyn Owens, Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Charles Prendergast: A Catalogue Raisonné, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1990, no. 858, p. 428, illustrated

The following condition report has been prepared by Julius Lowy Frame and Restoring Company, Inc.: The artwork is a watercolor painting executed on paper which has been hinged to board using linen tape at the upper left and right corners. The paper support is oxidized and there is a strong glue residue around the top and bottom edges along with cardboard remnants from a previous framing job. The verso exhibits scattered minimal mold stains. The watercolor media layers are in good and stable condition. Ultraviolet examination reveals a normal fluorescence of artist materials with no prior inpainting visible. Upon visual inspection, the painting appears to have a light layer of surface dirt. The artwork is signed in the lower right in black: Prendergast. The painting is in overall good 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.

Park Street Church, Boston typifies Prendergast’s fully realized and mature watercolor style, which reached its peak in richness of color and complexity of design in the years surrounding the turn of the 20^th century. Throughout the 1890s, Prendergast devoted himself primarily to watercolor and took as his subjects the picturesque crowds he found at the summer resorts, parks and other public spaces in and around Boston. These groups of well-dressed figures, engaged in leisurely activities that ideally suited the artist’s increasingly modern vision, as he transformed crowds of people into dynamic, densely patterned compositions with jewel-like color. Depicting a lively street in the heart of Boston, the present work shows Prendergast’s interest in depicting the details of modern life.

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).