Maurice Brazil Prendergast

The artist

Daniel Gallery, New York

Acquired from the above in 1931 by the present owner

Margaret Breuning, Maurice Prendergast, New York, 1931, p. 45, illustrated

Whitney Museum of American Art, Catalogue of the Collection, New York, 1931, p. 50

Art News, vol. 32, 31 March 1934, p. 10, illustrated

Whitney Museum of American Art, History, Purpose and Activities with a Complete List of Works in its Permanent Collection to January, 1935, New York, 1935, p. 20

Whitney Museum of American Art, History, Purpose and Activities with a Complete List of Works in its Permanent Collection to June, 1937, New York, 1937, p. 28

Hedley Howell Rhys, “Maurice Prendergast: The Sources and Development of His Style,” Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1952, p. 186

Whitney Museum of American Art, The Whitney Museum and its Collection: History, Purpose and Activities, Catalogue of the Collection, New York, 1954, n.p.

Lloyd Goodrich & John I.H. Baur, American Art of Our Century, New York, 1961, p. 259

Whitney Museum of American Art, Catalogue of the Collection, 1974, p. 180

Carol Clark; Nancy Mowll Mathews; Gwendolyn Owens, Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Charles Prendergast: A Catalogue Raisonné, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1990, no. 80, p. 187, illustrated in color

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Annual Philadelphia Watercolor Exhibition, and the Eighteenth Annual Exhibition of Miniatures, 1919, no. 329 (possibly)

Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Special Exhibitions: Sculpture by Nancy Cox-McCormack, Mural Paintings by Puvis de Chavannes, Albert Besnard and the National Society of Mural Painters, Decorative Paintings by Eduard Buk Ulreich, Drawings and Lithographs by C.O. Woodbury, Paintings by Maurice Prendergast, 1925, no. 34 (possibly)

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Watercolors, Drawings, Prints from the Permanent Collection, 1932

Newport, Rhode Island, The Art Association of Newport, Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings, 1933, no. 91

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Maurice Prendergast Memorial Exhibition, 1934, no. 14

Norwich, Connecticut, Slater Memorial Museum, A Turning Point in American Art: Paintings by the Eight and George Bellows, 1958

Roslyn, New York, North Shore Community Arts Center, The Eight, 1959

New York, School of Visual Arts, Works from the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1963

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Twenty-Four 20th Century Americans, 1968

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Permanent Collection: 1900-1945, 1971

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, The 20th Century: 35 American Artists, 1974, p. 180

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Selections from the Lawrence H. Bloedel Bequest, 1977, p. 43, illustrated

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Maurice B. Prendergast: A Concentration of Works from the Permanent Collection, 1980, pp. 5, 32

Mansfield, Ohio, The Mansfield Art Center, The American Seascape from John Smibert to John Marin, 1988, n.p.

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Hopper to Mid-Century: Highlights from the Permanent Collection, 2003

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Highlights from the Permanent Collection: From Hopper to Mid-Century, 2000-06

Between the announcement of the formation of the Whitney Museum of American Art in January 1930 and its actual opening in November 1931, the museum acquired an extensive permanent collection. Maurice Brazil Prendergast's Bathing Beach was one of the acquisitions that formed the basis of this collection.

In 1934, ten years after Prendergast's death, the Whitney included this vibrant and charming watercolor in their memorial exhibition of the artist's work—the most significant tribute to Prendergast at the time. Over the next century, it was also included in countless exhibitions at the Whitney and beyond, at locations from Newport, Rhode Island to Mansfield, Ohio. Now, Bathing Beach is being sold to support future acquisitions by the Whitney.