Woman in White Muslin Dress

A young woman admires a dramatic moon rising above a cityscape in the monotype Woman in White Muslin Dress (CR 1723) by Maurice Prendergast.  Set in a lavender sky, the yellow moon's reflected glow vibrates in narrow slivers of white lines in a body of water, which separates the city from a green-lawned park.  The artist is particularly effective in establishing a lighted nocturnal scene in an urban setting with romantic overtones.  The luminous white of the woman’s dotted-Swiss muslin dress and stacked ribboned hat with its facial netting balances with the visual dominance of the bright moon.  A stylus or the tip of a brush handle is responsible for the white dots, the moon's reflected light, and the outlines of the figure and netting; with a cloth, the artist wiped away pigment to delineate the hat itself.

In this colored print Prendergast exploited his sensitivity to color combinations.  Even the narrow blue border drawn around the sides and top of the image become part of the play of colors.  A broader bottom band is inscribed with the artist's three-initial monogram in the right corner and a title "(Do)tted Muslin" ("d" in reverse) spanning the lower left to the center of the monotype.  Also written in graphite, probably by another hand, are the words "dy in white" and on the verso in the lower left, "Lady in White."

The artist demonstrated his interest in delicately spotted materials not only in Woman in White Muslin Dress but also in Two Ladies (TF 1992.113, CR 1722) and Primrose Hill (TF 1992.98, CR 1619), among other works in monotype. The overall reticulated or grainy surface of Woman in White Muslin Dress testifies to the use of printer's ink, rather than oil pigments, in the creation of the image.

Woman in White Muslin Dress passed to Charles Prendergast control after Maurice's death in 1924.  The artist's brother would have been responsible for carving any new frames for the monotypes, but it is likely that many monotype frames existed from previous exhibitions.  It is possible that these frames were retrofitted for other monotypes when exhibited or sold.  The frame that houses this monotype is thought to be an original by one of the Prendergast brothers.  It is a hand-carved wooden frame with a scoop profile, painted with red bole clay and water-gilded with gold leaf.  Notably, there is not a mat within the frame.  While it is known that Maurice framed some of his watercolors without mats, it is unknown whether the Prendergast brothers had a definitive practice of matting the monotypes. For more information, see Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Charles Prendergast: A Catalogue Raisonné (1990), to which the CR numbers for the monotypes noted above refer.

Monotypes by Maurice Prendergast from the Terra Museum of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venues: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., January 27–April 14, 1985; Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, April 27–June 30, 1985; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, July 12–September 8, 1985; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts, September 20–November 17, 1985; Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan, November 24, 1985–January 19, 1986; Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, January 28–February 24, 1986; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York, May 13–June 15, 1986; Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 23–August 24, 1986; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama, September 2–October 26, 1986; The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, November 2–30, 1986; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, December 13, 1986–February 15, 1987; Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Florida, June 21–July 31, 1987; Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, August 8–September 27, 1987; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, October 4–November 5, 1987; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 15, 1987–January 7, 1988; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, January 20–March 22, 1988; Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 9–May 29, 1988. [exh. cat.]

American Treasures: Chase, Whistler and the Prendergasts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 26, 1996–January 5, 1997.

(Re)Presenting Women, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, October 16, 2001–January 13, 2002.

Langdale, Cecily. Monotypes by Maurice Prendergast in the Terra Museum of American Art. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Museum of American Art, 1984. Text pp. 27, 32, 37, 130; ill. no. 42, p. 131 (color).

Clark, Carol, Nancy Mowll Mathews and Gwendolyn Owens. Maurice Brazil Prendergast; Charles Prendergast: A Catalogue Raisonné. Munich, Germany, and Williamstown, Massachusetts: Prestel-Verlag and The President and Trustees of Williams College, 1990. No. 1723, p. 620; ill. no. 1723, p. 620 (black & white).