Chest

Charles Prendergast's decorated chest exemplifies his combination of richly worked surface effects, imagery drawn from a variety of iconographic and stylistic sources, and the functional object. Modeled on the Italian cassone, traditionally an important part of a bride's dowry, the chest is simply constructed from long planks of wood joined by dowels and set on bracket feet. The visible surfaces are richly decorated using a variety of traditional techniques. First, the artist carved forms into the faces of the panels; he then applied a layer of gesso (a mixture of chalk and glue), which he incised with lines to further describe the forms pictured; color was applied in tempera paint; and much of the surface was further enlivened with the application of gold leaf. Prendergast honed these techniques in his long practice as a renowned maker of custom picture frames. Rather than employing workmen for laborious procedures, he created both his frames and his three-dimensional functional works entirely himself, according to the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement of the late nineteenth century.

While cassoni typically bear scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, Prendergast apparently chose the varied images for this chest for their formal properties, with an eye more for overall composition than for meaning. On the back of the chest, four panels bear profile likenesses of men and women in the manner of Renaissance princely portraits. On the front and side panels are shallow scenes, separated by palm trees, of male and female figures, some winged, and accompanied by animals or (on one side) seated at a table. These images have obvious roots in Christian imagery, but their precise meanings, individually or in sequence, remain mysterious.

Prendergast encountered prototypes for such imagery and for the chest itself during his visit to Italy in 1911. Thereafter, angels, haloed figures, and profile portraits played an important role in his decorated panels and functional objects. One of three decorated chests by Prendergast, this work also demonstrates his immersion in art traditions of other cultures, such as miniature painting from Persia and India and the art of ancient Egypt, as well as his awareness of the innovative work of contemporary artists, notably Frenchman Henri Matisse (1869–1954), who was himself influenced by Near Eastern art. Prendergast, like many other twentieth-century Eruopean and American artists, looked to these sources, then considered "primitive," as examples of authentic expression. Unlike his brother Maurice, a modernist painter and printmaker, Charles Prendergast found his medium in three-dimensional usable objects, as well as in wooden panels he decorated with the same techniques (TF 1992.60, TF 1992.61, TF 1992.62).

Exhibition of Works by Maurice B. Prendergast and Charles E. Prendergast, Galleries of Joseph Brummer, New York, New York, April 4–23, 1921 (possibly exhibited as no. 46).

Spring Salon, Salons of America, The Gallery of the American Art Association, New York, New York, May 21–June 9, 1923, no. 238a.

The Art of Charles Prendergast, Rutgers University Art Gallery, New Brunswick, New Jersey and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts (organizer). Venue: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, October 2–November 3, 1968. [exh. cat.]

A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 21–June 21, 1987. [exh. cat.]

An American Revelation: The Daniel J. Terra Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, February 28–October 1, 1988.

The Work of Charles and Maurice Prendergast, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 16–April 21, 1991.

Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 1992.

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.

The Decorative Form: The Aesthetic Movement, Arts & Crafts and the Asian Influence in American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, September 16–December 5, 1999.

Selections from the Permanent Collection: Art and Craft; The Work of Charles and Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 10–September 16, 2001.

Gallery Installation, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, January 27, 2011–October 2012.

Crawford, M. D. C. "The Carved Gesso Panels of Charles E. Prendergast." Country Life in America 36 (September 1919): 47–49. Text pp. 47-49.

Hudson, Pedro Hernandez. "Los Paneles de Yeso Tallado de Carlos E. Prendergast." La Revista del Mundo 6 (November 1919): 86–89. Ill. p. 88.

LeBrun, Caron. "Prendergast Show at the Museum of Fine Arts." Boston Sunday Herald Traveler (October 13, 1968): 14. Ill. p. 14.

Wattenmaker, Richard J. Charles Prendergast. (exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts). Boston, Massachusetts: Museum of Fine Arts in association with Rutgers, The State University, 1968. Text p. 89 (checklist); ill. no. 52, p. 89 (black & white), front cover (color), back cover (color).

Butler, Joseph T. "The Art of Charles Prendergast." Connoisseur 171:689 (July 1969): 211-14. Text pp. 211–14; ill. no. 10, p. 213.

Atkinson, D. Scott et al. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art. Edited by Terry A. Neff. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1987. Pl. T-142, p. 251 (color).

Chest, Charles Prendergast. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 1992. Ill. (black & white).

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. 2395, pp. 716–17; ill. no. 2395, p. 716 (black & white).