Children in Red Capes

Processions, even such a small one as portrayed in Children in Red Capes (CR 1614), were a favorite device by which Maurice Prendergast conveyed motion in his images.  In this monotype, a solitary man is followed by four women, all dressed in black.  Their somber clothing sets off the figures of three small girls in red-hooded capes.  The subtly textured bricks almost filling the composition provide a backdrop for the figures.  At the upper left, a lighter area suggests open space, the only hint of a larger setting.  In the lower left corner, the artist inscribed his vertical monogram and the work's date within the narrow brown line that frames the picture.

Children in Red Capes is a cognate, or second impression, created from the matrix from which he first printed the monotype entitled The Three Little Girls in Red (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, CR 1613).  The white outlines of figures Prendergast made by scraping through pigment using a stylus or the end of a brush handle are muted in this second impression.  As a result, the figures appear flattened against the rigorous pattern of the brick and the colors are comparatively muted.  Remarkably, few monotypes comprise the "Processional" series.

Returning to Boston in 1894 from four years of study in Paris, Prendergast soon plunged into monotype printmaking.  He rarely dated his colored prints, but those dated 1895, including Children in Red Capes, form the largest such group.  This print appears to be an experimental platform for other monotypes that likewise arrange curvilinear shapes against a grid background. Two made about the same time also feature detailed brick pavement and walls as a backdrop in more sophisticated compositions: Skipping Rope (TF 1992.105, CR 1610) and Jumping Rope (TF 1992.87, CR 1612).  Later, in 1898–99, Prendergast in his Italian monotypes would again use the grid patterns of bricks and the rhythm of a procession of red-cloaked figures in Monte Pincio (TF 1992.94, CR 1699), and brick patterns alone in Venetian Well (TF 1992.115, CR 1705), among others. For more information, see Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Charles Prendergast: A Catalogue Raisonné (1990), to which the CR numbers for the monotypes noted above refer.

[possibly exhibited] Water Color Club: Eleventh Annual Exhibition, Boston Art Club, Boston, Massachusetts, February 24–March 12, 1898 (perhaps as no. 85, The Three Little Girls in Red).

American Monotypes: 100 Years, Marilyn Pearl Gallery, New York, New York, January 6–February 1, 1979. [exh. cat.]

The Monotypes of Maurice Prendergast: A Loan Exhibition, Davis & Long Company, New York, New York, April 4–28, 1979. [exh. cat.]

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.]

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

American Monotypes: 100 Years. (exh. cat., Marilyn Pearl Gallery). New York: Marilyn Pearl Gallery, 1979. Ill. no. 24.

Langdale, Cecily. The Monotypes of Maurice Prendergast. (exh. cat., Davis & Long Company). New York: Davis & Long Company, 1979. Text pp. 9, 11, 13; ill. no. 28, p. 62 (black & white).

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. 30, 35, 38, 76; ill. no. 15, p. 77 (color).

Heimann, Nora M. "Singular Impressions." Arts [The Magazine for Members of The Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts] 9:12 (December 1986): 20–23. Text p. 22.

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. 1614, p. 587; ill. no. 1614, p. 587 (black & white).

Reymond, Nathalie. Un regard américain sur Paris. (An American Glance at Paris). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1997. Text p. 84; ill. p. 80 (color).