Jumping Rope

In Maurice Prendergast's monotype Jumping Rope (CR 1612), a white-clad girl is highlighted against the flat grid of squares and rectangles formed by a complex background of walls, multi-paned windows, and brick pavement.  On the right, a pole or tree trunk starkly divides the composition.  The dull gray-brown of the background is relieved by the red pole, the girl's black shoes and stockings, and her elaborate blue-and-yellow hat.  The small shapes of window panes and bricks are rendered with discrete single, short brushstrokes, while such forms as the girl's dress are more heavily worked.  As he wiped away pigment to indicate the figure, Prendergast created an agitated outline that cleverly mimics the figure's motion.

The artist enclosed the image with a painted line border on three sides, using the same fluid brushwork that characterizes the image.  His monogram was added to the printed sheet in red crayon, possibly somewhat later and most likely by the artist's brother, Charles Prendergast, who inherited his estate.

This work's emphasis on the almost abstract background in relation to the figure sets Jumping Rope apart from other Prendergast monotypes made about the same time that also feature detailed brick pavement and walls, notably Skipping Rope (TF 1992.105, CR 1610) and Children in Red Capes (TF 1992.76, CR 1614).  Jumping Rope may be identical with a work entitled Skipping Rope that Prendergast showed in the annual exhibition of the Boston Water Color Club in 1898.  The monotype clearly belongs to the "Children at Play" series.

The curvilinear shapes highlighted against a background grid epitomize the often overlooked formal qualities of Prendergast's monotype compositions.  Furthermore, the artist's mastery of the wiping technique that creates a vortex of movement by the means of a few subtle curves is one of his most notable monotype contributions. 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. 87, Skipping Rope).

Maurice Prendergast: The Monotypes, William Cooper Procter Art Center, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, May 1–21, 1967.

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.]

Maurice Prendergast, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts (organizer). Venues: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, May 31–September 2, 1990; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts, October 6–December 16, 1990. [exh. cat.]

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.

A Place on the Avenue: Terra Museum of American Art Celebrates 15 Years in Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 2002–February 16, 2003 (on exhibit extended run: November 2, 2002–March 2, 2003).

Maurice Prendergast: The Monotypes. (exh. cat., William Cooper Procter Art Center). Annandale-on-Hudson, New York: William Cooper Procter Art Center, Bard College, 1967. Text p. 9 (checklist); ill. no. 5, p. 4 (black & white).

Langdale, Cecily. The Monotypes of Maurice Prendergast. (exh. cat., Davis & Long Company). New York: Davis & Long Company, 1979. Ill. no. 26, p. 21 (color), no. 26, p. 60 (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. 27, 72; ill. no. 13, p. 73 (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. 1612, p. 587; ill. no. 1612, p. 587 (black & white).

Mathews, Nancy Mowll. Maurice Prendergast. (exh. cat., Williams College Museum of Art). Munich, Germany, and Williamstown, Massachusetts: Prestel-Verlag and The President and Trustees of Williams College, 1990. Text pp. 42, 189 (checklist); pl. 113, p. 158 (color).