Lady with Umbrella

Maurice Prendergast explored two of his favorite themes—motion and light reflected on water—in the monotype Lady with Umbrella (CR 1686), a nocturnal image of a single female figure whose white dress is covered by a black shawl. The purple umbrella she balances on her shoulder dominates the right side of the composition.  The woman looks over her shoulder toward a distant cityscape across a body of water.  Light is reflected on its broken surface in small circles and squiggles.  Summary brushstrokes barely define the walkway, a railing, and a dark form that may be a boat on the water.  With a motion that suggests a stiff breeze, the woman's layered skirt swings forward, obtruding on the green-line border that frames the image.  Prendergast's monogram, written in graphite in the lower-left corner and the inscription in graphite of the work's title on the back of the sheet are probably not in the artist's hand.

It is tempting to see an artistic evolution when considering Prendergast's many nocturnal monotypes that employ the effects of motion and reflected light on water, which collectively form a subset within the "Solitary Woman" series.  An early version, Charles River, Esplanade (TF 1999.108, CR 1565), is reduced to the basics of the series, but Lady with Umbrella and Evening, South Boston Pier (TF 1992.82, CR 1684), which are assigned the same probable dates, reveal very different artistic strategies despite their many similar components.   In Lady with Umbrella, Prendergast enhances his early style by adding a definitive background scene with broad wiping strokes to define spaces and objects.  However, at the same moment in Evening, South Boston Pier, he created an elaborate geometric grid with a dramatic serpentine curve, which required precise marks to construct the pier and its railing. 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] Monotypes by Maurice Prendergast, Kraushaar Galleries, New York, New York, May 7–31, 1956.

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.]

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.

Un regard américain sur Paris (An American Glance at Paris), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 11–October 31, 1997.

Langdale, Cecily. The Monotypes of Maurice Prendergast. (exh. cat., Davis & Long Company). New York: Davis & Long Company, 1979. Ill. no. 47, p. 82 (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. 12, 28, 32, 94; ill. no. 24, p. 95 (color).

"Prendergast Monotypes to be at Whitney Museum." Antiques & the Arts Weekly (February 27, 1987): 13. Text p. 13 (perhaps reference to the Terra monotype).

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. 1686, p. 609; ill. no. 1686, p. 609 (black & white).

Reymond, Nathalie. Un regard américain sur Paris (An American Glance at Paris). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1997. Ill. p. 81 (color).