Primrose Hill No. 2

Primrose Hill No. 2 (CR 1620) is a second impression from the matrix of the monotype Primrose Hill (TF 1992.98, CR 1619) by Maurice Prendergast.  The overall faint color of the cognate is aptly described as a ghost of the original image.  While the primary figure of a well-dressed girl in a red polka-dotted dress is easily readable, the background figures of girls are mere blurs.  In this small monotype, the meticulously depicted reflected light of the glass window panes in the shops' storefronts are a tour de force, which have significantly been altered in the second pull.  The dark greens of the doorways are extremely pale and hard to interpret visually and several of the second floor windows have completely lost their panes—now blocks of washed out pink.  In the clear brown-line border that surrounds the image, the names "Primrose Hill" and Prendergast are written clearly, identifying the work with the "Primrose Hill" suite of monotypes.

  Monotypes identified with the location of fashionable Primrose Hill, a northern suburb of London, offer a clue to Prendergast's trips to London.  The artist's only documented trip to the British capital was during the summer of 1886, although he also may have visited during the years he lived in France, between 1891 and 1894.  Prendergast's awareness of the area's quaint shop fronts was mediated by American expatriate artist James McNeill Whistler's pictures such as A Chelsea Shop (TF 1992.148).  Prendergast emulated Whistler's depictions of flat walls pierced by windows and doors to create an abstract pattern that flows in and out across the flat surface of the picture in Primrose Hill, as well as Bella Regazza: Merceria, Venice (TF 1992.71, CR 1703), Street Scene (TF 1992.107, CR 1624), and other monotypes.

  Assigning specific dates to Prendergast's monotypes is difficult as his superb technical skill is noticeable as early as 1892 in a dated colored print.  These related Primrose Hill monotypes share the abstract design of the shop window and doors motif with Bella Regazza: Merceria, Venice, which dates to 1898–99.  However, they are not as compositionally complex as the Italian shop fronts.  Several monotypes from the "Primrose Hill" suite were included in Prendergast's 1901 exhibitions in Detroit and Cincinnati.

  Other examples of monotype cognates in the Terra Foundation collection include the pairs Children in Street (TF 1992.77, CR 1605) and Going to School (TF1992.85, CR 1606), and The Breezy Common (TF 1992.73, CR 1657) and its cognate of the same title (TF 1992.74, CR 1658). 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] Special Exhibition of Water Colors and Monotypes by Maurice B. Prendergast, Detroit Museum of Art, Detroit, Michigan, November 1901 (perhaps as nos. 46, 47, or 48, Primrose Hill).

[possibly exhibited] Special Exhibition of Monotypes by Maurice Brazil Prendergast, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., March 28–May 9, 1937 (perhaps as no. 27, Primrose Hill)

Monotypes by Maurice Prendergast, Kraushaar Gallery, New York, New York, February 18–March 23, 1952.

Maurice Prendergast: The Monotypes, William Cooper Procter Art Center, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, May 1–21, 1967, no. 7.

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.

Langdale, Cecily. The Monotypes of Maurice Prendergast. (exh. cat., Davis & Long Company). New York: Davis & Long Company, 1979. Text p. 13; ill. no. 14, p. 48 (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, 27, 35, 38, 60, 64, 68, 62; ill. no. 8, p. 63 (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. 21.

Sozanski, Edward. "Delicate Images in Monotypes by Prendergast." Philadelphia Inquirer (December 10, 1987): C: 7. Text p. 7.

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. 1620, p. 589; ill. no. 1620, p. 589 (black & white).