Esplanade

According to a later inscription on the back of Maurice Prendergast's monotype Esplanade (CR 1564) made by the artist's brother Charles, this was the first "color print" he made. The statement is corroborated by the monotype's experimental appearance: the paper's porous surface absorbed too much of the pigments, distorting the image by blurring forms and making the nocturnal scene difficult to read. Clearly visible, however, is a solitary lamp post, topped with a single globe, juxtaposed to a woman's curvilinear outline, which is created by her windblown garments: a red umbrella, a red cape's ruffles, and a purple boa's two corkscrew twists. The reflections of light on the distant water, rendered by white squiggles made possibly with the pointed end of a brush or with a stylus, are reminiscent of similar marks found in Japanese wood block prints. The initials MBP, written in pencil in the lower left corner, are not in the artist's hand.

Although the surface of Esplanade is smeared, a clearer view of the artist's intention can be seen in Charles River Esplanade (TF 1999.108, CR 1565). It is an almost identical but reversed image of Esplanade, but Charles River Esplanade is not its counterproof, as evidenced by discrepancies in the sizes of several components of the two compositions. If Charles Prendergast's memory was correct, nocturnal scenes with multiple light sources were among the earliest and most enduring subjects of Maurice's monotypes, all of which were created between about 1891 and 1902. Prendergast further developed the theme of reflected light at night in such monotypes as Early Evening, Paris (TF 1992.81, CR 1570), Evening, South Boston Pier (TF 1992.82, CR 1684), and Lady with Umbrella (TF 1992.92, CR 1686), as well as in the oil painting Lady on the Boulevard (TF 1992.64, CR 17), which is associated with his Paris years.

The title and date long assigned to Esplanade are somewhat problematical because the Charles River Embankment, popularly known as the Esplanade, was not completed until 1906, several years after Prendergast stopped making monotypes. Photographs of the Esplanade made around 1910 show fashionable ladies strolling before a railing that appears to be identical to those seen in the artist's "Esplanade" monotypes, but on the opposite side of the walkway from the water. The discrepancy between the photographs and the monotypes may reflect artistic license or, if the date assigned to this monotype is correct, a setting along the Seine River in Paris, rather than the Charles River in Boston. For more information, see Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Charles Prendergast: A Catalogue Raisonné (1990), to which the CR numbers for the monotypes noted above refer.

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; The 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). 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).

Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 2004.

Langdale, Cecily. The Monotypes of Maurice Prendergast. (exh. cat., Davis & Long Company). New York: Davis & Long Company, 1979. Text pp. 9, 11; ill. no. 1, p. 17 (color), p. 35 (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. 31, 48; ill. no. 1, p. 49 (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. 1564, p. 574; ill. no. 1564, p. 574 (black & white).

Moser, Joann. Singular Impressions: The Monotype in America. (exh. cat., National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution). Washington, D.C.: Published for the National Museum of American Art by Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997. Fig. 36.