Evening on a Pleasure Boat

In Evening on a Pleasure Boat, Maurice Prendergast created a decorative arrangement from the broadly rendered forms of four girls and their adult chaperone seated on a bench against the side of a boat, beyond which water and ships, a distant cityscape, and sky appear as flattened areas of muted color. The woman and two of the girls turn to look out over the view, while the remaining figures appear to gaze directly before them toward the viewer. The faces of all are only suggested, however, with features left unarticulated; their clothing, hats, and legs in black stockings are similarly generalized, rendered with spontaneously applied strokes of thin pigment. Background detail is minimal, as if the view of the distant city is reduced by fog and growing dusk to a jagged band of lavender punctuated by the yellow spots of scattered lights. In contrast, Prendergast carefully painted the boat's delicate metal mesh fencing and poles, echoed by the masts and spars of the shipping in the background.  The resulting grid of horizontals and verticals creates a rigid framework against which the lively brushstrokes animating the round forms of the girls suggest their active pleasure and nervous energy.

In the years following a four-year sojourn in Paris, from which he returned to his hometown of Boston in 1894, Prendergast found many subjects for his art in busy public parks, beaches, and other urban sites of leisure. In his monotypes in particular, he focused on the decorative forms of generic women and girls clad in the extravagant, voluminous fashions of the era. Evening on a Pleasure Boat likely shows a scene in Boston Harbor. It typifies the artist's penchant—already established in his monotypes—for composing the setting as a series of flattened bands and distributing figures across the space in frieze-like arrangements, with primary concern for rhythm, balance, and other formal values. This work's clear organization around the flattening structure of verticals and horizontals, along with its muted colors and evening theme, recall the influence on Prendergast of the work of American expatriate artist James McNeill Whistler, especially his intimate urban images such as Carlyle's Sweetstuff Shop (TF 1992.147).

Like many of Prendergast's paintings of the mid-1890s, notably Franklin Park, Boston (TF 1999.112), this work is thinly painted in fluid, expressive brushstrokes in the manner of the watercolors that dominated the artist's painting practice before about 1909. Evening on a Pleasure Boat is one of his earliest works in the medium of oil on canvas. In 1898, it was shown in three prestigious annual national exhibitions—in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago—in which Prendergast established himself as an innovator in technique, style, and approach to contemporary urban subjects.

Sixty-seventh Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 10–February 22, 1898, no. 359.

Twentieth Annual Exhibition of Society of American Artists, Society of American Artists, New York, New York, March 19–April 23, 1898, no. 319.

Eleventh Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings and Sculpture by American Artists, The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, November 15–December 18, 1898.

[possibly exhibited] South End Free Art Exhibition, Old Franklin School House, Boston, Massachusetts, February 22–March 20, 1899 (perhaps as Charles Prendergast's A Summer Evening Excursion on the Harbor).

Second Annual Exhibition of Paintings, Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 25–April 15, 1901, no. 88.

Maurice Prendergast, 1859–1924, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts (organizer). Venues: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, October 26–December 4, 1960; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, December 29, 1960–February 5, 1961; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, February 21–April 2, 1961; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, California, April 22–June 3, 1961; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, June 20–July 30, 1961. [exh. cat.]

Maurice Prendergast: American Painter, 1859–1924, Katonah Gallery, Katonah, New York, October 14–November 13, 1962.

Robert Henri and His Circle: George Bellows, Arthur B. Davies, William J. Glackens, Ernest Lawson, George Luks, Maurice Prendergast, Everett Shinn, John Sloan, Eugene Speicher, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, New York, December 11, 1964–January 10, 1965, no. 72. [exh. cat.]

Prendergast Exhibition, New York Cultural Center, New York, New York, 1970.

Collectors Anonymous: Four Private New York Collections, New York Cultural Center, New York, New York, June 27–September 3, 1972.

Charles Condor, Robert Henri, James Morrice, Maurice Prendergast: The Formative Years, Paris 1890s, Davis & Long Company, New York, New York, May 13–31, 1975, no. 36. [exh. cat.]

Selections from the Permanent Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, July 19–September 14, 1985.

A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 21–June 21, 1987. [exh. cat.]

Selections from the Permanent Collection: Life in 19th Century America, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 24–September 6, 1987.

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; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, February 21–April 22, 1991; The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., May 18–August 25, 1991. [exh. cat.]

Regard sur Maurice Brazil Prendergast (Maurice Brazil Prendergast at a Glance), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 1993.

The Decorative Form: The Aesthetic Movement, Arts & Crafts and the Asian Influence in American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, September 16–December 5, 1999.

Rivières et rivages: les artistes américains, 1850–1900 (Waves and Waterways: American Perspectives, 1850–1900), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2000. [exh. cat.]

Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, July 15–October 31, 2007.

Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2008.

The Eight and American Modernisms, Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, and Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (organizers). Venues: New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, March 6–May 24, 2009; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 6–August 23, 2009. [exh. cat]

Maurice Prendergast: By the Sea, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine (organizer). Venue: Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, June 29–October 13, 2013. [exh. cat.]

"The Murphy and Prendergast Exhibition in Chicago." Boston Evening Transcript (January 3, 1900): 11. Text p. 11.

Rhys, Hedley Howell. Maurice Prendergast, 1859–1924. (exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts). Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Harvard University Press, 1960. Text p. 68 (checklist); ill. no. 6, p. 111 (black & white).

Taylor, Robert. "One Vote Cast for Prendergast." Boston Herald (November 8, 1960): 32. Text p. 32.

Read, Prudence. "Prendergast Works on View in Katonah." [New York] Patent Trader (October 11, 1962). Ill.

Charles Condor, Robert Henri, James Morrice, Maurice Prendergast: The Formative Years, Paris 1890s. (exh. cat., Davis & Long Company). New York: Davis & Long Company, 1975. Ill. no. 36 (black & white).

Green, Eleanor. Maurice Prendergast: Art of Impulse and Color. (exh. cat., University of Maryland Art Gallery). College Park, Maryland: University of Maryland, 1976. Text p. 38.

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. 1, 13, 15, 41; fig. 9, p. 26 (black & white).

Atkinson, D. Scott et al. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art. Edited by Terry A. Neff. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1987. Pl. T-109, p. 218 (color).

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. 16, 182 (checklist); pl. 18, p. 63 (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. 29, p. 219; ill. no. 29, p. 219 (black & white), pl.8, p. 115 (color).

Gerdts, William H. et al. Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text p. 92; fig. 86, p. 92 (black & white).

Gerdts, William H. et al. Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text p. 92; fig. 86, p. 92 (black & white).

Regard sur cinq années d'expositions (Five years of Exhibitions at a Glance ). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1997. Ill. p. 60 (color).

Cartwright, Derrick R. Waves and Waterways: American Perspectives, 1850–1900. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text pp. 12, 28 (checklist); fig. 4, p. 12 (black & white).

Cartwright, Derrick R. Rivières et rivages: les artistes américains, 1850–1900. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text pp. 12, 28 (checklist); fig. 4, p. 12 (black & white).

Kennedy, Elizabeth et al. The Eight and American Modernisms. (exh. cat., New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut and Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2009. Text pp. 111, 175 (checklist); Ill. p. 123 (color).

Homann, Joachim, Trevor J. Fairbrother, Nancy Mowill Mathews, Joseph J. Rishel and Richard J. Wattenmaker. Maurice Prendergast: By the Sea. (exh. cat., Bowdoin College Museum of Art). Brunswick, Maine: Bowdoin College Museum of Art and DelMonico Books, an imprint of Prestel Publishing, Munich, London and New York, 2013. Text p. 166; pl. 8, pp. 42-43 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M., and Peter John Brownlee, eds. Conversations with the Collection: A Terra Foundation Collection Handbook. Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2018. Text pp. 176-179; fig. 2, p. 177 (color).