Green Dress

In a series of early monotypes, Maurice Prendergast explored motion through the isolated female figure without the suggestion of blowing wind, his usual device for generating movement. Green Dress (CR 1574) is one of only two monotypes that depict a figure from the back. Here, the slender woman's subdued dark-green walking outfit is enlivened by her spiraling neck scarf or boa and the feathered ornament on her red hat, whose fronds seem to wriggle as they float above her brown hair. Prendergast's monogram of simple block letters in green crayon over pencil was probably added later, possibly by his brother Charles, who inherited the artist's estate.

  Prendergast employed the monotype as an experimental medium, but for the motif of the solitary woman he returned to images he recorded in his sketchbooks, notably the "Large Boston Public Garden Sketchbook" (Metropolitan Museum of Art, CR 1477) and the "Boston Water-color Sketchbook" (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, CR 1478). His monotypes of fashionably dressed women repeatedly feature appealing accessories, such as elaborate hats, curling boas, and unfurled umbrellas. These combine with the complicated shapes of puffed sleeves and swishing skirts to create curvilinear outlines that are accentuated against the background of white paper.

  The Terra Collection of Prendergast monotypes includes a group of works that celebrate the fashionably dressed solitary female figure. In addition to Green Dress, they are Lady with Umbrella (TF 1999.115, CR 1572), The Red Cape (TF 1992.102, CR 1580), Red Haired Lady with Hat (TF 1992.103, CR 1576), The Opera Cloak (TF 1992.97, CR 1693), Lady in Pink (TF 1992.89, CR 1741), Lady in Hat and Green Cape (TF 1992.88, CR 1733), Young Woman with Muff (TF 1992.121, CR 1731), and Woman in a Blue Dress with White Boa and Large Red Hat (TF 1992.118, CR 1745). For more information, see Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Charles Prendergast: A Catalogue Raisonné (1990), to which the CR numbers for the monotypes noted above refer.

Drawings by Maurice Prendergast (1861–1924), Davis Galleries, New York, New York, February 5–March 2, 1963.

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. [exh. cat.]

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 (as Green Dress). [exh. cat.]

Monotypes by Maurice Prendergast from the Terra Museum of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venues: 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 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.

Portrait of a Lady : peintures et photographies américaines en France, 1870–1915 (Portrait of a Lady: American Paintings and Photographs in France, 1870–1915), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France and Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France (organizers). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France, April 1–July 14, 2008; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, September 25, 2008–January 5, 2009 (exhibited in Giverny). [exh. cat.]

Langdale, Cecily. The Monotypes of Maurice Prendergast. (exh. cat., Davis & Long Company). New York: Davis & Long Company, 1979. Text p. 12; ill. no. 7, p. 41 (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, 56, 58; ill. no. 5, p. 57 (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. 22.

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

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-99, p. 208 (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. 1574, pp. 576–77; ill. no. 1574, p. 576 (black & white).

Lecomte, Vanessa, editor. Portrait of a Lady : peinture et photographies américains (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny and Musée des beaux-arts de Bordeaux). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2008. Text (checklist) p. 94.