Nouveau Cirque

Nouveau Cirque (CR 1594) is one of Maurice Prendergast's eleven monotypes with Parisian circus themes. The French tricolor flags prominently displayed on the tent poles in the image and the inscription "Nouveau Cirque" across the bottom of the plate together identify the setting as one of Paris's most chic fin-de-siècle entertainment venues. Strategically placed beams and columns create a geometric matrix to contrast with the curving forms of human and animal performers. Two diminutive tutu-clad equestriennes balance carefully on the backs of trotting white horses, while on the periphery, clowns in polka-dot costumes hold up large rings as they wait to join the act. The artist signed the work on the bottom edge of the brown border that frames the image.

  Late nineteenth-century Paris had many circuses, but the Nouveau Cirque, which opened in 1886 at 251 Rue Saint-Honoré, was remarkable for its well-appointed interior and elegant clientele. The premises even featured an art gallery with changing exhibitions. Taking advantage of modern technology, Nouveau Cirque's iron-framed interior and electric lights made it one of Paris's newest sensations. These exciting features paled, however, next to the ingenious engineering that allowed the main floor to be flooded for the presentation of nautical spectacles during the final act of the show.

  The generous size of this monotype—one of Prendergast's largest at almost fourteen inches square—indicates that it was produced in a studio rather than in a more informal setting. Another of his circus monotypes, Circus Scene with Horse (TF 1992.78, CR 1590), is securely dated (in the plate) to 1895, raising the possibility that these works, including Nouveau Cirque, were likewise created from memory in Boston after the artist returned home from Paris in 1894. The large size and the complexity of Nouveau Cirque challenges the notion of a monotype as a spontaneously produced work of art, one that must be printed quickly while the pigments are still wet in order for them to transfer from matrix to paper. Prendergast, however, used slow-drying oil-based printer's ink, allowing him more leisure in the creation of the image on the plate before he pulled an impression. Nouveau Cirque testifies to the artist's daring and skill in composition and in rendering discernible forms through not only brushed-on pigment but also the controlled removal of it by wiping. 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 Prendergasts: Retrospective Exhibition of the Work of Maurice and Charles Prendergast, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, September 24–November 6, 1938. [exh. cat.]

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, 1960; 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, Davis & Long Company, New York, New York, May 4–28, 1977.

20th Century American Art from Friends' Collections, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, July 27–September 27, 1977.

The Monotypes of Maurice Prendergast: A Loan Exhibition, Davis & Long Company, New York, New York, April 4–28, 1979. [exh. cat.]

The Painterly Print: Monotypes from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York (organizer). Venues: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, October 16–December 7, 1980; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, January 24–March 22, 1981. [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.]

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.

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.

The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940 (Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains 1840–1940), Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 15–May 25, 2003; Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 8–August 17, 2003. [exh. cat.]

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

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. 106 (checklist); ill. no. 139, p. 154 (black & white).

"Art Across North America." Apollo 110 (June 1979): 480–81. Fig. 2, p. 480 (black & white).

Langdale, Cecily. The Monotypes of Maurice Prendergast. (exh. cat., Davis & Long Company). New York: Davis & Long Company, 1979. Ill. no. 37, p. 71 (black & white).

Kiehl, David W. "Monotypes in America in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries." In The Painterly Print: Monotypes from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century. (exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980. Text p. 164; ill. no. 57.

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. 26, 35, 84, 150; ill. no. 151 (color).

Kastor, Elizabeth. "Collected Memories: At the Dinner for Terra, Monotypes with Meaning." Washington Post (January 25, 1985): C: 1, 3. Text pp. C1, C3.

"Experimentation with Modernism: Museum Exhibit to Display 55 Prendergast Monotypes." [North Adams] Transcript (September 13, 1985): 6. Text p. 6.

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 p. 42; fig. 41 (black & white).

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. 95; fig. 91, p. 95 (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. 95; fig. 91, p. 95 (black & white).

Reymond, Nathalie. Un regard américain sur Paris (An American Glance at Paris). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1997. Text p. 84; ill. p. 82 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text pp. 24, 29 (checklist); ill. p. 42 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text pp. 24, 29 (checklist); ill. p. 42 (color).