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拍品专文
Near Gloucester belongs to an important body of work executed after Maurice Prendergast's pivotal trip to Paris in 1907, where he was profoundly influenced by Cézanne and the Fauves. Painted circa 1916-19, the present work exhibits Prendergast's fascination with capturing picturesque crowds at leisure in his unique modernist approach to painting.
Prendergast was born in Newfoundland in 1859 and spent his childhood and young adulthood in Boston, where he was enthralled with the natural beauty of the New England shoreline. Near Gloucester depicts men and women enjoying a day at the beach near the Massachusetts fishing town of Gloucester. The work illustrates Prendergast's captivation with the crowds found in the popular public places of the new middle class. Milton Brown notes that Prendergast’s "…subjects are a reflection of the new cultural developments in Europe and America which followed the Industrial Revolution. An emerging middle class, with new leisure and the money to enjoy it, encouraged and supported new forms of public entertainment and evolved a new week-end and vacation culture, fostered by the development of new forms of public transportation." (in C. Clark, N.M. Mathews, G. Owens, Maurice Brazil Prendergast and Charles Prendergast: A Catalogue Raisonné, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1990, pp. 16-17)
Keenly aware of the Post-Impressionist's aesthetic attitudes of composition and space, Prendergast used an array of devices to emphasize the flatness of the picture’s surface, which in turn heighten the overall decorative effect. In the present work, Prendergast uses a method of banding and trellising whereby the artist stacks compositional elements in horizontal bands, which are interlocked by strong vertical forms. In Near Gloucester, the sun bathers along the shore comprise the lower band of the painting, while the blue water peppered with sailing vessels and rocks suggests the middle band, and the light-filled sky creates the upper band. The three-band horizontality of the composition is broken up by the verticality of such prominent motifs as the upright masts of the sailboats, the house at left and the standing figures.
In addition to the purposeful arrangement of composition, Near Gloucester is enhanced by Prendergast’s powerful use of color and bold brushwork. Set against the rocky shore and brilliant blue sea, the clothing of the figures are vibrant patches of yellows, reds, blues and crisp whites. In Near Gloucester, the variations in brushwork and color enhance the textural quality and jewel-like pattern of the work.
Prendergast was born in Newfoundland in 1859 and spent his childhood and young adulthood in Boston, where he was enthralled with the natural beauty of the New England shoreline. Near Gloucester depicts men and women enjoying a day at the beach near the Massachusetts fishing town of Gloucester. The work illustrates Prendergast's captivation with the crowds found in the popular public places of the new middle class. Milton Brown notes that Prendergast’s "…subjects are a reflection of the new cultural developments in Europe and America which followed the Industrial Revolution. An emerging middle class, with new leisure and the money to enjoy it, encouraged and supported new forms of public entertainment and evolved a new week-end and vacation culture, fostered by the development of new forms of public transportation." (in C. Clark, N.M. Mathews, G. Owens, Maurice Brazil Prendergast and Charles Prendergast: A Catalogue Raisonné, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1990, pp. 16-17)
Keenly aware of the Post-Impressionist's aesthetic attitudes of composition and space, Prendergast used an array of devices to emphasize the flatness of the picture’s surface, which in turn heighten the overall decorative effect. In the present work, Prendergast uses a method of banding and trellising whereby the artist stacks compositional elements in horizontal bands, which are interlocked by strong vertical forms. In Near Gloucester, the sun bathers along the shore comprise the lower band of the painting, while the blue water peppered with sailing vessels and rocks suggests the middle band, and the light-filled sky creates the upper band. The three-band horizontality of the composition is broken up by the verticality of such prominent motifs as the upright masts of the sailboats, the house at left and the standing figures.
In addition to the purposeful arrangement of composition, Near Gloucester is enhanced by Prendergast’s powerful use of color and bold brushwork. Set against the rocky shore and brilliant blue sea, the clothing of the figures are vibrant patches of yellows, reds, blues and crisp whites. In Near Gloucester, the variations in brushwork and color enhance the textural quality and jewel-like pattern of the work.