Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2011.

Figures in a Park

Artist Maurice Brazil Prendergast (American, 1858-1924)

CultureAmerican

Date1914

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall, Image: 58 × 49 in. (147.3 × 124.5 cm)
Overall, Frame: 64 × 54 3/4 × 2 3/4 in. (162.6 × 139.1 × 7 cm)

InscribedNot signed.

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.722

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 222

DescriptionPrendergast found his subject matter early in his career and rarely deviated from it. His was a world of women and children on a perpetually sunny holiday. FIGURES IN A PARK depicts that joyful, peaceful world. Thick applications of color create a pattern and texture across the surface of the canvas. Prendergast used brushwork and color for their decorative effects rather than as elements that define the structure of objects. The resulting tapestry, or mosaic, effect is enhanced by the contour line of arbitrary color that separate the figures from the landscape. Without those vital outlines, the women and children would become one continuous, overall pattern with the background." ["American Art - 1875-1913" from THE CHRYSLER MUSEUM GALLERY GUIDE, Norfolk, VA, 1986, text by Joyce M. Szabo, Curator of American Art."]

Label TextMaurice Brazil Prendergast American, 1858–1924 Figures in a Park, 1914 Oil on canvas For the young city-dwellers in this painting, public parks provided an escape from the growing noise and confusion of urban life. Maurice Prendergast likewise retreated to oases like Central Park and Boston Common to study the clothing and habits of their visitors. Painted with evenly sized dots, the dresses of these young women meld with the flora into a vivid mosaic. Like Paul Signac and other Post-Impressionists, Prendergast believed that this technique forces the viewers’ eyes to mix the colors, making the audience participants in the painting process. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.722 Attributed to Charles Prendergast American, 1863–1948 Arts and Crafts Frame, ca. 1910s Gilded wood Museum purchase F2011.3 Exhibition History"Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. "American Impressionism in the Garden," Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA, February 19 - May 14, 2017. "Come Together, Right Now: The Art of Gathering," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 11, 2020 - January 3, 2021.Published ReferencesRichard J. Wattenmaker, MAURICE PRENDERGAST (NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, in association with The National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1994), pp. 127-128; Plate 109, p. 128 (ill. in b/w).