Maurice Brazil Prendergast (American, 1858-1924), “Cattle in a Landscape,” 1890, watercolor on paper painting depicting cattle in a pastoral landscape setting under a partly cloudy blue sky. Signed lower left “Maurice B. Prendergast” and dated July 1890. Ref. Maurice Brazil Prendergast: A Catalog Raisonne, Williams College Museum of Art, p. 330, fig. 514 (illustrated). Exhibited, Heath Gallery, Atlanta, “Nature in Early Modern American Art,” May 17-31, 1986.  Matted under glass in a giltwood Rococo style frame with labels for Heath Gallery and Sotheby’s.  Sight: 8 in W x 6 1/4 in H. Frame: 15 in W x 14 in H. Note: A copy of the Maurice and Charles Prendergast Catalog Raisonne accompanies this lot (2 in x 9 in x 12 in). Biography:  Maurice Prendergast was one of the first American painters to adopt a post-impressionist style. His distinctive paintings utilize a pattern of flat, short brushstrokes and bold outlines to create brightly colored scenes of outdoor leisure. Prendergast began his art career creating show cards—hand-lettered advertisements for store windows. In the mid-1880s he and his brother Charles (also an artist) traveled to Europe and studied with Gustave Courtois at the Atelier Colorossi and later at the Academie Julian. It was in Paris that Prendergast began to create the colorful, festive post-impressionist works for which he is known. These paintings reflect the influence Edouard Vuillard, Pierre Bonnard, and Henri de Toulouse Lautrec. Prendergast returned to Boston in 1894. His watercolors, monotypes, and oil paintings from this time represent people pursuing leisure activities on beaches and city streets. Some of these were included in an 1894 group show at the Boston Arts Club, his first known appearance in an exhibition. In New York he affiliated himself with Robert Henri and the Eight, whose rejection of academic tradition was appealing to Prendergast even though his style and subjects were far removed from theirs. He returned to France in 1907 and, influenced by Cezanne and Matisse and the Fauves, started to use more abstract and colorful forms. In 1908 Prendergast joined the Association of American Painters and Sculptors and served on the selection committee for the 1913 Armory Show. In 1914 he and his brother moved to New York City, where he spent the remainder of his life, although he continued to make annual summer painting trips to resorts on the Atlantic coast of New England. Prendergast was admired by American modernists as a proponent of European modernism. Source: The National Gallery of Art.

PROVENANCE: The artist; to Emma Oedell (Mrs. Charles Symmes); to Marjorie Oedell Littlefield; to David H. Littlefield; to Fanlight, Manlius, NY, and Hirshl and Adler, 1982; to Sotheby’s (Dec. 3, 1987, lot 187); to Jane and Ervin Entrekin, Nashville; The Entrekin Family Trust. (Source:  Maurice Brazil Prendergast: A Catalog Raisonne, Williams College Museum of Art, p. 330).

CONDITION: Painting with light toning / sunning and a few very small spots of foxing, scattered. Painting is not glued down. Frame has a few small edge losses to gilding. Book is in good condition with minor scuffs to dust cover.