A small watercolour that I acquired recently leads us to artist #MauriceBrazilPrendergast (1858-1924). Prendergast was born in St John’s, Newfoundland, but his family moved to Boston where he was apprenticed to a commercial artist. He was influenced by Childe Hassam while living in Boston. He is known as a post-impressionist painter working in oils, watercolours, and monotype. He travelled to study in Paris, where he met James Morrice, Walter Sickert, James Beardsley, Édouard Vuillard, and Pierre Bonnard. Prendergast painted in an almost mosaic/tapestry style using bright, bold contrasting colours in smallish swatches or strokes but not small enough to be considered pointalist.

The watercolour shown is a good example of Prendergast’s loose, easy brushwork with its varied colour usage (250mm x 175mm). It is signed lower right with a very stylised ‘P’, which he often used at the beginning of his autograph.

Prendergast was a true modernist painter with a style all his own and so did not fit into any preconceived categories that set him apart from his peers. An absolutely fabulous piece to add to my small collection.