Charles Prendergast (1863–1948) was a Canadian-American

Post-Impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...

artist as well as a designer and maker of picture frames. He was the younger brother of the artist,

Maurice Prendergast Maurice Brazil Prendergast (October 10, 1858 – February 1, 1924) was an American artist who painted in oil and watercolor, and created monotypes. His delicate landscapes and scenes of modern life, characterized by mosaic-like color, are ...

Life

He was born on 27 May 1863 in

St. John's, Newfoundland St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...

, Canada. In 1868 the family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where he lived until 1914 when he and his brother moved to New York City. In 1890 he traveled to Paris with Maurice, taking art classes with his brother who was studying at the Académie Colarossi and the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

. On his return to Boston, Charles became a custom woodworker, eventually focusing on creating unique picture frames influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement. He produced “highly prized, hand-carved frames for the greatest artists of his day, including

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...

. He traveled to Italy in 1911, again with his brother, visiting

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

, and

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

. On his return to Boston, he began to produce paintings in addition to his frames; he was then almost fifty years old. His first painting, ''Rising Sun'', was on a carved wood and

gesso Gesso (; "chalk", from the la, gypsum, from el, γύψος) is a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these. It is used in painting as a preparation for any number of substrates suc ...

panel. In 1915 he exhibited his paintings at the Montross Gallery in New York and in 1917 and 1918 at the

Society of Independent Artists Society of Independent Artists was an association of American artists founded in 1916 and based in New York. Background Based on the French Société des Artistes Indépendants, the goal of the society was to hold annual exhibitions by avant-gard ...

. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s he exhibited at the Kraushaar Galleries, also in New York. In 1927, Prendergast married Eugénie Van Kemmel. He died on 20 August 1948 at the age of eighty-five in Westport, Connecticut. The

Williams College Museum of Art The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) is a college-affiliated art museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is located on the campus of Williams College, and is close to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) and the Clark Ar ...

in Williamstown, Massachusetts maintains the "Prendergast Archive and Study Center"; it was established in 1983 in cooperation with Charles' widow, Eugénie Prendergast (1894–1994). Their collection holds approximately four hundred works by Charles and Maurice Prendergast, as well as about fifteen-hundred related archival objects.

Influence of Maurice Prendergast

Richard J. Wattenmaker, then Director of the Rutgers University Art Gallery, wrote in 1968: "By far the most pervasive influence on Prendergast was the work of his brother, Maurice. The profound intimacy of ideas between the two is freely reflected in the joyous spontaneity and jewel-like, color-laden decorativeness which permeate both their work, as well as the innovational flexibility with which each handles his chosen medium."

Art market

In May 1998 Charles Prendergast's painting, ''Spirit of the Hunt'', sold for $1,432,500 in a public auction at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

. ''Spirit of the Hunt'' is signed with the initials of both Charles and his brother, Maurice, but

Nancy Mowll Mathews Nancy Mowll Mathews (born 1947 in Baltimore) is a History of the Czechs in Baltimore, Czech-American Art history, art historian, curator and author. She was the Eugénie Prendergast Senior Curator of 19th and 20th Century Art at the Williams Colleg ...

, art historian and noted authority on the Prendergasts, writes: "The style of this panel can only be associated with Charles. ..Indeed, when the work was published in 1919, no mention is made of the hand of Maurice."

Collections

This is an incomplete list. *

Addison Gallery of American Art The Addison Gallery of American Art is an academic museum dedicated to collecting American art, organized as a department of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. History Directors of the gallery include Bartlett H. Hayes, Jr. (1940– ...

, Andover, Massachusetts *

Barnes Foundation The Barnes Foundation is an art collection and educational institution promoting the appreciation of art and horticulture. Originally in Merion, the art collection moved in 2012 to a new building on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, Pen ...

, Merion, Pennsylvania *

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was des ...

, Washington, D.C. *

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York, New York *

Rhode Island School of Design Museum The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD Museum) is an art museum integrated with the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence, Rhode Island, US. The museum was co-founded with the school in 1877, and still shares multiple build ...

, Providence, Rhode Island *

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

, Massachusetts *

Newark Museum The Newark Museum of Art (formerly known as the Newark Museum), in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States, is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, Af ...

, Newark, New Jersey *

Wadsworth Atheneum The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School lands ...

, Hartford, Connecticut *

, Williamstown, Massachusetts *

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

, New York, New York

Gallery

File:Charles_Prendergast_-_Three-Panel_Screen_(front).jpg, Charles Prendergast, ''Three-Panel Screen'' (front), ''c.'' 1916-1917, oil and gold leaf on gessoed wood, each panel, 75 x 27¼ in, private collection. File:Charles_Prendergast_-_Three-Panel_Screen_(back).jpg, Charles Prendergast, ''Three-Panel Screen'' (back), ''c.'' 1916-1917, oil and gold leaf on gessoed wood, each panel, 75 x 27¼ in, private collection. File:Charles_Prendergast_-_The_Offering.jpg, Charles Prendergast, ''The Offering'', ''c.'' 1916-1917, tempera and gold leaf on carved panel, 20 x 25 in, private collection. File:Charles Prendergast and Maurice Prendergast - The Spirit of the Hunt.jpg, Charles Prendergast and Maurice Prendergast, ''The Spirit of the Hunt'', before 1919, tempera, gold and silver leaf, and pencil on gessoed panel, 55 x 80½ in, private collection.

References

*Nancy Mowll Mathews; Marion M. Goethals (1993). ''Charles Prendergast''. Williamstown, MA.: Williams College Museum of Art. . (Exhibition catalog) *Richard J. Wattenmaker (1968). ''Charles Prendergast: 1863-1948''. Rutgers University Art Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. LCCN 68009480.
Prendergast Archive and Study Center, Williams College Museum of Art.
Retrieved 10 December 2013.

Nancy Mowll Mathews. Art History Archives. Retrieved 10 December 2013. (Text of the Mathews essay in the above 1993 exhibition catalog)

Catalogue raisonné

*Clark, Carol; Mathews, Nancy Mowll; Owens, Gwendolyn (1990). ''Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Charles Prendergast: A Catalogue Raisonné''. Williamstown, MA: Williams College Museum of Art and Prestel-Verlag, Munich. .

External links

Prendergasts in the Barnes Foundation Collection.
Retrieved 10 December 2013.
Frames by Prendergast.
Retrieved 10 December 2013.
Catalogue of the First Annual Exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists, April 10-May 6, 1917.
Retrieved 1 February 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Prendergast, Charles 1863 births 1948 deaths 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters Post-impressionist painters Artists from Boston Artists from Newfoundland and Labrador People from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists