Bidspirit auction | Maurice Prendergast ”Lake in Maine”

Maurice Prendergast ”Lake in Maine” Painting - Maurice Prendergast (American, 1858-1924). Watercolor on paper painting titled ”Lake in Maine, ” 1912. Signed along the lower left; titled and dated along the verso. Provenance: The artist to Eugenie Prendergast, sister-in-law of the artist; gift of Eugenie to Roger Cloutier, a CPA who assisted with establishing the Eugenie Prendergast Foundation in 1970; thence by descent. Lot Essay: Maurice Prendergast was a distinctive figure in early American modernism, best known for his vibrant, mosaic-like scenes of leisure and urban life. Although he trained in Paris and was influenced by Post-Impressionists like Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard, Prendergast maintained a highly personal style that set him apart from his peers. His compositions are characterized by flattened forms, decorative patterning, and brilliant color harmonies, which reflected his keen interest in design and abstraction. These qualities made his work visually unique in American art at the turn of the 20th century and positioned him as a precursor to more radical modernist developments that would come later. In 1908, Prendergast joined a group of painters known as ”The Eight, ” a loose coalition of artists who exhibited together in a landmark show at Macbeth Gallery in New York. While many of the members - such as Robert Henri, George Luks, and John Sloan - were central figures in the Ashcan School and depicted gritty scenes of working-class life, Prendergast’s luminous and decorative works stood in striking contrast. His inclusion in the group reflected both his alignment with their push against academic conservatism and his broader commitment to artistic innovation. Although not a typical Ashcan painter, Prendergast's participation in this pivotal moment helped solidify his role in the formation of an independent American art scene. Prendergast’s legacy in art history rests on his fusion of decorative beauty with modernist principles. While he never fully embraced the social realism of the Ashcan School, his exploration of color, composition, and spatial abstraction aligned him with the forward momentum of modern art. He was admired by contemporaries such as William Glackens and Arthur B. Davies - who exhibited his work at the landmark Armory show - and his work influenced later American modernists with its emphasis on formal harmony over narrative content. Today, Prendergast is recognized as a bridge between 19th-century Impressionism and 20th-century abstraction, a singular artist whose contributions expanded the visual language of American painting. Unframed; height: 11 1/4 in x width: 15 1/4 in. Framed; height: 19 in x width: 23 in x depth: 1 in. Condition: Please email us at condition@revereauctions.com for a condition report or additional photos.