Williams College Museum of Art Opens Major Exhibition About American Artist Maurice...

Williams College Museum of Art Opens Major Exhibition About American Artist
Maurice Prendergast

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., March 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In partnership with
the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Williams College Museum of Art
(WCMA) presents Prendergast in Italy, the first exhibition devoted entirely to
the watercolors, monotypes, and oil paintings by American artist Maurice
Prendergast. Featuring over sixty views of Venice, Rome, Siena, and Capri,
Prendergast in Italy also includes the artist's personal sketchbooks, letters,
photographs, and guidebooks from his two trips to Italy in 1898 and 1911.
Prendergast presented a view of Italy that was informed by European trends but
did not disguise his strong American accent -- an accent that would come to
dominate international discourse in the twentieth century. This
interdisciplinary exhibition demonstrates the advances of abstract color and
form that put Prendergast on the cutting edge of American modernism.

Since the majority of the works are of Venice, the armchair traveler will come
away from this exhibition with a vivid sense of that unique city, its canals,
and famous monuments as seen though the eyes of an American on the forefront
of 20th-century modernism. Five different works, including Rialto, Venice from
WCMA's collection, are displayed so that both sides are visible. These
double-sided watercolors, in addition to many sketches and unfinished works,
provide a special glimpse into the artist's creative process. A large group of
color monotypes showcase Prendergast's daring approach and experimentation
with the medium. Archival materials, such as photographs, letters, guidebooks,
and Japanese prints belonging to the Prendergasts (now in WCMA's collection),
give context to the period and Prendergast's unique, modern style.

Prendergast in Italy highlights a selection of the collection of over four
hundred works by artist-brothers Maurice and Charles Prendergast in the
Williams College Museum of Art, the largest collection in the world. In
addition to artworks from WCMA and the Terra Foundation for American Art, the
exhibition features loans from over fifty institutions and private collections
in the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of
Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Prendergast in Italy opens at the Williams College Museum of Art on Saturday,
July 18 and will be on view through September 20, 2009; the exhibition then
travels to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy (October 9,
2009-January 3, 2010), and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (February
14-May 9, 2010).

Prendergast in Italy was conceived and organized by Nancy Mowll Mathews,
Eugenie Prendergast Senior Curator of 19th and 20th Century Art at the
Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Mass., with Elizabeth Kennedy,
Curator of Collection at the Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, IL.

About the Artist
Maurice Prendergast (American, 1858-1924) made a name for himself in Boston
and New York as a cutting edge Impressionist watercolorist who
experimented with color monotypes. In his day, he was lauded by the more
progressive art critics and attracted the support of modern art collectors.
When he first departed for Italy (1898), he was an up-and-coming avant-garde
artist who had recently returned to Boston from four years in Paris.

The body of work that Prendergast produced shows his struggle to pay homage to
the great art he encountered in Assisi, Siena, Rome, and Venice
while he grappled with the new realities of modern, unified Italy and the
progressive art of his time. Prendergast's interpretation of Venice captures a
unique blend of old and new. Watercolors from his first trip to Italy are
characterized by Prendergast's interest in the Italian flag and how it
symbolized a "new" Italy; he depicted it many times during this first trip.
These works were sent home and exhibited in Boston even while he was still
abroad. In 1900, shortly after his return to America they were showcased in
his first one-person show. It was the Italian watercolors that catapulted
Prendergast to a national reputation and a place among the most advanced
artists in New York.

Ten years later, after assimilating the new expressionistic and abstract art
theories unveiled in Paris by Matisse, Picasso, and their circle, Prendergast
again departed for Italy (1911). On his second trip, Prendergast focused on
the bridges of Venice, applying his new style to the emblematic architecture
of the canal city. This body of work shows the advances of abstract color and
form that put Prendergast at the forefront of American modernism.

Sponsorship
Prendergast in Italy is organized by Williams College Museum of Art in
partnership with the Terra Foundation for American Art. Terra Foundation for
American Art is the lead sponsor with additional funding from the Eugenie
Prendergast Endowment.

International Tour
After opening at the Williams College Museum of Art (July 18-September 20,
2009), Prendergast in Italy travels to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection
(October 9, 2009-January 3, 2010) and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
(February 14-May 9, 2010).

Catalogue
Prendergast in Italy, published by Merrell Publishers, London, is a catalogue
focusing on Prendergast's major Italian works. The main essay of the book is
written by Nancy Mowll Mathews, with an additional essay by Elizabeth Kennedy.
These essays accompany 250 illustrations of art, photography, maps, and
documents that give the complete context of Prendergast's Italy.

Other contributors include: Carol Clark, William McCall Vickery 1957 Professor
of the History of Art and American Studies, Amherst College (Amherst,
Massachusetts); Alessandro Del Puppo, Universita degli Studi di Udine (Udine,
Italy); Olga Paszczewska, Chair of Comparative Literature, Faculty of Polish
Studies, Jagiellonian University (Krakow, Poland); and Jan Andreas May,
Assistant Curator, Neue Nationalgalerie (Berlin, Germany).

SOURCE Williams College Museum of Art

Suzanne Silitch, +1-413-597-3178, suzanne.silitch@williams.edu, or Aimee Hirz,
+1-413-597-2037, aimee.c.hirz@williams.edu, both of Williams College