Maurice Brazil Prendergast

Maurice Prendergast's distinctive Post-Impressionist paintings are instantly recognizable for their vibrant curvilinear patterning and decorative, almost jewel-like quality. Prendergast primarily painted landscapes, occasionally collaborating with his brother Charles, a painter and frame maker. Although he exhibited with members of the Ashcan School, whose style tended toward the gritty and urban, Prendergast chose pleasant and picturesque subjects for his compositions, like sunny beaches and lush parks. His early-career interest in watercolors gave way to a strong interest in oils, in which he would render his best known works.