Park, Naples 1915

Maurice Prendergast’s painting, Park, Naples, is full of bright dabs and slabs of thick paint. It is a carnival of colour! I can imagine him working en plein air, squinting into the Italian sunlight. The paint is loaded on, like icing, and the image emerges through a process of accrual. I wonder if Prendergast was thinking about Bonnard when he made this, with its loose handling and subject matter taken from modern life? Or perhaps he was remembering the mosaics of Ravenna. His brushstrokes remind me of textile patterns – each figure and form is a little like a decorative motif, repeated and varied. A horse and cart on the left of the image are rendered with particularly energetic strokes, almost falling apart, but held together with the artist's vision. The painting breathes, expanding and contracting like a lung. It’s not just a static image; it is alive! These artists are all in conversation, each trying to breathe new life into the ancient medium.