Cove with Figures 1923

Curator: Let's turn our attention to "Cove with Figures" painted in 1923 by Maurice Prendergast, rendered in oil on canvas and held in a private collection. The whole is vibrant and immediate. What do you make of it? Editor: At first glance, I am struck by how buoyant and festive the painting is! The colors are wonderfully evocative of leisure and freedom. It’s quite interesting, there’s almost a timeless quality embedded into it… Curator: Interesting you mention that. For Prendergast, the act of painting en plein air – of painting in the open air – became intrinsically linked with scenes of leisure and a democratization of production in the age of mass manufacturing. I see here how those brushstrokes capture movement; notice how he applies color with what appear as dots or flecks rather than solid strokes. Editor: Exactly, I believe the artist is communicating something deeply rooted in culture. I find the figures along the cove to possess echoes of nymphs and deities from antiquity, yet situated firmly in modern dress of the early twentieth century. This collision gives them a distinct aura! Curator: Absolutely, and observe that the figures and natural forms are all depicted with a comparable weight. Prendergast’s emphasis on visible brushstrokes, irrespective of the subject, pushes the composition closer to an emphasis on materiality – on paint as its own signifier and force. Editor: It suggests that Prendergast considered the modern spectator more than an ancient one: the forms may remind us of a collective, perhaps even mythical past, but their interpretation lies squarely in the consciousness of today's viewer. It's about finding mythologies in modernity. Curator: Yes, the choice of oil paints, quickly manufactured and portable for use on readily available canvases, also brings forward the implications of an accessible marketplace that both Prendergast and his audience navigated together in the booming interwar years. Editor: That interplay gives Prendergast a compelling voice, not simply in portraying leisure, but asking us to reconsider the meanings of these long held themes through the lens of contemporary making and understanding. Thank you. Curator: Yes, a lot is happening with forms and materials. Thank you as well.