Maurice Prendergast, not Teddy Pendergrass

This is the third in an series of occasional posts on random entries from the Webster’s New Explorer Encyclopedia.  Today, I discovered the artist Maurice Brazil Prendergast.  When I encountered the name, the first thing that came to mind was Teddy Pendergrass.  Do you remember his tune “Love TKO”?  Hall and Oates also recorded it.  And Gunter Grass comes to mind.  Though I have never read the Tin Drum, I do plan to one of these days.

Maurice Brazil Prendergast.  An artist born in Newfoundland, he moved to Boston in 1868 and later traveled abroad to study art.  Influenced by the French impressionsists and post impressionists, particularly Cezanne, Prendergast produced some stunning oils and watercolors, often depicting the leisure class at the beach or in the park.  I dig those horses on the beach.  Sea horses.

In the works below, Prendergast captures beachgoers in pursuit of leisure.  Notice the subtle or perhaps not so subtle class distinctions.

Prendergast painted this watercolor entitled Merry Go Round Nahant at the turn of the century when caroseuls and amusement parks became increasingly popular diversions for beachgoers.