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Large Boston Public Garden Sketchbook: A Woman Reading a Book

1895–97
Not on view
This finely dressed young woman, apparently shaded from sunlight by her crimson parasol, may be reading a Thomas Hardy novel. Several of his books were newly published and popularized in London and New York in the 1890s. Prendergast deftly uses the watercolor medium to illustrate both transparency, as in the leg-of-mutton sleeves of the dress, and opacity, as in the saturated crimson palette of the dahlias in a vase. His ultramarine blue framing lines appear on almost all the watercolors in this sketchbook.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Large Boston Public Garden Sketchbook: A Woman Reading a Book
  • Artist: Maurice Brazil Prendergast (American, St. John’s, Newfoundland 1858–1924 New York)
  • Date: 1895–97
  • Medium: Watercolor over pencil; bordered in pencil and watercolor
  • Dimensions: 14 1/8 x 11 3/16 in. (35.8 x 28.4 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.924
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

More Artwork

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Large Boston Public Garden Sketchbook: The Huntington Avenue Streetcar, Maurice Brazil Prendergast American, Watercolor over pencil
Large Boston Public Garden Sketchbook: The Huntington Avenue Streetcar
Maurice Brazil Prendergast
1895–1897
35r. A crowd watching fireworks; 35v. A woman walking toward the right, Maurice Brazil Prendergast American, Recto: Watercolor over pencil; Verso: pencil
35r. A crowd watching fireworks; 35v. A woman walking toward the right
Maurice Brazil Prendergast
1895–97
Large Boston Public Garden Sketchbook: Young girls in hats and sashed dresses, Maurice Brazil Prendergast American, Recto: watercolor over pencil
Large Boston Public Garden Sketchbook: Young girls in hats and sashed dresses
Maurice Brazil Prendergast
1895–97
Large Boston Public Garden Sketchbook: A woman reading in the park, Maurice Brazil Prendergast American, Watercolor over pencil; bordered in pencil
Large Boston Public Garden Sketchbook: A woman reading in the park
Maurice Brazil Prendergast
1895–97
Large Boston Public Garden Sketchbook: Two women conversing on the street, Maurice Brazil Prendergast American, Watercolor over pencil, bordered in pencil and watercolor
Large Boston Public Garden Sketchbook: Two women conversing on the street
Maurice Brazil Prendergast
1895–97

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