Monotypes by Maurice Prendergast in the Terra Museum of American Art
by: Langdale, Cecily

Softcover. Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, 1st, 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 159 pages, with 72 illustrations, 52 in color. Light edge wear to wrappers, else a very clean, tight copy. These monotypes are presented by Cecily Langdale in this book which was published in 1984. It contains a brief Biography of the artist that describes his influences, travels and contacts, and a general discussion about Monotypes which summarises their chronology, style and technique. These two essays are illustrated by 28 b/w figures. The monotypes are then presented, in colour, with commentaries on each by Langdale that integrate factual information and artistic significance. Addenda include a further 3 monotypes by the artist and there is a Bibliography of relevant publications. Prendergast executed his last monotypes in 1901-02, probably because of his increased interest on the complexities of oil painting techniques that he continued to explore for the remainder of his life. For anyone unfamiliar with monotypes, the information provided by Langdale is extremely useful to enable a full appreciation of the works presented in this book. The artist used oil paint in the preparation of his monotypes and may have used a spoon to transfer the images onto the Japanese tissue support.