Summer Afternoon 1916

Maurice Prendergast likely made this watercolor and graphite painting, Summer Afternoon, sometime around 1915. Prendergast was part of a group of painters known as The Eight, a short-lived but influential group of American artists who challenged the conservative hold of the National Academy of Design. This painting, with its bright colors and flattened perspective, is stylistically aligned with the European avant-garde, particularly the work of artists like Pierre Bonnard. But Prendergast's subject matter, middle-class women at leisure, reflects the rise of consumer culture and the changing role of women in American society at the turn of the 20th century. To understand Prendergast's choices, we need to examine the social and cultural context in which he was working, looking at exhibition reviews, period photographs, and other visual materials that can shed light on his artistic practice and the world around him. We can then consider his contribution to a vital debate about the public role of art and its relationship to broader social change.