Skipping Rope 1892 - 1895

Maurice Prendergast made this monotype called Skipping Rope with crayon and pastel. It captures a seemingly innocent scene of girls enjoying a simple street game, but it opens a window onto the social life of children in turn-of-the-century America. The girls are playing in what seems to be a small square in an urban neighborhood. Prendergast’s loose and broken strokes suggest the fleeting energy of the moment, but also the gritty reality of city life. This was a time of massive immigration and industrial growth in America, when debates raged over the impact of urbanization on traditional values. Prendergast, like many artists of his time, was drawn to depicting modern life. The fact that he chose to represent children reveals an interest in the processes through which new generations are socialized into this rapidly changing world. Art historians often use resources like period newspapers, photographs, and social surveys to reconstruct the lived experience of the past. By considering the institutional and social contexts in which it was produced, we can better understand art as something more than just aesthetics.