North Shore 3, Massachusetts 1910

Maurice Prendergast made this watercolor, North Shore 3, Massachusetts, at an unknown date. Look at the way he's put down these transparent pools of color, right? You can see the paper underneath. I love the way he's built the land with washes of browns and tans, and then pops those white and colored figures on top. The materiality is key: the paper, the watercolor, the way the pigments separate and bleed. Check out the lower part of the picture plane, notice how the forms are more abstracted than the figures, look closer and you’ll see how the paint has bleed into the lower registers. That gives it depth and makes the top figures look like they are further away, but still close in time. It's almost like a memory. Prendergast was really interested in the way people interacted with landscapes, and this is clear when looking at his work alongside someone like Bonnard. It's all about catching a fleeting moment and letting the medium do its thing.