Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "108452",
    "label": "May Day, Central Park",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "drawing"
}

{
    "id": "108452",
    "contentType": "drawing",
    "title": "May Day, Central Park",
    "description": "Maurice Prendergast worked primarily in watercolor, and Central Park—seen in this drawing— was one of his favorite subjects. He regularly visited the popular public area in New York City during the early 1900s, while he was living in Boston. Prendergast's depictions of Central Park often focus on festivities and celebrations, continuing a theme he had explored in other cities, such as Paris and Venice. Here, the artist depicted children celebrating May Day by dancing with colorful ribbons around a Maypole on a sunny day. He worked with rapid, loose marks, leaving portions of the paper visible to create highlights throughout. Prendergast was drawn to this subject, and revisited it many times.",
    "date": "1901",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1926.17",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q80056803"
    ],
    "creators": [
        3246
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Drawing"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1926.17/1926.17_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1926.17/1926.17_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1926.17/1926.17_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Sheet: 35.4 x 50.6 cm (13 15/16 x 19 15/16 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "America"
    ],
    "accession": "1926.17"
}

{
    "tec": "watercolor over graphite",
    "tombstone": "May Day, Central Park, 1901. Maurice Prendergast (American, born Newfoundland [now Canada], 1858–1924). Watercolor over graphite; sheet: 35.4 x 50.6 cm (13 15/16 x 19 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1926.17",
    "supportMaterials": [
        {
            "description": "beige(1) wove paper"
        }
    ],
    "collection": "DR - American 19th Century",
    "inscriptions": [
        {
            "inscription": "signed, across bottom, in brown ink: Maurice B. Prendergast Central Park. 1901. / New York.; verso, upper left, in graphite: No 22; center, in graphite: May Day Central Park\r\r\n"
        }
    ],
    "didYouKnow": "Maurice Prendergast studied in Paris and was influenced by the French Impressionists and their focus on modern urban life.",
    "citations": [
        {
            "citation": "DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. <em>Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 224-225, p.296; Reproduced: p. 295"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Wattenmaker, Richard J. \"Maurice Prendergast.\" <em>Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin</em> 40, no. 1 (1982-1983): 25-37.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 36 n. 16"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Milliken, William Mathewson. \"The Maurice Prendergast Memorial Exhibition.\" <em>Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>13, no. 2 (February 1926): 40-41.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 38"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Milliken, William Mathewson. \"Maurice Prendergast, American Artist.\" <em>The Arts</em> (April 1926): 181-192.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 187"
        },
        {
            "citation": "<em>Maurice Prendergast Memorial Exhibition</em>. Exh. Cat. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1934.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: no. 95"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Francis, Henry S. \"Museum Water Colors and the Thirteenth Exhibition of Water Colors and Pastels.\" <em>Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. 24, no. 3 (March 1937): 39-41.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 40"
        },
        {
            "citation": "<em>Painting Today and Yesterday in the United States</em>. Exh. Cat. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1941.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: no. 97"
        },
        {
            "citation": "<em>National Cyclopedia of American Biography. </em>Vol. 30. New York, 1943.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 398-399"
        },
        {
            "citation": "<em>Acquarela - E.E.U.U. Watercolor - USA, A Survey of Watercolor - USA from 1870 to 1946</em>. Exh. Cat. Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 1946.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: no. 6"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Metcalfe, James J. \"Artists.\" <em>Cleveland News</em> (August 19, 1950): 50.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 50"
        },
        {
            "citation": "<em>The Exhibition of American Painting</em>. Exh. Cat. Athens, OH: Ohio University, 1954.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: no. 27"
        },
        {
            "citation": "McKinney. Roland. <em>The Eight</em>. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1954.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced"
        },
        {
            "citation": "<em>American Watercolor Exhibition</em> Exh. Cat. New Delhi: All-India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, 1954.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: no. 1"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 563",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n105"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Rhys, Hedley Howell. <em>Maurice Prendergast, 1859-1924</em>. Exh. Cat. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1960.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: no. 88"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Dodd, Loring Holmes. \"Two Important Shows at Boston Museum.\" <em>Worcester Evening Gazette</em> (November 5, 1960): 7.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 7"
        },
        {
            "citation": "\"Holiday Idyls [sic] of Long Ago: Nostalgic Appeal of Prendergast's World.\" <em>Life Magazine</em> (September 1, 1961).",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Simon, John. \"Maurice Prendergast.\" <em>New York Times </em>(February 26, 1961): X-19.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. X-19"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 189",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n213"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Curry, Larry. <em>Eight American Masters of Watercolor</em>. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1968.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: no. 36"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 189",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n213"
        },
        {
            "citation": "\"A Checklist of American Paintings and Water Colors of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Early Twentieth Centuries in The Cleveland Museum of Art.\" <em>Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 60, no. 1 (January 1973): 21-32.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 32"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Boyle, Richard J. <em>American Impressionism</em>. Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1974.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p.225; Reproduced: p. 1"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Glubok, Shirley. <em>The Art of America in the Early Twentieth Century</em>. New York: Macmillan, 1974.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: inside front and back cover"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 235",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n255"
        },
        {
            "citation": "<em>The Monotypes of Maurice Prendergast</em>. Exh. Cat. New York: Davis &amp; Long Company, 1979.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 12; Reproduced: p. 138"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Perlman, Bennard B. <em>The Immortal Eight: American Painting from Eakins to the Armory Show</em>. Westport, CT: Exposition Press, 1979.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 153"
        },
        {
            "citation": "<em>Five American Masters of Watercolor: Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Maurice Prendergast, John Marin, Charles Burchfield</em>. Exh. Cat. Evanston, IL: Terra Museum of American Art, 1981.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 18"
        },
        {
            "citation": "<em>Japanese Artists Who Studied in U.S.A. and the American Scene</em>. Exh. Cat. Toyko: National Museum of Modern Art, 1982.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: no. 62"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Koschatzky, Walter. <em>Die Kunst des Aquarells: Technik, Geschichte, Meisterwerke</em>. Vienna: Residenz Verlag, 1982.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: no. 200"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Langdale, Cecily. \"The Late Watercolor/Pastels of Maurice Prendergast.\" <em>Antiques</em> 132 (November 1987): 1084-1095.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 1089"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Clark, Carol, Nancy Mowll Mathews, and Gwendolyn Owens. <em>Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Charles Prendergast: A Catalogue Raisonné</em>. Williamstown, MA: Williams College Museum of Art, 1990.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 412, no. 795"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Mathews, Nancy Mowll. <em>Maurice Prendergast</em>. Exh. Cat. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1990.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 20, p. 98, p. 184, no. 42; Reproduced: p. 87"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Anderson, Janice. <em>Children in Art</em>. New York, 1996.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 114-115"
        },
        {
            "citation": "<em>Pride in Place: Landscapes by The Eight in Southern Collections</em>. Exh. Cat. Albany: Albany Museum of Art, 2000.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 19"
        }
    ],
    "catalogueRaisonne": "Clark, Mathews, and Owens 795",
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1926.17",
    "creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 05:48:27.290000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1926.17/1926.17_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 108452,
    "dept": "Drawings",
    "coll": "DR - American 19th Century",
    "med": "watercolor over graphite",
    "creatorTags": [
        "male"
    ],
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}

{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1926.17/1926.17_web.jpg",
    "mediaId": "e6ede3b16199985e"
}