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The Rocky Seashore
About the Artwork
Throughout Prendergast’s career, the seaside was one of his favorite subjects, but in this watercolor, his true concern was color. Painting rapidly, Prendergast allowed the white of the paper to show around the edges of his jagged strokes of color, suggesting sunlight on wet rocks. This spontaneous seascape identifies him as one of the first American artists to experiment with modernism before the Armory Show in New York City of 1913, the first large-scale exhibition of European modern art held in the United States.
Exhibition history
Western Landscape Painting and Drawing. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 29, 1954-January 6, 1955). Four Boston Masters. Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA (organizer) (May 10-April 10, 1959); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (May 15-June 15, 1959). America Draws. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1984-March 17, 1985). Nature Sublime: Landscapes from the 19th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 15-November 14, 2004).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Maurice Prendergast (American, born Newfoundland [now Canada], 1858–1924)
- Date
- c. 1907–10
- Medium
- watercolor with traces of graphite
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 38.3 x 55.6 cm (15 1/16 x 21 7/8 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Anonymous Gift
- Accession no.
- 1953.655
More by Maurice Prendergast in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00011394
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