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Williams College Museum of Art Presents
Summer Afternoon: American Watercolors
from the Collection
May 22–October 11, 2004

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Williamstown, MA—Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) is pleased to present Summer Afternoon: American Watercolors from the Collection. The exhibition will showcase works that capture the spirit of summer, from lush landscapes to delicate still lifes to scenes of frolicking children, culled from the museum’s strong collection of American works on paper. Including approximately forty-five works, the show will feature the work of Maurice Brazil Prendergast, a leader in American watercolor painting, with a special display of his rarely exhibited sketchbooks that show his working method and the studies that would provide the foundation for later works. WCMA’s collection of the works of Maurice Prendergast is the largest of any museum, thanks to the generosity of his sister-in-law Eugénie Prendergast.

This exhibition will bring together many of WCMA’s finest watercolors, allowing viewers to compare and contrast various styles in the medium, from the flowing colors of Prendergast to the tautly defined planes of color used by Charles Demuth. Other artists exhibited include the acknowledged masters of American watercolor: Winslow Homer, John Marin, and Charles Burchfield.

Summer is often thought of as a time of indulgent leisure. Henry James mused, “Summer afternoon—Summer afternoon…the two most beautiful words in the English language.” Although many of the works suggest this idea of the ease of a lazy summer day, careful observation of the paintings reveals many layers of construction in which the artists tightly controlled and manipulated the interplay of paper and paint. Among the representations of lighthearted beach scenes and the vibrant green passages of a summer landscape, the artists struggled with questions of formalism and technical precision.

This exhibition was organized by Ellery Foutch, Curatorial Assistant, with Nancy Mowll Mathews, Eugénie Prendergast Senior Curator of 19th and 20th Century Art and Lecturer in Art. It will remain on view through October 11.

Related Events
WCMA has planned several programs in conjunction with the exhibit. At the museum’s Summer Reception on July 17, curator of the exhibition Ellery Foutch will give a brief gallery talk on selected works, beginning at 5:00 pm. On August 5 at 2 pm, Prendergast expert Nancy Mowll Mathews and Leslie Paisley, conservator of works on paper from the Williamstown Art Conservation Center, will speak on the studio practices and historical use of the watercolor medium.

Publicity Images Available
Publicity images for Summer Afternoon: American Watercolors from the Collection and other current exhibitions are available for use. Images include Winslow Homer’s Children on a Fence, Maurice Brazil Prendergast’s Fiesta-Venice-S. Pietro in Volta, and Charles Ephraim Burchfield’s Summer Afternoon. They can be found at www.wcma.org/press. Contact: Suzanne Augugliaro, Public Relations Coordinator
413.597.3178.