American Art Collaborative

While the jewel–like colors and simplified forms may make this beach seem otherworldly, the painting is rooted in one of Maurice Prendergast's favorite places: the Massachusetts coast. Although an American scene, the choice of subject matter and abstract style are due to the influence of European modernism, which Prendergast absorbed through several years' study in Paris, as well as on trips to Italy. This work dates from the period when Prendergast began to exhibit with the Eight, a group of American artists who were dissatisfied with official juried exhibitions and decided to mount their own independent shows. He also participated in the landmark 1913 Armory Show, the exhibition that first exposed mass American artists and viewers to modernism.