Sketchbook, The Dells, N° 127, page 124 & 125: Landscape with Houses
1919
This graphite sketchbook drawing by Maurice Prendergast captures a landscape scene featuring clustered houses rendered in his characteristic loose, gestural line work. The composition demonstrates the artist's interest in informal spatial arrangement and picturesque rural or village settings, typical of his prolific sketchbook practice. Executed with economical yet expressive draftsmanship, the work reveals Prendergast's process of visual note taking and his ongoing exploration of landscape subjects that would inform his finished paintings.
- Medium
- graphite
- Location
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Spotted works by Maurice Prendergast
Artists in conversation
John Marin
American · b. 1870
Marin similarly filled sketchbooks with loose gestural graphite and watercolor studies of rural New England landscapes and village architecture, sharing Prendergast's economical yet expressive draftsmanship and informal compositional approach.
Charles Burchfield
American · b. 1893
Burchfield produced prolific sketchbook studies of clustered rural houses and village scenes using expressive linear mark making, closely paralleling Prendergast's process oriented visual note taking in intimate landscape settings.
Arthur B. Davies
American · b. 1862
Davies was a contemporary Post Impressionist American artist who shared Prendergast's interest in serene landscape compositions rendered with loose gestural draftsmanship and a modernist sensibility toward informal rural subject matter.
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