Sketchbook- The Granite Shore Hotel, Rockport, page 104- 105: "Afternoon , the hill"
1905
This graphite sketchbook drawing by Maurice Prendergast captures a leisurely afternoon scene at the Granite Shore Hotel in Rockport, rendered with the artist's characteristic loose, gestural line work. The sketch depicts figures scattered across a hillside landscape, with Prendergast's distinctive abbreviated technique suggesting form and activity through economical marks rather than detailed rendering. The work exemplifies the artist's practice of using his sketchbooks as repositories for spontaneous observations that would inform his larger, more finished compositions.
- Medium
- graphite
- Location
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Spotted works by Maurice Prendergast
Artists in conversation
John Singer Sargent
American · b. 1856
Sargent's sketchbook drawings and plein air studies share Prendergast's loose gestural graphite linework and spontaneous capture of leisure figures in coastal New England settings, with the same economical abbreviated marks that suggest form without overworking detail.
Childe Hassam
American · b. 1859
Hassam produced numerous graphite and pencil sketches of coastal New England scenes including figures on hillsides and resort hotels, employing a similarly impressionist sensibility and plein air spontaneity that directly parallels Prendergast's Rockport afternoon study.
Theodore Robinson
American · b. 1852
Robinson's sketchbook studies feature the same loose post impressionist graphite draftsmanship and casual observation of figures in outdoor leisure settings, capturing transient afternoon light and activity through quick gestural marks that closely mirror Prendergast's working method.
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