Artist research

Maurice Prendergast

Children on a Raft, 1896

Maurice Prendergast was an American painter known for using bright colours, simple shapes and loose brushstrokes. I really like the way he paints children. Even with very little detail, he still makes them look like children and not small adults. His figures are soft, playful and full of movement, which I think takes a lot of skill.

In Children on a Raft, the children are only suggested through a few strokes, but you instantly understand the scene. The colours blend into each other and the shapes feel light, almost like the figures are moving. He shows so much with so little.

This links to my own work. I am also trying to capture the essence of childhood without relying on detailed faces or features. While Prendergast uses loose brushstrokes, I use bold colours, smooth blending and abstract shapes. We both focus on showing feeling rather than realism. His confidence in using simple shapes to show children encourages me to trust my own silhouettes and colours to tell the story.