Bastille Day

1892

Bastille Day, 1892. Maurice Prendergast (American, 1858–1924). Color monotype; image: 17.4 x 13.1 cm (6 7/8 x 5 3/16 in.); platemark: 25.5 x 20 cm (10 1/16 x 7 7/8 in.); sheet: 30.5 x 24.8 cm (12 x 9 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1954.337 Maurice Prendergast began to make monotypes in the early 1890s while living in Paris, where he was influenced by Edgar Degas's use of the technique. Prendergast focused on scenes from daily life, such as this depiction of crowds filling the streets of the French capital on the country's national holiday. He used layers of blue and black ink to evoke the shadowy tones of nighttime and orbs of bright pink to suggest the artificial light of lanterns illuminating the boulevards. This print is one of the few works that can be dated to Maurice Prendergast's early years in Paris.