Category: Project Activities
Information about the project staff’s progress with increasing the accessibility of the Prendergast fine art and archives collection.
Never Before Revealed Photographs and Personal Items!
The personal photo collection of Charles and Maurice Prendergast has now been digitized and made available on our website. This collection dates back to 1877 and includes photos of the Prendergast brothers as well as their family members and friends
Engraved Plates, Figurines, and a Voodoo doll
Engraved Plate
We now have images of some of Charles and Eugénie Prendergast’s personal belongings including two of his original engraved plates, Indian Figurines, a voodoo doll and iron cherubs that were likely collected during their travels.
A Look Inside the Prendergast Book Collection
We now have digital images of ephemera such as postcards, pressed flowers, and newspaper clippings, as well as sketches, inscriptions, and notations that were found on the pages of the Prendergast book collection.
Sketches and notes in the Prendergast Book Collection
Our next photo session begins on Monday, March 4, 2013. In preparation I’ve been looking through the pages of the Prendergast book collection in search of notations, inscriptions, and sketches as well as interesting images for the photographers to shoot.
First Photo Shoot of the New Year!
We now have 104 images of books from the Prendergast Study Center. The collection ranges in date from 1666 through 1953 and covers a wide variety of topics including travel guides and maps of Italy and France, exhibition catalogs, works from well-known authors such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Virgil, Hugo, Shakespeare, Milton and Cicero, as well as several books on art.
Year One Report to IMLS
We have just submitted our year one report to the Institute of Museum and Library Services indicating that we are right on track with our grant activities for the Prendergast Digitization Project.
Wrapping Up Year One
Our professional photographers, Jim Gipe and Stephen Petegorsky, have just this moment photographed the last of the paintings in the museum’s Prendergast collection.
Prendergast Subject Browser
We have a new feature on the Prendergast section of our online collection database and that is the “Prendergast Subject Browser”. We hope that you enjoy exploring the museum’s Prendergast collection, and that it expands your understanding of the locations, themes, and landscape features that relate to the works.
Focus on Frames
Charles Prendergast was a successful framemaker, and the museum has in its collection 67 of his hand-carved frames. As part of our digitization project, we are treating these frames like the decorative art objects that they are.
Re-discoveries
Through the process of unframing the Prendergast works so that the project staff can photograph the versos, many interesting stamps, inscriptions, sketches, and even paintings have reemerged.
