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Charles Prendergast (1863-1948)
Skaters at the World’s Fair, 1940
Tempera on incised, gessoed masonite
Gift of Mrs. Charles Prendergast in honor of Dr. John W. Chandler,
President of Williams College, 1973-1985, 83.20.3

Charles’s late works embraced the small-town joys of the circus, zoo, racetrack, and county fair. Charles visited the New York World’s Fair many times in 1939 and again in 1940 and made two panels representing scenes from the park’s amusement center. There, he found an ice skating rink built in imitation of the famous Utah resort “Sun Valley.” The small rink was the site of ice skating performances that could be watched from bleachers flanking the ice, which Charles recorded in delightful detail.

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