The Laundry Yard

Henry Prellwitz is best known for his allegorical compositions and landscapes of Cornish, New Hampshire, and Peconic Bay (Long Island), New York—two leading artist colonies where he and his wife, Edith Mitchill Prellwitz, lived and worked at the turn of the twentieth century. A successful artist-couple who supported each other’s careers, the two met at the Art Students League. There, Henry fell under the influence of Thomas Wilmer Dewing, whose tonalist figure painting shaped his student’s more ambitious works.Henry also experimented with impressionistic, sketch-like scenes, such as this fresh composition—a ‘family picture’ that depicts the side yard between the couple’s Peconic waterfront High House and Studio with great facility and affection.