HOUSTON.- “Prendergast in Italy”, the first exhibition devoted entirely to the watercolors, monotypes, and oil paintings by the American modern artist Maurice Prendergast, will open at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston on February 14, 2010. Featuring more than 60 views of Venice, Rome, Siena, and Capri, “Prendergast in Italy” also includes the artist´s personal sketchbooks, letters, photographs, and guidebooks from his two trips to Italy, in 1898 and 1911. Prendergast was born and raised in Boston but developed his mature style during early trips abroad to France (1891-1895) and Italy (1989-1989). Renowned for his paintings full of joie de vivre, the view of Italy that Prendergast presents was informed by European trends filtered through the eyes of an American artist and tourist encountering Venice for the first time. This exhibition demonstrates the advances of abstract color and form that put Prendergast on the cutting edge of Am