Maxfield Parrish (1870–1966)

Now to begin, I adore Maxfield Parrish. I know the art intelligentsia will say I'm common. They'll place him in the same pigeon hole as Norman Rockwell, who by the way I cannot stand. Just because he doesn't fling paint at a canvas, or draw sqiggly line, or make screen prints of soup cans. F-'em. Anyway, This book is just lovely as an object in itself, not just as something to read. It is something to look at. My wife bought it for me and I used to read the nursery rhymes and stories to my show more kids. I still cherish it. I had no problem showing it to my children and calling the illustrations "art." show less

I just wanted to see some pretty pictures. I saw an exhibition in Reno a couple of decades ago, and all I could really take in was my disappointment about how Parrish usually handles fair hair. But on a smaller scale, that of this exhibition catalog, I can appreciate the luminosity of skies, or the cleverness in his illustrations, etc., better.

Here I see a very clever gently satirical work that I've never heard of before; 1909's *The Artist, Sex, Male.*

Dec. 2023

Interesting account of Parrish's life, work, methods, and context. His masterpiece, "Daybreak" - fine art in 1922, and the most popular art print of the 20th century (often cited as "one for every four American homes") - counts as kiddie-porn in today's climate of anxiety: the naked girl is his daughter Jean, who was eleven years old. Here in the 21st century, not only could he not sell that to the American public, he'd have to do some fancy talking to keep himself out of jail.

Times show more change.

(Parrish sold the original for $10,000; and made something like $150,000 in print royalties in the first three years. In the '20s.)

Fun Fact: the reclining girl in "Daybreak" is Kitty Owen, William Jennings Bryan's granddaughter (!), and seems to also be about 11. show less

My parents tell me that long before I learned to read, I loved the prints of Parrish's work collected in this book. However my tastes changed as I grew up, these images still entrances me. The artist portrayed both human figures and landscapes with layers of light and focused details that caught my imagination. As a teenager, I finally read the book itself and learned a bit about the artist's life, his techniques, and his place in art history. While that content is fine, the prints of the show more artist's work remain the obvious highlights of this volume. show less