Maxfield Parrish: 1870-1966

by Sylvia Yount

Maxfield Parrish was one of the most popular American artists of the 20th century. His engaging covers for Scribners and Life , murals such as Old King Cole and the Pied Piper, and posters, calendars, and paintings have delighted viewers for over 100 years. This is the first critical examination of Parrish's place in the history of American art and culture.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

160 pages, Hardcover

Published March 1, 2003

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice overview of Parrish's career and the cultural shifts it weathered, followed by a shorter piece examining the techniques he used to give many of his works the luminous quality they possess.

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite quote in the book: F. Scott Fitzgerald positively analogized the "color of Maxfield Parrish moonlight" to the reflection in a restaurant window in his 1920 short story "May Day."

But by the 1930s, such a reference was the stuff of jokes. In the 1935 movie Top Hat, Fred Astaire's character describes someone's black eye as resembling "a sunrise by Maxfield Parrish." The response was, "Ohhh. Oh that's terrible." (Although some people debate if it was the black eye or the Parrish qualities that were terrible.)

[Chloe Glynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful contextualization of works and influences in the life of Maxfield Parrish, I was surprised and pleased with Yount's conclusion, a Pop-Art reinterpretation of where Parrish's art stands "today" in commercial and fine arts. I wanted more examples in the techniques section, though it thoroughly illuminates a few major practices that make the works so exceptionally bright and photorealistic.

[Cheryl]

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

[Monica]

I don't know where my review went but I went to Brooklyn especially for this show.

[Café · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, boring. The first part is a long biography of Parrish in a rather monotone voice. I had a hard time getting excited as I read. The second part analyses the technical part of his work, showing some nice infrared pictures of his paintings.
The pictures are great. The were chosen to show a gradual development of Parrish as an artist. The positive part of the book is the collection of beautiful pictures, the not so positive is the dense text. Maybe it's just me, my weak heart couldn't handle that much.

[Lucy]

This book accompanied a 1999-2000 touring exhibit of the the artist's work. It gives a good overview of his life and how he straddled the worlds of fine art and illustration, though tending more to the latter. Much of his work was produced for reproduction in magazines and as calendars. One of the essays goes into way too much technical detail for me.
This book is best for the pictures, though I did get a little tired of the "girls on rocks."

[Briana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not read the book. I just skimmed through it and looked at the images.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short on biographical info - Great for detailed history of Parrish's shows and techniques.