Maxfield Parrish: And The American Imagists

by Laurence S. Cutler, Judy Goffman Cutler

Maxfield Parrish is remembered as one of the greatest illustrators of the "Golden Age of American Illustration" a period from about 1895 to 1930 of un parrallelled excellence in illustrative art. Parrish's images achieved remarkable popularity and critical acclaim when they appeared on the covers of countless periodicals and books making him the most celebrated illustrator of the first half of the 20th century incredibly famous and immensely wealthy.

Genres: Art

448 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2004

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young women ride on swings, suspended from trees. They sail out over nothing, just a deep blue. (Perhaps some are young men; it's not possible to be sure.)

Giant urns grace Italianate villas.

Monarchs with crowns that look like upside-down metal trash baskets.

Lots of checkerboard patterns - floors, walls, clothing.

Trees, many with thick trunks, often standing in front of mountains.

Blue. Blue. Blue. Blue. Blue.

All parts of the lovely world of Maxfield Parrish.

Parrish was an extraordinarily successful artist, renowned as an illustrator. His painting "Daybreak" is, says this book, "perhaps the most reproduced art image ever." Wikipedia says that there has been one print of this "for every four American homes."

Parrish lived from July 25, 1870 until March 30, 1966. He was 95 years old. This book has extensive biographical material about Parrish, not all of it flattering.

This book is divided into sections as follows:

🔹Introduction

🔹Chapter One: The Life of Maxfield Parrish

🔹Chapter Two: The Works of Maxfield Parrish

▪️The Illustrations: Periodicals (1895-1923)
▪️Books (1897-1925)
▪️Art Prints, Posters, Advertisements & Other Miscellanea (1917-1939)
▪️Calendars and Landscapes (1918-1963)
▪️Murals, Stage Set Designs & Photography (1894-1918)

🔹Chapter Three: The American Imagists

🔹Chapter Four: Maxfield Parrish's Circle

🔹Chronology

🔹Index

There are about 300 reproductions of Parrish's work here, which give a good idea of his talent and his range. I can not say how accurate the reproductions are. Some of these same pictures shown online have much richer colors, but I don't know which versions are closer to the originals.

There are also photographs. Some of these, of course, show Parrish and members of his family. The book describes Maxfield Parrish as being "as handsome as a movie star." The photographs show that this is no exaggeration. There are also a number of fascinating photographs of people modeling for Parrish, mostly in costume.

Chapter Three and Four are about other illustrators of the time. These are the "American Imagists" mentioned in the book title. There is commentary about each of them and reproductions of some of their work. There are generally from three to five reproductions for each artist. The people included are:

McClelland Barclay (1891-1943)
Anna Whelan Betts (c. 1878-1952)
Ethel Franklin Betts (c. 1880-1956)
Howard Chandler Christy (1873-1952)
John Clymer (1907-1989)
Dean Cornwell (1892-1960)
Stevan Dohanos (1907-1994)
Harvey Dunn (1884-1952)
John Falter (1910-1982)
Harrison Fisher (1875-1934)
James Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960)
Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944)
Phillip R. Goodwin (1882-1935)
Elizabeth Shippen Green (1871-1954)
Albert Herter (1871-1950)
W. H. D. Koerner (1878-1938)
John LaGatta (1894-1977)
Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1874-1951)
Violet Oakley (1874-1961)
Coles Phillips (1880-1927)
Norman Price (1877-1951)
Howard Pyle (1853-1911)
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978)
Mead Schaeffer (1898-1980)
Frank Schoonover (1877-1972)
Jessie Willcox Smith (1863-1935)
N. C. Wyeth (1882-1945)

I was not surprised at how good the work of the artists with whom I was familiar is - Rockwell, Pyle, Gibson, Leyendecker, and Wyeth especially. (But, boy, Rockwell is great!) But the work of many of the others is also very fine. I especially like the work of Clymer, Cornwell, and Dunn. I also love the picture "The Hired Girl" by Ethel Franklin Betts on page 342.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Voluminous collection with numerous, if fairly small Parrish paintings and magazine covers and such.

[Judith the Book Gobbler · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite artist!!