Today is the 152nd birthday of the artist and illustrator Maxfield Parrish. I think that I was first ‘introduced’ to his work through going to junk shops. There would be magazines that had individual pricing with the added indication that they contained Maxfield Parrish advertisements. Mostly from the 20s and 30s, these were the magazines that I found interesting anyway, so I would look through them and see these absolute works of art selling laundry soap or something similar. So different from the way products are marketed today through guilt or lust, these ads were simply beautiful vistas with the name of the product in the lower corner. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.
NAME: Maxfield Parrish
OCCUPATION: Illustrator, Painter
BIRTH DATE: July 25, 1870
DEATH DATE: March 10, 1966
EDUCATION: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Drexel Institute of Art
PLACE OF BIRTH: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
PLACE OF DEATH: Plainfield, New Hampshire
FULL NAME: Frederick Maxfield Parrish
BEST KNOWN FOR: Maxfield Parrish was an American painter and illustrator who was the highest-paid commercial artist in the United States by the 1920s.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was the son of painter and etcher Stephen Parrish. He began drawing for his own amusement as a child. His given name was Frederick Parrish but he later adopted the maiden name of his paternal grandmother, Maxfield, as his middle name, and later as his professional name. His father was an engraver and landscape artist, and young Parrish’s parents encouraged his talent. He attended Haverford College, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and Drexel Institute of Art, Science & Industry. He entered into an artistic career that lasted for more than half a century, and which helped shape the Golden Age of illustration and the future of American visual arts.
He lived in Philadelphia until age 28, at which time he purchased land opposite the valley from his parents’ home in New Hampshire, where over a number of years he designed and built his own home and eventual studio, The Oaks. He spent the rest of his life there with his wife, Lydia, who died in 1953, and his mistress and model, Sue Lewin, who survived his death in 1966 at age 95.
Launched by a commission to illustrate L. Frank Baum’s Mother Goose in Prose in 1897, his repertoire included many prestigious projects, among which were Eugene Field’s Poems of Childhood in 1904 and such traditional works as Arabian Nights in 1909. Books illustrated by Parrish, in addition to those that include reproductions of Parrish’s work—including A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales in 1910, The Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics in 1911 and The Knave of Hearts in 1925 —are highly sought-after collectors’ items.
He had numerous commissions from popular magazines in the 1910s and 1920s, including Hearst’s, Colliers, and Life. He was also a favorite of advertisers, including Wanamaker’s, Edison-Mazda Lamps, Fisk Tires, Colgate and Oneida Cutlery. In the 1920s, Parrish turned away from illustration and concentrated on painting for its own sake. Androgynous nudes in fantastical settings were a recurring theme. He continued in this vein for several years, living comfortably off the royalties brought in by the production of posters and calendars featuring his works. An early favorite model was Kitty Owen in the 1920s. Later another favorite, Susan Lewin, posed for many works, and was employed in the Parrish household for many years.
In 1931, he declared to the Associated Press, “I’m done with girls on rocks”, and opted instead to focus on landscapes. Though never as popular as his earlier works, he profited from them. He would often build models of the landscapes he wished to paint, using various lighting setups before deciding on a preferred view, which he would photograph as a basis for the painting. He lived in Plainfield, New Hampshire, near the Cornish Art Colony, and painted until he was 91 years old. He was also an avid machinist. He often referred to himself as “a mechanic who loved to paint.”
Parrish was one of the most successful and prolific of the illustrators and painters of the Golden Age of Illustration. He was earning over $100,000 per year by 1910, at a time when a fine home could be purchased for $2,000. Norman Rockwell referred to Parrish as “my idol.” Parrish, although unique in his execution and never duplicated, exhibited considerable influence upon other illustrators and artists, an influence which continues through the present. His original paintings are highly sought-after when they come to market, as well as his first-edition prints, which continue to command high prices at both auction and through private sales. His exacting attention to detail preceded the Photorealist and Hyper-Realist art movements, and his abundant imagination and love of fantasy elements have also influenced artists in myriad media.
Is the subject of books:
Maxfield Parrish, 1870–1966, 1999, BY: Sylvia Yount
Waldina 