Biografie von Maxfield Frederick PARRISH (1870-1966)

Birth place: Philadelphia, PA

Death place: Plainfield, NH

Addresses: Cornish, NH; Windsor, VT

Profession: Painter, illustrator

Studied: his father, Stephen; Paris, 1884-86; architecture, Haverford College, 1888-91; PAFA, 1891-93; H. Pyle at Drexel Inst.

Exhibited: PAFA Ann., 1894-1912 (8 times); Paris Expo, 1900 (prize); Pan-Am. Expo, Buffalo, 1901 (medal); Phila. WCC, 1908 (prize); Arch. Lg., 1917 (gold); PAFA, 1999 (retrospective)

Member: SAA, 1897; Phila. WCC; ANA, 1905; NA, 1906; Union Int. des Beaux Arts et Lettres;Cornish (NH) Colony, from 1898, where he designed and built his home "The Oaks."

Work: St. Louis AM; Brandywine River Mus., PA; Delaware AM, Wilmington; murals in hotels, clubs and public buildings.

Comments: The son of Stephen Parrish (see entry), Maxwell was an illustrator whose unique style set him apart and earned him iconic status during his lifetime. He mastered the mysterious effects of light and irridescent colors through a difficult glazing technique, enhanced by the invention of his luminous "Maxfield Parrish blue." His technique resulted in smooth surfaces wherein brushstrokes are difficult to detect. He always worked from photographs rather than live models. Parrish quickly became a cultural phenomenon, and his most famous painting, "Daybreak," sold millions of copies as a print (the original oil sold at auction for $4.3 million in 1996). During his long career, more than 20 million copies of his paintings were reproduced as color photolithographic prints. Earlier in his career, while recuperating from ill health, he painted in the Adirondacks and Arizona and Italy before settling at the Cornish art colony in Vermont, in 1898. He went on to produce numerous covers for Collier"s 1903-10; Edison Mazda calendars, 1918-34 (1,500,000 printed in 1925); Brown & Bigelow calendars, 1936-62; and many children"s books. Although the emergence of abstract expressionism in the post-WWII era caused critics like Clement Greenberg to declare his style as "kitsch," toward the end of Parrish"s life the Pop Art movement of the 1960s invoked a greatly renewed interest in his work.

Sources: WW47; P&H Samuels, 360; Ivankovitch, 17-49; Falk, Exh. Record Series. More recently, see Maxfield Parrish: 1870-1966 (exh. cat., PAFA, 1991)