Maxfield Parrish

Maxfield Parrish 1870-1966, American painter and illustrator, b. Philadelphia; pupil of Howard Pyle. He is known for his original and highly decorative posters, magazine covers, and book illustrations and for his murals, including decorations for the building of the Curtis Publishing Company in Philadelphia. His glowing colors, especially the blues, are characteristic. He illustrated Washington Irving's Knickerbocker History of New York, Eugene Field's Poems of Childhood, The Arabian Nights, Kenneth Grahame's Golden Age and Dream Days, and many other volumes.

Bibliography: See biographies by P. W. Sheeter (1973) and C. Ludwig (1973); S. Yount et al., Maxfield Parrish, 1870-1966 (1999).

Parrish, Maxfield (1870–1966). American painter and illustrator. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with the author-illustrator Howard Pyle (1853–1911), celebrated for his children's books. In 1895 Parrish designed a cover for Harper's Weekly and thereafter rapidly made a name for himself with illustrations, posters, and advertisements. His greatest fame and popularity came with colour prints designed for the mass market. Sentimental scenes such as the Garden of Allah (copyrighted 1919) and Dawn (1920) sold by the million. They are in a lush and romantic style, set in an escapist world combining elements of the Arabian Nights, Hollywood, and classical antiquity, with languorous maidens and idyllic landscape backgrounds. His draughtsmanship and detailing are immaculate and his colouring distinctively high-keyed and luminous. Many of his advertisements were in a similar vein. In the 1930s his style went out of fashion and he retired to paint landscapes, working up to his death at the age of 95. Shortly before this there was a revival of interest in his work, which had long been dismissed as kitsch; in 1964, for example, the Metropolitan Museum, New York, bought his painting Errant Pan (c.1915).

Parrish, Maxfield (b Philadelphia, 25 July 1870; d Plainfield, NH, 30 Mar. 1966). American painter and illustrator. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with the author-illustrator Howard Pyle (1853–1911), celebrated for his children's books. In 1895 Parrish designed a cover for Harper's Weekly and thereafter rapidly made a name for himself with illustrations, posters, and advertisements. His greatest fame and popularity came with colour prints designed for the mass market. Sentimental scenes such as the Garden of Allah (copyrighted 1919) and Dawn (1920) sold by the million. They are in a lush and romantic style, set in an escapist world combining elements of the Arabian Nights, Hollywood, and classical antiquity, with languorous maidens and idyllic landscape backgrounds. His draughtsmanship and detailing are immaculate and his colouring distinctively high keyed and luminous. Many of his advertisements were in a similar vein. In the 1930s his style went out of fashion and he retired to paint landscapes, working up to his death at the age of 95. Shortly before this there was a revival of interest in his work, which had long been dismissed as kitsch; in 1964, for example, the Metropolitan Museum, New York, bought his painting Errant Pan (c.1915).