Maxfield Parrish

Customer Reviews:

Interesting and prcatical.......2007-10-12

A comprehensive survey of the artist's work, it covers not just his paintings, but also his posters, advertising and magazine and book illustration and the murals. Very well illustrated and with a comprehensive text it chronicles the artist's development and his vast array of work.

One of the most interesting chapters is that which explains in detail the methods Parrish employed to achieve his remarkable results. This includes his use of photography and the painstaking glazing techniques he employed.

A very interesting and useful publication; it is not one that sits idly on my book shelf.

Glimpse of ethereal beauty.......2007-08-19

The version of this book that I own is from the second printing (1974). What a beautiful book! In some ways Parrish seems to be the dreamy counterpart to Norman Rockwell. An amazing attention to detail and lighting. To reiterate a point raised in other reviews, this book would benefit from more color plates, but that is a minor criticism. While I have not yet purchased any of the other books in print on Maxfield's work...this is a fine place to start. There is a generous sampling of landscapes, product advertisements and magazine covers. Recommended!

A great reference for illustrators and art enthusiasts........2007-01-06

This book has always been the "essential" Maxfield Parrish reference for me. It contains page after page of information about the artist's incredible personal and professional life. It also goes into great depth detailing the illustrator's perfected (and tedious) technique of creating illustrations. From crafting meticulous miniatures for layout to the final process of layering oil glazes onto the canvas. It's all there.

I would highly recommend this book to Illustrators, art teachers, and overall art enthusiasts who want to expand their knowledge about illustration and a true master of the past. This book has been cited in other publications such as "Step by Step Graphics" for the depth analysis of his technique.

My only small criticism is that I would've liked to seen more color prints within the book. A few too many black and white reproductions of the artwork. That aside, I feel this book is of tremendous value.

Abundant, gorgeous color plates........2001-10-03

I, like you, want to own Daybreak--perhaps more so than any other painting. Sometimes an illustration entertains, perhaps greatly. Some evoke admiration, even gaping admiration. In the case of several Parrish paintings, admiration is merely the aftertaste of a much more powerful emotion: the craving to be in the space the artist has created, to have or to be the characters therein. A desire to truly exit this world and remain in the other. The list of works that affect me in that way starts off like this: It's A Wonderful Life, Oz, Narnia, Harry Potter's magical England, Parrish's Daybreak & Land of Make-Believe & Air Castles et al., Robert Heinlein's Glory Road, ERB's A Princess Of Mars... We read or watch or view them over and over again in an attempt to ease the longing.

This volume satisfied that craving long enough for me to catch my breath.

a gem, if only for the explaination of parrish's technique.......1999-09-18

Recently, I had the pleasure of viewing the Parrish exhibit mounted by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. My experience was that much more enjoyable as a result of owning and reading Ludwig's book. The book, aside from the dutiful enumeration of Parrish's accomplishments, provides a treasure trove of Parrish's work; so much so that only three or four of the works were "new" to me. The explaination of Parrish's techniques is an absolute necessity to Parrish afficianados. It makes you crave a viewing of the actual works.

Amazon.com

Maxfield Parrish, the prodigiously gifted, turn-of-the-20th-century illustrator famous for his limpid blue landscapes and dreamy pubescent models draped in gossamer threads, has rolled in and out of artistic favor for nearly a century. In 1964, critic Lawrence Alloway wrote about Parrish's odd place in the history of American art: "He was the most popular artist the country ever produced, with prints in a quarter of all American homes at one time; and yet his kitschy compositions were considered risible among the educated art elite." Parrish himself had a sophisticated sense of his own place in the pantheon: "There are countless artists whose shoes I am not worthy to polish whose prints would not pay the printer," he wrote. "The question of judgement is a puzzling one." But new movements of the 1960s, including photo-realism and pop art, led to critical reappraisal of Parrish's oeuvre, and a few of the later new image painters, such as Joan Nelson, found sweet inspiration in his atmospheric skies and evocative, shadowy forests.

Parrish is finally receiving his due with this truly intelligent, fascinating book. It is the catalog to a traveling exhibition organized by the author, Sylvia Yount, the curator of collections at the Museum of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia--Parrish's alma mater and hometown, respectively. With Mark F. Bockrather, a conservator who elucidates Parrish's formidable craftsmanship, Yount has done a fine job of resurrecting Parrish yet again. She offers a sensitive analysis of the place his pastoral, idyllic, storybook innocence played in a world that Freud, the Great War, the Depression, and yet another world war inexorably tore to shreds. --Peggy Moorman

Book Description

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.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful work and nicely presented.......2000-04-13

For a century, illustrators have been looked down upon by "fine artists." Finally, Maxfield Parrish, a truely FINE artist, gets his day. He's represented not as an illustrator, but as an artist. Having seen the originals 20 minutes prior to buying the book, I can say with confidence that the reproductions are the truest I have ever seen. A great in the art world (Daybreak was estimated to be in 25% of all American homes), the book is the best look back at an American great.

Good mid- price Parrish book.......1999-12-14

This is a good entry point into the world of Maxfield Parrish for the budget conscious. It provides the usual essay on the artist's life. What I found really useful was a description of his techniques in the fourth section.It includes infrared and microscopic cross section analysis of his canvasses. If you are looking for an even more economical book on Parrish, try Maxfield Parrish by Laurence and Judy Cutler by Gramercy books also published in 1999. It always intrigues me that published reproductions of his works always 'color' differently from book to book.

Average customer rating:

Excellent for every Parrish fan!
Perfect for Parrish fans!
My Favorite Coffee Table Book

Maxfield Parrish: The Masterworks
Alma Gilbert
Manufacturer: Ten Speed Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1580083293

Book Description

Now in its third edition, THE MASTERWORKS stands as the authoritative collection of Parrish's best works. Compiled by long-time Parrish expert and curator Alma Gilbert, THE MASTERWORKS brings together the most popular, most important, and most fanciful of Parrish's paintings. Here you'll find the glorious Dinkey Bird, the extensive Florentine Fete murals, the amazing Interlude, and the sublime Daybreak, which sold for a record $4.25 million at a Sotheby's auction in 1996. Also included are some of Parrish's lesser-known works, through which we see the development of the artist's style and technique. Through historical analysis, contemporary news clippings, and letters from the artist himself, we get to know the genius behind the artwork. Updated with all the current Parrish scholarship, this new edition of THE MASTERWORKS continues the grand tradition of celebrating Parrish's work and bringing his oeuvre to the public.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent for every Parrish fan!.......2002-05-30

I bought this book and I never regret of getting another Parrish art book again. This artbook is excellent with deep details of Parrish's way of study through his paintings. Theories based on his view of perspective and composition, it is something great to read about! However, one little thing I personally find missing is the "Dream Days" series, that is missing from this artbook and should have been included. Otherwise, get the book and you'll fall in love with Parrish blue all over again.

Perfect for Parrish fans!.......2002-05-30

This book is excellent! It has one of the best Maxfield Parrish selected works. A lot of prints and images for you to be inspired all over again. It also contains pages of great readings, such as a section about Parrish's perspective theory and theory. It also show close-ups of Parrish's studies. It is a great read! However, the only thing disappoints me is the absence of the "Dream Days" series. Other than that, get it and you won't regret it!

My Favorite Coffee Table Book.......1998-12-25

Fabulous retrospective of Maxfield Parrish's finest work. The illustrations are superb. This book is expensive, but worth the money. If you're looking for a price guide, I suggest Erwin Flack's book. -- James Halperin, sf novelist and Parrish fanatic.

Average customer rating:

Maxfield Parrish Poster Book
Maxfield Parrish
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0517514028
Release Date: 1974-06-13

Book Description

Posters suitable for framing from the major periods of an artist known for his luminous colors, nymphlike forms, and the romance, flamboyance, and sensuality of his work. 24 posters in full color.

Maxfield Parrish Identification and Price Guide

Average customer rating:

Advice From a Parrish Fanatic

Maxfield Parrish Identification and Price Guide
Erwin Flacks
Manufacturer: Collectors Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1933112344

Book Description

The long-awaited 4th edition of this best-selling price and identification guide is even more valuable than before. Last updated in 1998, this completely overhauled edition contains all-new prices, recently discovered Parrish items, and an updated introduction with the author’s reflections on how eBay and other online auctions have significantly affected the collector’s market. Informative, accurate, and with a 16-page section of full-color Parrish prints, gorgeous to behold, the guide is an indispensable reference for anyone interested in one of America’s most beloved illustrators.

Customer Reviews:

Advice From a Parrish Fanatic.......1998-12-25

Incredibly useful. I believe Flacks has written the most accurate and convenient pricing guide available for Maxfield Parrish collectors and anyone else who wants to figure out what a Parrish item is worth. If you're looking for a great coffee table book, I suggest Alma Gilbert's The Masterworks. -- James Halperin, sf novelist (The Truth Machine & The First Immortal) and Parrish collector.

Average customer rating:

Wonderful presentation of Parrish's work
Incredible if you want to see the master works!

Maxfield Parrish: A Retrospective
Laurence S. Cutler , Judy Goffman Cutler , and Maxfield Parrish
Manufacturer: Pomegranate Communications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0876545991

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful presentation of Parrish's work.......2006-03-02

The book is a lovely companion to my Maxfield Parrish print. The color plates are very close to the actual art work.

Incredible if you want to see the master works!.......1999-03-09

A definite must if you want to be inspired

The Make Believe World of Maxfield Parrish and Sue Lewin

Average customer rating:

Very interesting!
His model and muse
Beautiful Pictures, But Weak Text
A Fascinating Look into the Life of an Artist & his Subject
This book is a fun, light, easy read.

The Make Believe World of Maxfield Parrish and Sue Lewin
Alma Gilbert
Manufacturer: Ten Speed Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0898159369

Customer Reviews:

Very interesting!.......2007-09-29

I love the artwork and the story behind the art! This book was super interesting to me. Sue Lewin was a beautiful model and whether or not she really was Maxfield's lover really doesn't matter to me, although I really do believe that she was! Too bad that they never made it official.

His model and muse.......2004-08-27

Sue Lewin was the model for a huge number of Parrish's lovely, romantic paintings. She sat for the innumerable photographs that he used for his paintings, she tended his children, she lived with him for decades in his `studio' (a fair-sized house by any standard). He often painted her with a wedding band on her finger. He just never married her.

Another woman, Lydia, was his wife. For many years, she lived in the other house on the property, almost a mansion. This peculiar split life, wife and mistress on the same estate, just a few yards a way from each other, was a permanent feature of the Parrish household.

It seems to have started innocently enough, when Lewin was hired as nanny and maid to the Parrish household. Parrish had great financial success during his life, enough to build the two grand houses at `The Oaks.' Over time, Lewin became more involved with his art, posing and making costumes, cooking for him and fending off threats to his privacy. At the same time, Parrish became cordially estranged from his wife. There was a curtain of silence around the arrangements, but that is the story told in this remarkable book.

It is clear that Lewin had enormous importance in Parrish's work, far more than hard evidence may ever tell. If you like Parrish's work - and it's easy to like - this brief book will give real insight into the art, the man who made it, and the woman who inspired it. The only disappointment in this book is that it doesn't show more of Parrish's famous illustration.

//wiredweird

Beautiful Pictures, But Weak Text.......2000-01-11

Any book containing attractive reproductions of Maxfield Parrish's work is bound to be visually stunning. But the text is loaded with partially informed speculation about the relationship between Parrish and Sue Lewin, his favorite model. The author is an art dealer, not a historian, and her lack of analytical training is a serious problem. Maybe Lewin was Parrish's lover. But where's the concrete evidence? Everything that the author presents to support her contentions is either hearsay or capable of more than one interpretion. The fact that they shared a house for several decades is a VERY persuasive fact, but Gilbert damages her credibility -- and her case -- by tossing in too much pointless guessing.

A Fascinating Look into the Life of an Artist & his Subject.......1999-02-20

Being an admirer of Parrish's work since childhood, I had always wondered how he worked since his paintings had a sort of surreal realism to them. I was surprised to find that he utilized photographs instead of live models and that Sue Lewin was the model for the majority of his most famous works. The art is not only beautiful in the book, but the photos are just as incredible as the paintings themselves. A must have book for anyone who has admired Maxfield Parrish's work.

This book is a fun, light, easy read........1999-01-09

This book is full of conjecture about Maxfield Parrish's private life and his relationship with his model, Sue Lewin. Their relationship was kept very private (due to his married state), yet they lived together most of their lives. Despite the guessing (most of which is probably correct) on the author's part, it is a fun, easy book to read and gives a sense of the times.

Maxfield Parrish and the Illustrators of the Golden Age

Average customer rating:

A superbly presented and informative art history.
A clear window on the golden age of magazine illustration

Maxfield Parrish and the Illustrators of the Golden Age
Margaret E. Wagner , and Maxfield Parrish
Manufacturer: Pomegranate Communications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0764912577

Book Description

The world knows Maxfield Parrish for his legacy of extraordinary paintings--technical tours-de-force whose subjects ranged from the inspiring to the farcical. But Parrish is best appreciated in the context of his own life and times. This book elegantly provides that context with an overview of his brilliant book illustrations and of the era when the field of illustration flourished.

Part lively Parrish biography and part lucid historical analysis of a unique epoch in American art, Maxfield Parrish and the Illustrators of the Golden Age draws upon the archives of the American Illustrators Gallery (New York City) and other resources to present works by Parrish, Pyle, Wyeth, Smith, Green, Schoonover, and their contemporaries Alice Barber Stephens, Anna Wheelen Betts, Ethel Franklin Betts, and Mead Shaeffer. Parrish's paintings are reproduced by authorization of the Maxfield Parrish Family Trust. Text by Margaret Wagner.

128 pages, 70 full color reproductions; 12 black-and-white illustrations, casebound, with dust jacket. Size: 8 3/4 x 11 inches.

Customer Reviews:

A superbly presented and informative art history........2000-08-04

Many books have profiled Parrish's art; Maxfield Parrish and the Illustrators of the Golden Age reproduces 70 works of Parrish and other illustrators of his times, using the archives of the Americana Illustrators Gallery and other resources to present works by a range of painters. Chapters provide plenty of text history of the works of these illustrators and their related styles. Highly recommended, this goes beyond most singular Parrish focuses.

A clear window on the golden age of magazine illustration.......2000-05-18

In concise but informative prose, Margaret Wagner illuminatesnot just the work of the timelessly popular Maxfield Parrish, but sheplaces him firmly within the context of his time. Ms. Wagner accomplishes this by introducing readers to some of Parrish's lesser known contemporaries (though the book has a rich selection of his work too) and by not falling prey to histrionically trumpeting his "greatness." Parrish's fans might even learn something from this book.

Average customer rating:

master of his feild

Knave of Hearts: Illustrations
Louise Saunders
Manufacturer: Ten Speed Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Buried Treasures: The Black-And-White Work of Maxfield Parrish, 1896-1905

ASIN: 0898155525

Customer Reviews:

master of his feild.......2000-06-06

this book is wonderful. it makes me want to read the book because this book is just the illustrations. But it is well worth your money if you enjoy maxfeilds work.

Average customer rating:

One of a beautiful series
Lyrics are wrong at the start
Wonderful gift for someone you cherish
Over the Rainbow: a beautiful book

Over The Rainbow (Art & Poetry Series)
E.Y. Harburg , Linda Sunshine , and Mary Tiegreen
Manufacturer: Welcome Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 094180738X
Release Date: 2000-04-01

Book Description

With the marriage of The Wizard of Oz's most beloved song and the iridescent paintings of one of America's most beloved artists, comes Mary Tiegreen's beautifully designed Over the Rainbow, the fifth installment in Welcome's fabulous Art & Poetry series.

Very few songs have taken hold of our hearts and imaginations the way "Over the Rainbow" has, stirring up wistfulness and a longing to be free. These lyrics, so evocative of light and color, have found thier perfect match in the paintings of Maxfied Parrish. These paintings seem to generate a light of their own, reflecting off the words on each page, and the result is a feeling of warmth and exuberance, and a sense that dreams "really do come true."

Customer Reviews:

One of a beautiful series.......2007-01-10

This book has absolutely beautiful paintings that compliment the familiar song Over the Rainbow. My 5 year old daughter likes it a lot. Her absolute favorite in the series is I Live In Music by Ntozake Shange, which is part of this series, and might seem odd for a pre-schooler, but her whole class really responded to it as well.

Lyrics are wrong at the start.......2005-11-27

The lyrics at the beginning of the book are incorrect. Most people would not know this, as the lyrics weren't used in The Wizard of Oz. The correct lyric is: "When all the world is a hopeless jumble and the raindrops tumble all around, Heaven opens a magic lane. When all the clouds darken up the skyway there's a rainbow highway to be found, leading from your window pane to a place behind the sun - just a step beyond the rain." The book leaves out the word "highway" - pretty critical to the sense of the lyric and the rhyme. The only reason I know this is that the Seattle Men's Chorus uses "Over the Rainbow" as its theme song, and starts with the beginning of the song - inlcuding the lyric that Judy Garland didn't sing in the film.

Wonderful gift for someone you cherish.......2004-10-19

Sometimes you don't know what to get a person who has everything. This is it. An art lover to a music lover can appreciate the beauty in this creative interpretation of Over the Rainbow, which is most often associated with Judy Garland and The Wizard of Oz. This would be a great book to show a child that Over the Rainbow exists in an entirely different form than television portrays.

Over the Rainbow: a beautiful book.......2000-07-04

The timeless lyrics to "Over the Rainbow" are brought to life in this dreamily illustrated book. Each picture is done in soft, muted colors...the overall effect is dreamy. This book would make an excellent present for anyone, young or old.

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