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Maxfield Parrish PrintsBiographyMaxfield Parrish prints have inspired millions because of the artist's unique way of using color. These unique and magical images will always have a permanent place in art history. Early Years His father was an acclaimed etcher and landscape painter who had a big influence on him as a young child. When his father began to notice his son's budding talent he took him under his wing and taught him all that he knew. In 1884 to 1886 his parents took him through Europe to see the great museums. While he was there he absorbed everything around him from the architecture and music to the machinery and nature. Studies
Early Works
He credited a painting he did in 1896 called 'The Sandman' as being the most important work of art in his early career. This Maxfield Parrish print was presented in the 1897 annual exhibition of the Society of American Artist. He was commissioned by Way and Williams of Chicago to do some illustrations for children's books in 1897. After that he then contributed to L. Frank Baum's first work; Mother Goose In Prose. It seemed at that time every author wanted a Parrish illustration. The name Maxfield Parrish was one people recognized and respected.
He worked on illustrations for Edith Wharton's Italian Villas and Their Gardens (1904), and Nathaniel Hawthorne's A Wonderbook of Tanglewood Tales (1910). Some of his illustrations were making the covers of such magazines as Collier's, Ladies Home Journal, Hearst and Century. Maxfield Parrish prints, calendars, greeting cards, and many other items were in high demand. He spent the last thirty years of his life painting landscapes. Maxfield Parrish was commissioned in 1936 to provide illustrations for Brown and Bigelow, a calendar and greeting card company. In 1961, at ninety-one, he stopped painting due to his declining health. He died at 'The Oaks' in 1966 at the age of ninety-five. Even though he is gone his artwork will live on and on. Maxfield Parrish will never be forgotten. Maxfield Parrish prints can be seen in many museums including: New!! See our latest articles:
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Maxfield
Parrish was born July 25, 1870 in Philadelphia, to Stephen and Elizabeth
Parrish. His given name was Frederick but he would later adopt the family
name Maxfield as a middle, and then professional name.
In
1894 he studied briefly under Howard Pyle at the Drexel Institute of Art,
Science and Industry where he met a painting instructor named Lydia Austin.
They fell in love and by the years end they were married. They went on
to have four children; Dillwyn, Max Jr., Stephen and Jean.
A
year after they were married he took some time alone to travel to Europe
to study the masters in Paris, and be among the many others artists who
were there to do the same. Parrish was drawn to such contemporary English
artists like the Pre-Raphaelites, Rossetti, and Lord Leighton. Their influence
helped to shape his artistic vision and had an impact on his blend of
naturalism, fantasy and romanticism.
Later
Years