Name: "The Fly-Away Horse" Illustration from Poems of Childhood
Brand: Maxfield Parrish
Rating: 5 (26 reviews)

"The Fly-Away Horse" Illustration from Poems of Childhood

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About the Item

“Oh, a wonderful horse is the Fly-Away Horse— Perhaps you have seen him before; Perhaps while you slept, his shadow has swept Through the moonlight that floats on the floor” - Eugene Field, “Fly-Away-Horse” from Poems of Childhood, New York, 1904. Illustration and children’s literature entered their Golden Ages hand in hand. At the turn of the twentieth century, literacy rates among American youth soared along with works like The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Jungle Book, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Simultaneously, advances in photoengraving meant publishers could hire illustrators to create lavish, full color images for their books. The Fly-Away Horse is a shining example of his practice. One of Maxfield Parrish’s original oil illustrations for Eugene Field’s Poems of Childhood (1904), the work features deep purple-blues and crisp linework, juxtaposing fantastical color with realistic detail. In a doubled, expressive gesture, twin figures beckon a child into a dream, suggesting the realm of the beholder is a world of possibility. Parrish’s whimsical illustrations captured the imagination of a generation. As a child, art critic Laurence Cutler “thought that [Parrish’s] paintings were of real places… their images were too realistic not to be believed. Their stark beauty and superb execution denied us any ability to question their existence (Exh. Cat., “Maxfield Parrish: Romance and Fantasy,” The Great American Illustrators, New York, 1993, p. 117). Although Parrish’s fantasy illustrations are similar in context to that of classmate Jessie Wilcox Smith (fig. 1) and his Continental contemporary Edmund Dulac (fig. 2), Parrish was unique in his ability to seamlessly blend fantasy and reality. Left: Fig. 1. Jessie Willcox Smith, The Little Lame Prince, c. 1923, mixed media on illustration board, 19 ¼ by 17 ½ in. Image courtesy of the Illustrated Gallery Right: Fig. 2. Edmund Dulac, As he descended…, from Stories from the Arabian nights / retold by Laurence Housman, London, 1907, National Library of New Zealand Digital Collections, Alexander Turnbull Library. © 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London All three artists were talented anatomists with keen imaginations and attention to detail. However, as Cutler notes, Parrish’s works were exceptionally immersive due to his unusual painting process, which was “photographic, mechanical and above all technically accurate” (ibid.). Inspired by Dutch and Flemish old masters, the artist alternated thin glazes of pure pigment and varnish to give his color heightened luminosity, yielding the smooth, vivid ultramarines of Fly-Away Horse. Parrish considered himself a “mechanic who painted,” building a projection device to scale and arrange sketches and photographs for his compositions (Alma Gilbert, The Mechanic Who Loved to Paint: The Other Side of Maxfield Parrish, California, 1995). The use of projection is evident in the figures’ precise mirroring and in the work’s multiple perspectives. Altogether, these techniques lent a verisimilitude to even the most fantastic images. “Never before had fantasy had so credible, so awesome a look” - Judy L. Larson, 1980 Signed with the initials M.P. (lower center); signed Maxfield Parrish, titled, dated April of 1904., and inscribed (on the reverse) 28 by 20½ in. 71.1 by 52.1 cm. Executed in Windsor, Vermont in April 1904. Literature: Paul W. Skeeters, Maxfield Parrish: The Early Years, 1893-1930, Secaucus, New Jersey 1973, pp. 178-79, illustrated Alma Gilbert, Maxfield Parrish: The Masterworks, Berkeley, California 1992, fig. 2.14, pp. 33 and 35, illustrated Laurence S. Cutler and Judy Goffman, Maxfield Parrish, London 1993, p. 33, illustrated Laurence S. Cutler and Judy Goffman, Maxfield Parrish: A Retrospective, San Francisco 1995, p. 64, illustrated Exhibitions: Boston, Vose Galleries, An Exhibition of Original Paintings and Drawings by Maxfield Parrish, 1870-1966, 1977, no. 13 San Mateo, California, La Galeria, Maxfield Parrish, 1978, no. 6, illustrated Tokyo, Isetan Museum of Art; Osaka, Japan, The Museum of Art, Kintetsu; Tamanashi, Japan, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art (and traveling), Maxfield Parrish: A Retrospective, 1995, no. 38, pp. 91. 164 and 180, illustrated

Creator:
Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966, American)
Creation Year:
1904
Dimensions:
Height: 28 in (71.12 cm)Width: 20.5 in (52.07 cm)
Medium:
Paper,Oil,Board
Period:
1900-1909
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Fort Washington, PA
Reference Number:
Seller: 47361stDibs: LU384315187392

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