Maxfield Parrish Figurative Paintings

Maxfield Parrish’s Egypt, commissioned for the 1922 calendar and likely painted in 1920 or 1921, formed part of his series chronicling humanity’s evolving mastery of light, following...

Signed with initials M.P. (lower right); inscribed Article III. "Irrigation" water let in on a field of alfalfa (in the lower margin) Written on back "February of 1902. Hot Springs,...

Medium: Oil on Panel Sight Size 31.00" x 21.25", Framed 36.00" x 22.00" Signature: Signed Lower Left Maxfield Parrish began his career at age 25 as an illustrator, painting magazin...

Signed with initials M.P. (lower right); inscribed Article III. "Irrigation" water let in on a field of alfalfa (in the lower margin) Written on back "February of 1902. Hot Springs,...

Overall Dimensions, including artist frame: 54 x 80 in. Each Painted Panel: 33 x 24 in. Medium: Oil on Panel Signature: Each panel signed and dated Literature: Coy Ludwig, Maxfiel...

Medium: Oil, Ink and Gold Leaf on Paper Dimensions: 15.00" x 12.00" Signature: Signed Lower Center The present work was published as the cover of the December 2nd, 1899 issue of Lif...

Medium: Oil and Ink on Paper Signature: Unsigned Sight Size 13.75" x 9.50"; Framed: 17.25" x 13.25" Harper's Monthly Magazine Cover, September 1900 Notes on Verso: "Nelson: Art Dept. Harper's Magazine: Pay Maxfield Parrish $50 for design. Also use Christmas Magazine...

The Vigil-at-Arms, illustration for a poem by William Lucius Graves published in Scribner's Magazine, December 1904 Medium: Oil on Canvas Signature: Signed

Medium: Mixed Media on Board Signature: Signed on Verso Contact for dimensions. Maxfield Parrish created the present work as a playbill to commemorate a performance of Ivanhoe, whi...

Medium: Oil on Wood Panel Signature: Signed ‘Parrish’ (On the Reverse) Finished painting done as a prototype for the mural at the University of Pennsylvania LITERATURE L.S. Cutler ...

Medium: Oil on Paper Laid on Panel Signature: Signed Lower Right Initialed lower right: M.P. Signed on the reverse: Maxfield Parish Initialed and numbered by the artist's son on the reverse: M.P. Jr. / No. 68. When Maxfield Parrish painted the comical A Dark Futurist in 1923 for Life magazine, he had already established himself as America's leading book and magazine illustrator. His early artwork for children's classics like L. Frank Baum's Mother Goose in Prose (1897), Kenneth Grahame's Dream Days (1900), and Eugene Field's Poems of Childhood (1904) popularized his signature atmospheric settings, cobalt blue-and-gold palette, and dreamy figures inhabiting magical worlds. Likewise, his covers for Century, Collier's, Harper's Bazaar, Ladies' Home Journal, Life, and Scribner's Magazine were highly desirous and instantly recognizable, often more stylized than his book imagery; no other journal illustrator could match Parrish's winning combination of precise draftsmanship, strong graphic design, and amusing characters. According to David Apatoff, Art Critic, The Saturday Evening Post, "Parrish abandoned his customary heavy details and rainbow colors to present a bolder, more high-contrast design silhouetted against a stark white background - a treatment more suitable for a modern magazine cover vying for attention on a crowded newsstand. A Dark Futurist is silhouetted against a white field with no background or details to prop it up. The composition is carefully centered with only differences in the hands and the artist's necktie to break the symmetry. These are crucial to the success of the design. Just as important as Parrish's clean, high-contrast style in these pictures is the refreshing humor and sophistication in content, which is usually absent from Parrish's fairytale paintings. A Dark Futurist shows us a different kind of modernism. Parrish steps out of his timeless fairy tales to tweak one of the most incendiary artistic movements of his day. Futurism, with its militant manifesto and its outspoken artists, was all the rage in Europe. Parrish pokes them, showing a "dark" and anxious futurist with pursed lips and thick glasses, poised to paint but not exactly sure of, or optimistic about, what the 'future' will hold. This suggests that Parrish was alert to, and had opinions about, current events of the day - something one might never guess from his usual subject matter." In his early Collier's illustrations, Parrish also developed memorable themes that he would return to in his 1920s magazine work. One of his most popular characters was the "seer," or man with keen visual powers, most often depicted as an artist, but also appearing as a tourist, scientist, and philosopher. Parrish's seer was recognizable by particular physical attributes: round glasses, indicating his visual and analytical acuity, and an overcoat and/or hat signifying his role as observer of the outside world. A Man of Letters, sold last year at Heritage Auctions, was one of the first Life covers Parrish rolled out for Gibson, and he repeated the character of the artist-seer, emphasizing the comic spin, for two later editions: A Dark Futurist (Life, March 1, 1923) captures a Parrish-like artist in foggy round glasses and a long green coat...

Medium: Oil on Board Signature: Signed Sight Size 20.13" x 16.38", Framed 26.00" x 23.00" Maxfield Parrish’s popularity as an illustrator began with his early work for magazine publishers. An Easter 1895 cover for Harper’s Bazaar, one of the leading publications of the day, was followed by a successful foray into book illustration beginning in 1897 when Parrish completed illustrations for Frank Baum’s Mother Goose in Prose. His unique style and vivid imagination were well suited to illustrating children’s literature and resulted in numerous commissions. The List of Characters is one of 26 paintings, which appeared as an illustration in Louise Saunders' book, The Knave of Hearts. Lawrence S. Cutler and Judy Goffman Cutler write, “The last book Parrish illustrated, The Knave of Hearts (1924), was his masterpiece. When Parrish discovered this children’s play, he proposed an illustrated edition to Scribner’s, to which the publisher enthusiastically agreed …It was written by Louise Saunders, who was the wife of Maxwell Evarts Perkins of Scribner’s, an important editor in the 20th century and discoverer of authors Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others. The couple were summer residents at Cornish and close friends of the Parrishes” (Maxfield Parrish and the American Imagists, Edison, New Jersey, 2004, p. 172). According to Coy Ludwig, “The artist’s enthusiasm was shared by the publisher, who requested sketches or more precise information upon which to base a cost analysis, as final approval could not be given until the costs were estimated. Parrish prepared an elaborate dummy or mock-up of the proposed publication, complete with watercolor sketches of the illustrations, and sent it to the publisher early in 1921 …The twenty-six paintings for The Knave of Heartswere executed within three years, and the book, a sumptuous production, was published on October 2, 1925… The volume, selling for ten dollars, was packaged in a telescoping box...

Medium: Oil on Paper Laid to Board Signature: Signed with the Artists Initials M.P Lower Center Coy Ludwig, Maxfield Parrish, New York, 1973, plate 35, p. 133, illustrated in color