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Of all the members of the Cornish Colony, Maxfield Parrish was the one who consistently used the address: "Windsor, VT" as his mailing address from the period 1898 until he died in 1966. He shopped, banked, and used lawyers and accountants from Windsor. His friends and acquaintances at Cone Blanchard Machining Company and their manufacturing expertise served as the "Pied Pipers" that lured and beguiled the man that used to call himself "a mechanic who paints to maintain his hobby of playing with big machines". All his paintings and murals were shipped from Windsor. It was his daily routine to visit this town and take part in the politics of the day. Four Parrish works: The 1908 Collier's Cover: Funnigraph, the 1941 British War Relief Poster, the 1939 Vermont Association for Billboard Restriction: Buy Products NOT Advertised on our Roadside and the We've Got It and We'll Hold It (featuring one of Windsor's beautiful churches, St. Paul's Episcopal) were done by the artist at the request of various groups and charities that he favored in the area or (as was the case of Funnigraph), featuring the Windsor, VT logo and address as part of the composition.
However, much as he loved the comings and goings of Windsor, he never forsook the home he built, The Oaks, situated high on a hill in New Hampshire a short four miles away across the Connecticut River. The Oaks remained his center and the source of much of his inspiration through the observation of the splendid views of nature from up high on the hill. MAXFIELD PARRISH (1870-1966) I have now written fourteen books on the artist and curated his National Exhibition which toured of museums around the country during 2005. It would seem to be like gilding the lily to begin with a biographical sketch. Nevertheless, Parrish did not become one of the most important and beloved artists of the 20th century in a vacuum, for the viewer to understand more fully the paintings before him, perhaps a brief retelling of pertinent biographical data must be done. Parrish was born Fred Maxfield Parrish to Stephen Parrish and his wife, Elizabeth Bancroft Parrish in Philadelphia July 25, 1870. His father, a well known etcher and respected painter in his day was his son's first teacher. Together, father and son toured the museums of Europe when the boy was only ten and spent many happy hours together painting and sketching in Europe as well as Maine, Philadelphia and Massachusetts here in the states. Parrish attended Haverford College and the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts where his graduating class included the likes of William Glackens and Florence Scovel Shinn. There he trained under Robert Vonnoh and Thomas Anschutz. After monitoring some illustration classes taught by Howard Pyle at the Drexel Institute and meeting the young instructor, Lydia Austin who was to become his wife, he began accepting commissions illustrating covers for several magazines such as Harper's, Century, Scribner's, Ladies Home Journal, Collier's, Life, Metropolitan, Hearst's and virtually a who's who of top magazines of the day. Early covers and illustrations for books allowed the young artist and his bride to move to the Cornish/ Windsor area where his father, Stephen had already taken residence. The artist's patrons and buyers of his art were in the upper echelons of society, commerce and industry. Names such as Vanderbilt, Whitney, Astor, Du Pont and Hearst formed the primary core of buyers for his paintings. After a series of oils illustrating the history of light for Edison Mazda lights made his name a household one in the country, the artist began a series of works to be mass distributed as fine art prints during the 20's. One of these works the 1922 oil, Daybreak, became the most reproduced work in the history of American Art. It is estimated that one out of every five American homes had a print of Daybreak hanging in their wall during the 1920's. One of the models of that work was Kitty Owen, the granddaughter of William Jennings Bryan. Miss Owen also posed for the iconic work depicting a dramatic representation of the Quechee Gorge in Quechee, VT that the artist titled: Canyon. It was with the commission for Irenee Du Pont, the spectacular Du Pont mural in 1933, which prompted the artist to leave the comfort and security of illustrative work for the more demanding and infinitely more emotionally satisfying work of painting what he loved most: the landscapes. Parrish painted landscapes from that time until 1961, when at the age of ninety one, the artist laid down his brushes forever. After his death in 1966, exhibits of his works in galleries and museums began the artist's climb in the public perception from illustration into the realm of fine art. During the year 2005, the National Exhibition Parrish: Master of Make-Believe which I had the honor to curate for the Trust of Museum Exhibitions in Washington, DC broke attendance records in four of the six museums that hosted the show. Parrish has finally come into his own, not only in the hearts of his public, but also in the acknowledgment of scholars, art connoisseurs and museums throughout the country.
EARLY WORKS (1887-1909) The earliest work this exhibit displays is the pencil, pen and ink double sided figure which the young seventeen year old presented to his mother, Elizabeth Bancroft Parrish at the beginning of the year. Suitably titled: 1887 Calendar, the whimsical work gives the young artist a chance to present the wonderful, comedic portion of his imagination. It was later made into an etching by the same name. The Last Rose of Summer (1898) was an early cover for the Outing Magazine that the newly married artist used to help finance the purchase of his beloved home, The Oaks. The delicate oil on paper shows the young artist in a classic Greek robe under the magnificent tree that sheltered his house. Another early example of his illustration skills are the pen and ink drawings that he executed for his first major book commissions: L. Frank Baum's Mother Goose in Prose (1897); The Golden Age by Kenneth Grahame (1899); and Washington Irving's Knickerbockers History of New York (1900). The three end pieces collectively titled: What They Talked About were done for the Grahame book which sold out of its editions in England and the United States. Probably some of the best early magazine illustrations done by Parrish were the graceful and well executed Milkmaid and Poet's Dream done to illustrate John Milton's poem L'Allegro in the Century Magazine in 1901. The paintings prompted Parrish's friend and Cornish neighbor, the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, to proclaim in an illustrated letter to the artist written December 5, 1901: "These two paintings are among the most beautiful I have ever seen! To whom do they belong? Could I buy one of them? If so, I want to do so right away, quick, before some other feller gets his hands on them". Unfortunately for the revered sculptor, the young painter had sold the works to one of his early society patrons, Ruth Hay Whitney, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney's sister in law. The years between 1904 and 1909 saw Parrish expand his illustration horizons by the book and magazine commissions that came his way. Edith Wharton the pre-eminent woman writer of the day commissioned his illustrations for her book Italian Villas and Their Gardens. Eugene Fields sought the artist to illustrate his Poems of Childhood. Both of these books were published by Scribner's. Scribner's used the dreamy and mystic like oil Vigil at Arms, also in this exhibit, as its frontispiece in their December 1904 issue of Scribner's Magazine to illustrate Ray Stannard Baker's poem of the same name. Collier's was the magazine which had the most covers with this artist (over a hundred) between 1904 and 1936. Two important early covers: the 1905 Harvest (represented here with his oil study for the work), and the iconic Alphabet where the artist depicted his young son puzzling over a dazzling array of letters in his first book are exhibited here. The 1906 luminous and light filled cover which the artist named Winter appeared in Collier's near the end of that season when maple sugaring was just beginning that year. The Decorative Cover appeared in 1908. Although the artist had designed the layout for his famous Old King Cole mural to be shown as two different covers for Collier's in 1907, they did not appear until April and May of 1909. The two images of the Old King Cole used were the center and right panels discussed below. Since I have had the sobriquet of being considered the "Parrish Authority" I have seen many illustrations and works purported to be originals which turned out not to be so, or simply prints of the original. Three times in 35 years I have had the opportunity to report to an owner that what they may have thought to be a Parrish print or hoped, it might maybe, MAYBE be an original turned out to be the real thing! In the early seventies, the owner of the 1904 Vigil at Arms brought in what she thought was a print of Parrish left to her in her father's house which she had just inherited. I had the pleasure to announce that it was an original oil on paper by the artist. Three years ago, an Auxiliary in Chicago sent me what they had hoped might be a Parrish print left for them in their outdoor donation barrel. It turned out to be the original 1918 Jack Sprat an oil on paper painting typical of the Parrish technique. The third original has just surfaced. It is a study for the St. Regis Hotel's mural Old King Cole by Maxfield Parrish. It is even more defined and finished that the half size study which Maxfield Parrish Jr., the executor of his father's estate, authenticated for me in 1974. This work which the owner thought that maybe, just maybe might have some value, was sent to me for inspection. It pleased me greatly to authenticate it.
THE PRODUCTIVE YEARS (1918-1933) This is the portion of the artist's life that the bulk of his figurative and commission work was accomplished. Beginning in 1918 when the artist finished the murals for the reception room one of one of the wealthiest women of America, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, and ending with the magnificent Du Pont Mural, Parrish saw this period of his career as his most productive and remunerative one. The North Wall panel, the final of seven murals for Mrs. Whitney, is considered the longest single work that the artist completed, and next to Daybreak, his most important one. This was also the period where most of his iconic works such as Daybreak (1922), Canyon (1923), Interlude (1926), and the entire set of illustrations done for the Knave of Hearts book (1925) were completed. Kitty Owen, the granddaughter of famed William Jennings Bryan posed for many of the works in this period. She is the reclining figure in Daybreak and the stunning strawberry blond waif posed in the spectacular (but somewhat dramatized) Quechee Gorge in Canyon. Kitty is one of the three young women posing for Interlude, the young model in Wild Geese and all the figures of Lady Violetta in the Knave of Hearts book illustrations.
Most Parrish scholars agree that it was in this time frame (1917 to 1934) that Parrish became the most reproduced artist of the 20th century. This also was the time when Parrish concluded a set of calendars for Edison Mazda. He did a series of paintings from 1917 to 1934 illustrating the history of light for the company formed by Edison and his lamp and light bulb manufacturer, Mazda. This company became the General Electric conglomerate of today. The company estimated that during this seventeen year period, Parrish helped them deliver over seven BILLION product messages for their company. Another extremely satisfying event is the fact that the 1933 Du Pont Mural that my husband and I own was restored with a generous grant from Save America's Treasures. The mural had extensive damage caused by time, climate changes and improper grounding of its base coat. The work began to lose paint chips even during Parrish's lifetime. Unable to reverse the paint losses, the artist created a second mural for Du Pont and stored the original work in the attic of his studio. There temperature changes caused it to deteriorate even more. It was thought irrevocably lost and irretrievable. Enter Dr. Joyce Stoner, professor of Conservation at the prestigious Winterthur located in Francis Du Pont's former estate in Delaware. Dr. Stoner and her conservation classes at Winterthur, DE with the help of the University of Delaware and a generous grant from Save America's Treasures decided to undertake the Herculean task of restoration. It took a gargantuan effort of three years and the work of three dozen Master's level, undergraduate and pre-conservation program volunteers to complete. The restoration was completed in time for this mural to be included in the National Exhibition of Maxfield Parrish. This work first completed in 1933 for Mr. Du Pont's home in Granogue, DE is the seminal work which signaled Parrish's departure from illustration and his entry into landscape painting.
THE FINAL WORKS (1934-1961) At an age when most people look to retire, Parrish began the portion of his career that brought him into the realm of fine art and the collections of museums. Landscapes were the genre that Parrish had always loved best. The artist always managed to include snippets of landscapes in even his earliest figurative paintings. In 1936 the artist created a handsome landscape featuring the Connecticut River, the physical boundary between Vermont and New Hampshire and a view across the way of a Vermont town and mountain range in the distance. The work was titled: New Hampshire in the back, but it became known primarily with the title: Land of Scenic Splendor and then later: Thy Templed Hills, the name that Brown and Bigelow had used when it published a print of it for the artist. The work was given by the artist to the tellers of the Windsor County National Bank (where Parrish banked). When his son and executor, Maxfield Parrish, Jr., questioned him as to where the work was, the artist wrote back: "I'm giving it [Thy Templed Hills] to the tellers at the Windsor Bank in perpetuity for keeping my accounts out of the soup!". Maxfield Parrish Jr. retold this story at the opening of the museum dedicated to his father's work that I maintained at The Oaks from 1978 to 1985. Since then, the work has not left its site (the bank is now Chittenden Bank of Windsor, VT). It is with a great sense of deep gratitude to the tellers and to Chittenden, that I once again was able to show the work in an annual Parrish exhibit at the museum.
Another small oil that the artist did for Windsor, VT the town that he used as his permanent mailing address, is titled We've Got and We'll Hold It. The little oil featuring the Episcopal Church in Windsor was probably done for one of the political or non-profit posters that the town often asked Parrish to execute for them. The artist who loved, shopped, banked, and traveled from Windsor often complied to requests such as these by his friends across the river. Not to be outdone in his love for Vermont, the artist created several New Hampshire landscapes, including the 1945 lovely view of the Austin Farm (Hilltop Farm, Winter) across from the artist's home which Brown and Bigelow published with the name The Twilight Hour in 1951. An exhibit for me would not be complete without the inclusion of two very special landscapes: Dingleton Farm (1956) and Study for the River at Ascutney (1941). Both of these works were stolen from my galleries in San Francisco many years ago. Dingleton was taken in 1974 and Study for the River at Ascutney 20 years later in 1984. The paintings had remained missing until miraculously Dingleton was discovered in an auction house in Northern California and returned to me in 2003, and the second work, River at Ascutney was found in San Francisco and returned to me in 2005, just in time to join the other Parrish works for the National Exhibition of Parrish paintings that I curated. I almost feel the blessing that Mr. Parrish is sending my way by returning these lost works back to me. I suppose it's the artist's unique way of letting me know he has appreciated my efforts on his behalf for these past thirty five years.
ALMA
GILBERT-SMITH May of 2006 |
