Happy Birthday, Maxfield Parrish

[filkertom]

One of my favorite commercial artists. Beautiful, beautiful work with light and color. Was amazed to find out he did things like magazine ads for Jello. Lots of information about him here, and a gallery with e-postcards here. Note: There are more links than it looks like, and clicking on the big image of "Ecstacy" in the upper right takes you to another gallery page.

Do you have any favorite Parrish pieces? Mine are "Ecstacy", "Sleeping Beauty", and "Cinderella (Enchantment)".

Comments

[dubheach.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to think of one that isn't my favorite.

Nope.

Love 'em all.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Oohhhh, Parrish! I'll never forget the time I was in the Brandywine Museum and "discovered" him. We were on a school trip and were supposed to be looking at the Wyeths. It took a crowbar to get me away from his canvases instead.

Don't ask me to pick a favorite, it's like eating one potato chip.

[rook543.livejournal.com]

MST3K made a reference to Maxfield Parrish in their showing of "The Magic Sword"

[eleri.livejournal.com]

Stars. Which is damn hard to find as a poster.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with others here, that it's impossble to pick just one favorite, or even just ten favorites. I used to have several books of Parrish art, but had to sell them to pay the bills. I'm hoping that someday soon someone will sell a color e-ink wall hanging where you can upload art, then I could load it with all of Parrish's work and set it to randomly present one a day.

Parrish is an artist I use as a test when evaulating art critics. If they snub their nose at Parrish, denigrate his work as popularist fluff, sneer at his commercialism (like those Jello ads), then they are posers of the highest degree and deserve to be ignored in the most pointed manner possible. However, if they praise Parrish's technique with light and shadows, how he works such vibrant colors with textures, etc., then go on to say that they don't personally like his style (like one said, "Too literal") then that's perfectly okay and they're worth listening to for a different perspective. I use similar methods in other fields and find it works out quite well. Like historical books about the founding of this country, if they don't feature Ben Franklin as much as the other big names, they're only covering half the story.