Maxfield Parrish, 1870-1966
by Alma Gilbert
Knave Watching Violetta Deaprt, 1925, oil on board, 20 x 16 inches,
Private collection
Parrish's success in book illustrations was perhaps also due to the fact that Parrish actually truly loved books and was a voracious reader, carefully nurturing his own children's reading habits. His magnificent home, "The Oaks," located in Plainfield on a hill overlooking the Connecticut River Valley contained a wonderfully paneled upstairs library lined with books from top to bottom and with cozy window seats inviting the reader to curl up comfortably with a book on the lap.
Below, in the formal twenty by forty foot music and living room, the east wall facing his baronioal fireplace was also lined with his treasured books. In his studio across from the main house, ample shelving had been built to provide the artist with reference and inspirational material. Music, too, was very much a part of his daily life. Musical soirees were held often in the main house which this versatile man had designed and built himself. To the casual observer, the Parrish family was living the cultured pampered life that writers of his day like Scott Fitzgerald had immortalized in works like The Great Gatsby.
Ecstacy, 1929, oil on board, 36 x 24 inches,
Private collection
This page was originally published in Resource Library Magazine. Please see Resource Library's Overview section for more information. rev. 10/28/11
Search Resource Library for thousands of articles and essays on American art.
Copyright 2011 Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc., an Arizona nonprofit corporation. All rights reserved.