Maxfield Parrish
List Price: $39.95
Price: $26.37
You Save: $13.58 (34%)
Note: I made some immature person angry by giving negative reviews of books written to "prove the Book of Mormon." Rather than answer my criticism, this person automatically gives my reviews negative votes. Oh, well.
Your "helpful" votes are appreciated, and please remember that a short review is not necessarily a bad review if it leads you to a great book.
I love "Daybreak" (see cover) with a nude figure standing above a girl sleeping in a columned pavilion. If you like this painting, then check out different reproductions (the colors vary widely and change the nature and mood of the painting. Really change it.
"Twilight" is another great painting. For me, it is evocative of a great mystery. You want to step into that farm yard and explore the house and barn. No people are shown, but it gives me the feeling that ghosts live there (without being scary--in a dreamy sense).
"Afterglow" is also intreguing, showing a New England church as the stars come out.
The book is full of both color and black-and-white illustrations. I would love to see "Landing of the Brazen Boatman" in color. A robed figure is walking down some stairs of a strange temple while a boatman awaits.
What a gift of imagination Maxfield Parrish left to the world!
Highly recommended.
Interesting and prcatical
A comprehensive survey of the artist's work, it covers not just his paintings, but also his posters, advertising and magazine and book illustration and the murals. Very well illustrated and with a comprehensive text it chronicles the artist's development and his vast array of work.
One of the most interesting chapters is that which explains in detail the methods Parrish employed to achieve his remarkable results. This includes his use of photography and the painstaking glazing techniques he employed.
A very interesting and useful publication; it is not one that sits idly on my book shelf.
Glimpse of ethereal beauty
The version of this book that I own is from the second printing (1974). What a beautiful book! In some ways Parrish seems to be the dreamy counterpart to Norman Rockwell. An amazing attention to detail and lighting. To reiterate a point raised in other reviews, this book would benefit from more color plates, but that is a minor criticism. While I have not yet purchased any of the other books in print on Maxfield's work...this is a fine place to start. There is a generous sampling of landscapes, product advertisements and magazine covers. Recommended!
A great reference for illustrators and art enthusiasts.
This book has always been the "essential" Maxfield Parrish reference for me. It contains page after page of information about the artist's incredible personal and professional life. It also goes into great depth detailing the illustrator's perfected (and tedious) technique of creating illustrations. From crafting meticulous miniatures for layout to the final process of layering oil glazes onto the canvas. It's all there.
I would highly recommend this book to Illustrators, art teachers, and overall art enthusiasts who want to expand their knowledge about illustration and a true master of the past. This book has been cited in other publications such as "Step by Step Graphics" for the depth analysis of his technique.
My only small criticism is that I would've liked to seen more color prints within the book. A few too many black and white reproductions of the artwork. That aside, I feel this book is of tremendous value.
Abundant, gorgeous color plates.
I, like you, want to own Daybreak--perhaps more so than any other painting. Sometimes an illustration entertains, perhaps greatly. Some evoke admiration, even gaping admiration. In the case of several Parrish paintings, admiration is merely the aftertaste of a much more powerful emotion: the craving to be in the space the artist has created, to have or to be the characters therein. A desire to truly exit this world and remain in the other. The list of works that affect me in that way starts off like this: It's A Wonderful Life, Oz, Narnia, Harry Potter's magical England, Parrish's Daybreak & Land of Make-Believe & Air Castles et al., Robert Heinlein's Glory Road, ERB's A Princess Of Mars... We read or watch or view them over and over again in an attempt to ease the longing.
List Price:
Price: $26.37
You Save: $13.58 (34%)
Description
We are pleased to bring this classic work back into print. A compendium of the life and work of Maxfield Parrish, it is an essential part of a Parrish library. For the collector, the publisher has included a value guide to some of the products that bear Parrish images. Examples of Parrish's most famous book illustrations are shown, including selections from Mother Goose in Prose and the Arabian Nights. Also included are his famous magazine covers-from Life, Collier's, Harper's Weekly, etc., as well as all the landscapes that he painted for Brown and Bigelow, who reproduced them as calendars every year from 1936 to 1963. One of the highlights of the book is the chapter on Parrish's technique, examining in depth his materials, favorite methods, and unique way of painting. In addition, there is a lengthy excerpt from an unpublished manuscript by Maxfield Parrish, Jr., explaining step-by-step his father's glazing technique and use of photography in his work. This definitive study also contains numerous revealing excerpts from Parrish's unpublished correspondence with family, friends, and clients.Customer Reviews
A Golden Age Captured in PaintNote: I made some immature person angry by giving negative reviews of books written to "prove the Book of Mormon." Rather than answer my criticism, this person automatically gives my reviews negative votes. Oh, well.
Your "helpful" votes are appreciated, and please remember that a short review is not necessarily a bad review if it leads you to a great book.
I love "Daybreak" (see cover) with a nude figure standing above a girl sleeping in a columned pavilion. If you like this painting, then check out different reproductions (the colors vary widely and change the nature and mood of the painting. Really change it.
"Twilight" is another great painting. For me, it is evocative of a great mystery. You want to step into that farm yard and explore the house and barn. No people are shown, but it gives me the feeling that ghosts live there (without being scary--in a dreamy sense).
"Afterglow" is also intreguing, showing a New England church as the stars come out.
The book is full of both color and black-and-white illustrations. I would love to see "Landing of the Brazen Boatman" in color. A robed figure is walking down some stairs of a strange temple while a boatman awaits.
What a gift of imagination Maxfield Parrish left to the world!
Highly recommended.
Interesting and prcatical
A comprehensive survey of the artist's work, it covers not just his paintings, but also his posters, advertising and magazine and book illustration and the murals. Very well illustrated and with a comprehensive text it chronicles the artist's development and his vast array of work.
One of the most interesting chapters is that which explains in detail the methods Parrish employed to achieve his remarkable results. This includes his use of photography and the painstaking glazing techniques he employed.
A very interesting and useful publication; it is not one that sits idly on my book shelf.
Glimpse of ethereal beauty
The version of this book that I own is from the second printing (1974). What a beautiful book! In some ways Parrish seems to be the dreamy counterpart to Norman Rockwell. An amazing attention to detail and lighting. To reiterate a point raised in other reviews, this book would benefit from more color plates, but that is a minor criticism. While I have not yet purchased any of the other books in print on Maxfield's work...this is a fine place to start. There is a generous sampling of landscapes, product advertisements and magazine covers. Recommended!
A great reference for illustrators and art enthusiasts.
This book has always been the "essential" Maxfield Parrish reference for me. It contains page after page of information about the artist's incredible personal and professional life. It also goes into great depth detailing the illustrator's perfected (and tedious) technique of creating illustrations. From crafting meticulous miniatures for layout to the final process of layering oil glazes onto the canvas. It's all there.
I would highly recommend this book to Illustrators, art teachers, and overall art enthusiasts who want to expand their knowledge about illustration and a true master of the past. This book has been cited in other publications such as "Step by Step Graphics" for the depth analysis of his technique.
My only small criticism is that I would've liked to seen more color prints within the book. A few too many black and white reproductions of the artwork. That aside, I feel this book is of tremendous value.
Abundant, gorgeous color plates.
I, like you, want to own Daybreak--perhaps more so than any other painting. Sometimes an illustration entertains, perhaps greatly. Some evoke admiration, even gaping admiration. In the case of several Parrish paintings, admiration is merely the aftertaste of a much more powerful emotion: the craving to be in the space the artist has created, to have or to be the characters therein. A desire to truly exit this world and remain in the other. The list of works that affect me in that way starts off like this: It's A Wonderful Life, Oz, Narnia, Harry Potter's magical England, Parrish's Daybreak & Land of Make-Believe & Air Castles et al., Robert Heinlein's Glory Road, ERB's A Princess Of Mars... We read or watch or view them over and over again in an attempt to ease the longing.
This volume satisfied that craving long enough for me to catch my breath.
