Customer Reviews

Buried Treasures: The Black-And-White Work of Maxfield Parrish, 1896-1905

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People know Maxfield Parrish best for his colored work - beautiful figures in romantic surroundings. As a commercial artist, however, he had to fulfill a lot of commissions that couldn't afford color printing.

This book collects his work in black and white. Many of the pieces show the peaceful scenes familiar from his color work. Others, like his book illustrations for Kenneth Grahame, show whimsical, cartoony exaggerations. He seems to have taken special delight in gentle lampoons of people who took themselves just a bit too seriously. We also see foreshadowings of his later color landscapes in some drawings for "The Great Southwest."

There's a kind of sameness about many of the drawings. Part of that is the famous Parrish style. Part, however, comes from limits of the lithographic process used in creating images for reproduction. The litho stone constrains the kinds of marks possible. That sameness never becomes monotony, though.

This is a lovely book, and an effective complement to other books showing his color work. It starts with a brief commentary. After that, there is nothing but the pictures themselves. I like that - I like the feeling of being alone with the artist, or at least with the art.

//wiredweird