“Daybreak” by Maxfield Parrish (1922)

Maxfield Parrish (1870 – 1966) lived most of his adult life in New Hampshire. He was one of the most successful artists in American history.

“Daybreak became the most popular art print of the 20^th century. One in four U.S. households owned a print of the neoclassical landscape with two beautiful nymphs in the foreground.”

“The painting achieved staggering success. Still in print, Daybreak outsold Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans and Da Vinci’s Last Supper.”

 

 

“The Dinky Bird” by Maxfield Parrish (1905)

“Maxfield Parrish didn’t understand his own popularity — or at least claimed not to. ‘I am hopelessly commonplace, I don’t know what people see in me!’ he once said.”

 

 

 

“Ecstacy” by Maxfield Parrish (1929)

“His methodical, almost mechanical, way of painting produced brilliant effects of color and light. He adapted the new process printing technique to methods used by the old masters. He started with a monochrome underpainting and then layered on transparent glazes. And between each layer, he applied varnish.

“This method is very simple, very ancient, very laborious, and by no means original with me,” he said. He called himself  ‘a mechanic who paints.’ ”

 

 

 

“Winter Sunrise” by Maxfield Parrish (1949)

 

 

Text excerpted from: New England Historical Society’s “Maxfield parrish, A Mechanic Who Painted Fantastically” https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/maxfield-parrish-mechanic-painted-fantastically/