The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of

The Free Library of Philadelphia; detail of Edison Mazda Lamps Calendar: Ecstasy. Click image to enlarge to 1043 x 1508.

The New York Times calls him "one of the country's first brand-name artists" and notes that his images "helped define the mood and style of an era." Smithsonian magazine calls him "the common man's Rembrandt." By the 1920s, he was the highest paid artist in America, and his prints were said to hang in one out of every four households.

Deeply committed to the popularization of art, Maxfield Parrish was one of the first artists to take advantage of technological advances in the color printing industry. For seven decades, he made a fine living turning out magazine covers, book illustrations, posters, calendars, murals and paintings. He actually conceived many of his paintings with a mind to how they would look as prints.

For their part, Americans delighted in his visions of fantasy, with overtones of nostalgia, innocence and humor. They loved his hyperrealistic renderings and his signature "Parrish blue"-- an iridescent blend of cobalt, emerald, Indian yellow and rose madder. As Brace Watson sums it up in Smithsonian: "In a hustling world where skies were too often gray and gardens no bigger than a Brooklyn back-yard, Parrish painted the stuff dreams are made of." -- Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester - Maxfield Parrish, 1870-1966

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Yesterday I unimagined clouds... (with great success.) - I love it when art remains relevant... and the Universe play tricks through synchronicity. - c