Maxfield Parrish: Inspiring Illustrator

 

 

It was such a pleasure to grow up when book and magazine illustrations were so beautifully detailed. One of the best and best known of all the illustrators was Maxfield Parrish (1870-1996) We young un's  and many adults looked forward to his works. He created a world as we'd like to believe is possible. 

It's interesting to note that he was a very popular artist working in illustration detail in a time when the Impressionist evolution was running parallel. Yet, his painting titled "Daybreak," is considered the most successful art print of the 20th Century and is still in print. (An interesting fact about this piece is that Parrish's prints have outsold Warhol's "Campbell Soup Cans" and even Da Vinci's "Last Supper!") 

 

 

As an illustrator, Parrish designed for the business world, too. Some of his notable clients were: Colgate, Edison and General Electric. His income from all of these successful illustrations gave him the opportunity and reputation to move away from illustration and onto painting, which he continued to do in his 90s. 

His inspiration reaches into today's art in such as: Elton John's album,  "Caribou," Enya's "The Memory of Trees," and  Moody Blues' "Present."

Below are samples of Parrish's beautiful outdoor scenes. 

Walter Hunt Everett: Loss and Redemption

 

 The Brandywine School of Art taught illustration from the late 19th Century to the first part of the 20th Century. It was during a time when illustrations flourished for books, magazines and newspapers. Many notable illustrators graduated from the school. Some names are familiar, such as: N.C. Wyeth, Norman Rockwell and Maxfield Parrish. 

There were many others whose fame diminished for a variety of reasons just as happens in every art movement. In this case, the artist was Walter Hunt Everett (1880-1946). Yet, Everett's illustrations were well-known in his time and highly prized by publishers. So, why is it we know so little about him now?

 

 

 

Although he was in high demand, his temperament and perfectionism caused him to miss deadlines. Everett was far more interested in mastering his craft. He shaped his brushes, designed his own easel, and sought perfection. This made his illustrations change over time as his style evolved until it was more about art than illustration. Finally, he quit making the art required by publishers.

 

 

 

He was so obsessed with perfecting his talent that he even forgot to pay rent and other bills. It led to his wife leaving him and taken their son with her.

 

 

 

At the peak of his career in the 1930s, a kind of madness came over him and he burned all his illustrations and disappeared!

The question of what happened to him isn't certain. There is speculation that he suffered from depression and possibly another mental illness.

After his death from emphysema, his son found about 30 rolled-up oil paintings hidden in the corner of a barn on Everett's property. Eventually and in a manner of speaking, Everett was resurrected. 

In 2014, the Society of Illustrators welcomed Everett's illustrations into the Hall of Fame with comments such as, "based on the evidence he left behind, the man was a genius." Worthy praise for a story too often told posthumosly in an artist's search for personal expression.

(Some of his colored illustrations were submitted too late for plates to be printed, so the publishers would print in black and white.)

Frank Schoonover and the Golden Age of Illustrations

 For centuries, the most important ways that art reached millions was through illustrations for magazines and books. I was just a little kid when I saw a library book with the most beautiful illustrations I'd ever seen. Although I've long forgotten the title and author of the book, I do recall the awe I experienced at the art.

 

In fact, some of the beloved artist, who touched others, were illustrators such as Norman Rockwell, Beatrix Potter, N.C. Wyeth and Maurice Sendak. One that you might not be as familiar with is Frank Schoonover (1877-1972) although he was a very prolific illustrator. 

 

 

 

Beyond Schoonover's many illustrations for magazines and books, he created over 5,000 paintings! His time marks the early 20th century regarded as the "Golden Age of Illustrations."

His illustrations included swashbuckling figures for adventure books, cowboys and mavericks for western books and even the sad situation of soldiers during WW1. 

 

In addition to Schoonover's own works, he collected and saved the works of other illustrators plus he taught art in his own studio. 

 

In case you think he's a forgotten illustrator in the scheme of popularity, there is the Schoonover Studio in Wilmington, DE. It was started as a studio and school by Howard Pyle, but soon outgrew the building.

 

 

It was the efforts of Schoonover and others to find a philanthropist to finance an expanded school. Among the illustrious attendees of the new school included N. C. Wyeth. 

 

You don't have to go to Delaware to see the famous school for illustrators. In keeping with modern times, there's a YouTube of Schoonover's grandson being interviewed about the studio. Just type in "Frank Schoonover." 

Maurice Sendak: Nightmares Vanquisher

Having recently seen an interview of Maurice Sendak on TV, it was hard to imagine such a clever and vital man had died. Yes, I know he was 83 and he looked his age, but he didn't SEEM to be old at all. His death is headline news today. The headlines identify him as the author/illustrator of "Where the Wild Things Are." Yet, there was so much more to the man.

Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) was born in Brooklyn, NY, to Jewish immigrants. He was a sick as a child and spent a lot of his time reading books. Later in his childhood, he came to love illustrating after seeing Disney's "Fantasia." By age 20, he was a window dresser at F.A.O.Schwarz and taking night classes at New York Art Students' League.

Four years after completing his studies, he received his first recognition as an illustrator with the publication of Ruth Krauss' book, "A Hole to Dig." Although he wasn't trying to write typical children's books, his reputation was as a children's story teller - if scary situations can be considered fit for children. Naturally, there were those who took exception to this notion.

Sendak had a different idea about the world of children. He had grown up in a home where daily life was punctuated by much sorrow and grief. His parents were successful in rescuing his mother's family from Poland during the Holocaust, but by the time they were able to rescue his father's family, there was no one left to rescue - all were dead. As Sendak said, “I grew up in a house that was in a constant state of mourning.” In that sense, his books were autobiographical. He understood how it feels to be frightened and how someone so young lack the skills to vanquish their fears. His aim in all his books was to pose the question, "...how do children survive?"

Today's New York Times' headline referred to Sendak as the "Author of Splendid Nightmares." The best description I've read about the aims of Sendak's writings is a quote from Morven Crumlish in The Guardian:"...these are no cautionary tales – there is no gruesome moral shoving a reluctantly impressionable reader towards conforming to the neat, the quiet and the un-troublesome. Instead, they wake up happily in their beds, supper is still warm, there is milk in the morning."

RIP, Maurice. You turned your own childhood fears and sorrows into nightmares that can be vanquished - even by small children.