OCTOBER 2019
Fall Foliage Time
There is a bit of a story behind this whimsical painting by Maxfield Parrish, which was used as the cover illustration of Collier’s Magazine for their issue of October 24, 1936.
JACK FROST (1936)
Coll. Pioneer Museum and
Haggin Galleries, Stockton, CA
Parrish had earned steady income in the early years of the 20th century by producing regular cover paintings for Collier’s Magazine, spanning the years 1905 through 1913. Then after a brief hiatus, 4 more covers in 1929, all based on characters previously created for the acclaimed children’s book “The Knave of Hearts” by Louise Saunders.
After 7 more years, the inspiration for what became the next to last cover created by MP for Collier’s Magazine resulted from a suggestion by the artist’s youngest child, 25 year old Jean Parrish. She was the only one to follow her father’s career by also becoming an artist herself, after marrying and moving to New Mexico. In one of her letters to her father, Jean suggested to him that he might enjoy doing another painting for Collier’s with a little figure of jack Frost surrounded by leaves of different colors.
The artist followed his daughter’s suggestion and created this widely recognized Collier’s cover. Following his custom of posing real human figures for his paintings, Parrish hired himself on as the “model” for this painting. The b&w negative has survived, as shown here.
Parrish posing for JACK FROST
Later in his life, when the artist was visited by a representative of a California museum, The Pioneer Museum and Haggin Galleries in Stockton, the artist gifted him with the Jack Frost painting. To my knowledge, the painting still resides there.
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Original Parrish Art For Sale
We thought our readers might enjoy viewing an interesting example of Parrish’s early art, and which is now available for purchase at a very reasonable price.
An original full sized 1896 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts show poster in an excellent state of preservation. By “full sized”, the poster dimensions are a huge 28″ x 44″. This particular poster has been personally autographed by Parrish himself, which is very rarely seen and hard to come by. Ludwig Catalog item #47.
Autographed 1896 Show Poster
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In regards to our 2019 exhibit of Parrish originals currently for sale, please view all the paintings, watercolors, and drawings by clicking on the Art for Sale link above.
Contact Alma Gilbert for the full catalogue and price list: agilbert@almagilbert.com
