拍品專文
At the age of sixty-four, with considerable fame and praise, Maxfield Parrish turned to landscape painting, beginning a new phase of his career with the enthusiasm and energy of a young artist. Although Parrish experimented with landscape painting throughout the preceeding years, it was not until the early 1930s that he turned exclusively to the subject. Between 1934-1963, Parrish created nearly one hundred landscapes, many of which were reproduced by Brown & Bigelow, the calender and greeting card company. Good Fishing of 1945 is a wonderful example of the artist's landscapes, possessing many of the celebrated hallmarks of Parrish's style.
Parrish began experimenting with landscape painting in the 1890s, painting and sketching around Cape Ann, Masachusetts and introducing landscape elements into his magazine and book illustrations. The turn of the century brought two consecutive commissions from Century Magazine which had a profound effect on his landscape painting. During the winters of 1901-1902 and 1902-1903, Parrish travelled to and around Arizona to produce a series of paintings for Ray Stannard Baker's article "The Great Southwest." Parrish was immediately fascinated by the area's dramatic lighting and brilliant range of color, both of which created impressive effects against the unusual terrain. As Coy Ludwig points out, "the dramatic effects of the southwestern sunrises and sunsets, with their reflections of brilliant orange hues and shadows of purple and blue, and the craggy terrain of the canyons became forever a part of Parrish's artistic vocabulary." (Maxfield Parrish, New York, 1973, p. 171) The artist's experience in the Southwest was followed by another influential excursion, this time to Italy where he spent three months gathering material to illustrate Edith Wharton's Italian Villas and Their Gardens. The subtle light and coloring Parrish found in Italy served as a balance to the dramatic topography and atmosphere of the Southwest.
In 1898 before heading out on either of these journeys, Parrish had built a house and studio in the thriving artist's colony of Cornish, New Hampshire. Established in 1885 by the prominent American sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the Cornish colony grew into a lively and productive world of artists, authors, playwrights and architects. Parrish lived and worked in this southwestern region of New Hampshire until his death, and naturally his immediate surroundings became the basis for his late landscpaes. However, as suggested by Coy Ludwig, the artist's experiences in Italy and the Southwest remained vivid in his artistic imagination.
Unlike most landscape painters preceding him, Parrish preferred to work in his studio, seeking to imbue his pictures with a greater impact than a purely factual recording of a place. In an effort to create images of nature with an otherworldly and idealized character, Parrish painted in a precise, methodical manner that was very calculated and often entailed manipulating nature. In producing Good Fishing and other landscapes of the period, Parrish went to great lengths to compose highly imaginative and fully spirited images. Speaking of The Spirit of Transportation, Parrish wrote: "the tree was taken outside my studio window here; the brook was from the back of Windsor (Vermont), the rocks from Bellows Falls, and a mountain or two from Arizona. And I've heard some say they had been to just that spot." (C. Ludwig, "Maxfield Parrish: Sharp-Focus Visionary," American Art Review, 3, March/April 1976, p. 87)
The magic and spirit embodied in Good Fishing is the result of an intricate approach to painting that was unique to Maxfield Parrish. Parrish possessed a calm and patient disposition that was perfectly suited to the arduous and time-consuming work his pictures demanded. This approach included the use of paper cut-outs, the use of photography, the employment of props and models constructed in his workshop as well as a tedious method of painting with glazes. Every detail in a picture was manipulated so as to create an effective design.
Good Fishing possesses several quintessential features of Parrish's landscape style. In characteristic fashion, Parrish arranged the composition with a clear and natural flow from the immediate foreground up through the center into the distant background. Although it naturally flows downward, the rushing water of the stream leads the viewer's eye over the craggy rocks and up through the large billowing trees into the misty forest fading into the distance. The encroaching trees and the low bushes are painted in a manner unique to Parrish, using both cut-out silhouettes and photography and can be said to be the single most common element of his landscapes. Maxfield Parrish often said "'Only God can make a tree.' True enough but I'd like to see him paint one." As stated by Coy Ludwig, this "statement reflects the kind of painting skill and knowledge of nature that Parrish knew was required for painting trees as he painted them--with subtle variations of color and gradations of light and shadow, accurately depicting light filtering through the layers of precisely detailed foliage." (Maxfield Parrish, p. 177)
In the following passage, Maxfield Parrish explains his approach to landscape painting which comes to fruition in Good Fishing.
You mention "realism": that I think, is a term which has to be
defined: realism should never be the end in view. My theory is that you should use all the objects in nature, trees, hills, skies, rivers and all, just as stage properties on which to hang your idea, the end in view, the elusive qualities of the day, in fact all the qualities that give a body the delights of out of doors.
You can not sit down and paint such things; they are not there, or do not last but for a moment. "Realism" of impression, the mood of the moment, yes, but not the realism of things. The colored photograph can do that much better. That's the trouble with so much art today, it is factual, and stop right there." (Maxfield Parrish, p. 185)
Parrish began experimenting with landscape painting in the 1890s, painting and sketching around Cape Ann, Masachusetts and introducing landscape elements into his magazine and book illustrations. The turn of the century brought two consecutive commissions from Century Magazine which had a profound effect on his landscape painting. During the winters of 1901-1902 and 1902-1903, Parrish travelled to and around Arizona to produce a series of paintings for Ray Stannard Baker's article "The Great Southwest." Parrish was immediately fascinated by the area's dramatic lighting and brilliant range of color, both of which created impressive effects against the unusual terrain. As Coy Ludwig points out, "the dramatic effects of the southwestern sunrises and sunsets, with their reflections of brilliant orange hues and shadows of purple and blue, and the craggy terrain of the canyons became forever a part of Parrish's artistic vocabulary." (Maxfield Parrish, New York, 1973, p. 171) The artist's experience in the Southwest was followed by another influential excursion, this time to Italy where he spent three months gathering material to illustrate Edith Wharton's Italian Villas and Their Gardens. The subtle light and coloring Parrish found in Italy served as a balance to the dramatic topography and atmosphere of the Southwest.
In 1898 before heading out on either of these journeys, Parrish had built a house and studio in the thriving artist's colony of Cornish, New Hampshire. Established in 1885 by the prominent American sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the Cornish colony grew into a lively and productive world of artists, authors, playwrights and architects. Parrish lived and worked in this southwestern region of New Hampshire until his death, and naturally his immediate surroundings became the basis for his late landscpaes. However, as suggested by Coy Ludwig, the artist's experiences in Italy and the Southwest remained vivid in his artistic imagination.
Unlike most landscape painters preceding him, Parrish preferred to work in his studio, seeking to imbue his pictures with a greater impact than a purely factual recording of a place. In an effort to create images of nature with an otherworldly and idealized character, Parrish painted in a precise, methodical manner that was very calculated and often entailed manipulating nature. In producing Good Fishing and other landscapes of the period, Parrish went to great lengths to compose highly imaginative and fully spirited images. Speaking of The Spirit of Transportation, Parrish wrote: "the tree was taken outside my studio window here; the brook was from the back of Windsor (Vermont), the rocks from Bellows Falls, and a mountain or two from Arizona. And I've heard some say they had been to just that spot." (C. Ludwig, "Maxfield Parrish: Sharp-Focus Visionary," American Art Review, 3, March/April 1976, p. 87)
The magic and spirit embodied in Good Fishing is the result of an intricate approach to painting that was unique to Maxfield Parrish. Parrish possessed a calm and patient disposition that was perfectly suited to the arduous and time-consuming work his pictures demanded. This approach included the use of paper cut-outs, the use of photography, the employment of props and models constructed in his workshop as well as a tedious method of painting with glazes. Every detail in a picture was manipulated so as to create an effective design.
Good Fishing possesses several quintessential features of Parrish's landscape style. In characteristic fashion, Parrish arranged the composition with a clear and natural flow from the immediate foreground up through the center into the distant background. Although it naturally flows downward, the rushing water of the stream leads the viewer's eye over the craggy rocks and up through the large billowing trees into the misty forest fading into the distance. The encroaching trees and the low bushes are painted in a manner unique to Parrish, using both cut-out silhouettes and photography and can be said to be the single most common element of his landscapes. Maxfield Parrish often said "'Only God can make a tree.' True enough but I'd like to see him paint one." As stated by Coy Ludwig, this "statement reflects the kind of painting skill and knowledge of nature that Parrish knew was required for painting trees as he painted them--with subtle variations of color and gradations of light and shadow, accurately depicting light filtering through the layers of precisely detailed foliage." (Maxfield Parrish, p. 177)
In the following passage, Maxfield Parrish explains his approach to landscape painting which comes to fruition in Good Fishing.
You mention "realism": that I think, is a term which has to be
defined: realism should never be the end in view. My theory is that you should use all the objects in nature, trees, hills, skies, rivers and all, just as stage properties on which to hang your idea, the end in view, the elusive qualities of the day, in fact all the qualities that give a body the delights of out of doors.
You can not sit down and paint such things; they are not there, or do not last but for a moment. "Realism" of impression, the mood of the moment, yes, but not the realism of things. The colored photograph can do that much better. That's the trouble with so much art today, it is factual, and stop right there." (Maxfield Parrish, p. 185)