拍品專文
Maxfield Parrish's The King Samples the Tarts is a quintessential example of the artist's most unique and celebrated style. Painted at the height of his career, this masterwork was executed as an illustration in Louise Saunder's children's book of 1925, The Knave of Hearts. Numbering twenty-six in total, these illustrations have become in recent years among the most sought-after paintings in Parrish's oeuvre. Placing elements of his earlier illustration within magical landscape settings, which earned him his greatest fame in works like Daybreak, Parrish brings together his methodical techniques, stylistic trademarks, and his wonderful sense of humor culminating in a most representative example of his work.
Although Parrish worked in a variety of areas over his career which spanned almost three quarters of a century, he is perhaps best remembered as an illustrator of children's books. Parrish received his first book commission in 1897 just after completing his studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His illustrations for L. Frank Baum's Mother Goose in Prose brought forth a second commission to illustrate a new edition of Washington Irving's Knickerbocker's History of New York. The critical acclaim of these works resulted in a stream of commissions which occupied the artist's creative energies until 1910. These commissions include his famous paintings for Eugene Field's Poems of Childhood of 1904 and Nathaniel Hawthorne's A Wonderbook and Tanglewood Tales of 1908.
In 1920 Parrish accepted one last book commission which ironically became his best known and most well-received. By this time, Parrish was well established in the commercial world of illustration and could selectively choose which projects he would undertake. Parrish viewed the opportunity to illustrate The Knave of Hearts with great enthusiasm and vigor. In a letter to Scribner's, Parrish's excitement is keenly felt: "I wonder if you have ever read a little play called The Knave of Hearts by Louise Saunders Perkins?...I have read it and seen it acted, and the thought will not down that it would be a most interesting thing to illustrate...The reason I wanted to illustrate The Knave of Hearts was on account of the bully opportunity it gives for a very good time making the pictures. Imagination could run riot, bound down by no period, just good fun and all sorts of things." (C. Ludwig, Maxfield Parrish, p. 48)
The publisher at Scribner's shared Parrish's convictions and over the next three years, Parrish completed twenty-six paintings for the book. As the book was conceived as a play geared towards an audience of children, Parrish worked in a simple, broad style with figures assuming exaggerated poses and unmistakable facial expressions.
Portraying the characters of the King, the Chancellor, and the Knave, The King Samples the Tarts depicts the moment when the Knave finally brings the plate of raspberry tarts for the King to sample after he has given in to their tempting aroma while reading in a nearby garden. The King, known as Pompdebile the Eighth, is dressed in full regalia with a long billowy pink robe bordered with ermine, gilded crown and outstretched fingers bedecked with shimmering jewels. Resting on plush tasseled pillows, the King stares intensely at the Knave who tries his hardest to please his master with a big grin anticipating his response with wide-open eyes. The Chancellor, an elderly man with a full grey beard and marvelous black and white patterned gown, looks on with concern and uncertainty as he ponders the fate of the shameful Knave.
Parrish has approached this crucial moment in the story in a characteristically methodical manner, arranging each and every figure, prop, and detail to achieve the greatest effect. In Parrish's mind, composition was of paramount importance and responsible for a great degree of the overall impact. In much of Parrish's art, there is a specific focal point, here created by pointing all three faces in the general direction of the soon to be sampled tart. Parrish creates this center point by arranging the figures in a triangular configuration, all three figures lean forward creating the sides of this clear shape. Placing a triangle at the heart of the picture lends the it a symmetry which at first glance seems less than perfectly balanced. Two figures on the left are balanced by only one on the right; however, Parrish places the distant landscape on the right side and adds more foliage to the branches on this side to give it equal weight, thus capturing the symmetry set by the arcade in the background. By 1920 symmetrical arrangements had become more and more common in Parrish's art at which time the artist was familiar with Jay Hambidge's theory of Dynamic Symmetry. Attracted to its strict, methodical nature, Parrish found great use in the theory's ability to ensure formal design cohesion. The resulting harmonic balance of the composition lends a simplicity, clarity and sense of comedy to the work.
In addition to Parrish's tendency towards symmetry, The King Samples the Tarts features several other hallmarks of Parrish's fantastical vision. Most readily apparent in this work is Parrish's love of patterning. Not daring enough on its own, the black and white checkerboard floor is repeated in the full-length gown of the Chancellor. The visual impact of these areas is dramatic and playful at the same time as Parrish introduces the block pattern again in the King's pink and purple robe. Furthermore, the patterning of the checkerboard floor provides a rigid, symmetrical foundation for the remainder of the work to follow.
Examining these areas closer, one senses Parrish's keen ability to convey surface textures, most clearly demonstrated in the sumptuous clothes worn in the royal household. While the Chancellor's robe appears light and airy, it seems slightly less soothing to the touch than the King's soft, sleek robe--folds of which fall gently beneath his arms. The plush quality of the gowns is also sensed in the tasseled throw pillows which ease the King's steps onto the cold, hard floor. Similarly, one can almost feel the varying textures of the three men's hair. The Chancellor's thick hair and beard is brittle and dry, while the King's has aged more softly and the Knave's straight, black hair appears thick and starchy.
The effect of a smooth, rich surface was also the result of Parrish's method of glazing. The technique of painting with glazes was a slow, meticulous process, but one which resulted in magnificent luminosity. Parrish worked from a base of white which served to light the canvas from the first layer up through to the last. Paint was applied directly from the tube, and in between layers of paint, the artist applied layer of varnish. This application of varnish heightened the vibrancy of the colors and resulted in a smooth, rich surface. Parrish felt strongly about the purity of color and the resulting effect it made on the picture as a whole. In an unknown article, the artist expresses his aims concerning color: "Probably that which has a greater hold on me than any other quality is color. I feel it is a language but little understood; much less so than it use to be. To be a great colorist that is my modest ambition. I hope someday to express the child's attitude towards nature and things; for that is the purest and most unconscious." (Maxfield Parrish, Maxfield Parrish Papers, Hanover, New Hampshire)
Undoubtedly, Parrish succeeded in this modest ambition, and in fact, it is just this quality "of expressing the child's attitude" through color which sets Parrish's pictures apart from all others. The paintings executed for The Knave of Hearts rank among the works which best capture his "make-believe world." One of the finest illustrations in the book, The King Samples the Tarts stands as a magnificent expression of this creative genius.
Although Parrish worked in a variety of areas over his career which spanned almost three quarters of a century, he is perhaps best remembered as an illustrator of children's books. Parrish received his first book commission in 1897 just after completing his studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His illustrations for L. Frank Baum's Mother Goose in Prose brought forth a second commission to illustrate a new edition of Washington Irving's Knickerbocker's History of New York. The critical acclaim of these works resulted in a stream of commissions which occupied the artist's creative energies until 1910. These commissions include his famous paintings for Eugene Field's Poems of Childhood of 1904 and Nathaniel Hawthorne's A Wonderbook and Tanglewood Tales of 1908.
In 1920 Parrish accepted one last book commission which ironically became his best known and most well-received. By this time, Parrish was well established in the commercial world of illustration and could selectively choose which projects he would undertake. Parrish viewed the opportunity to illustrate The Knave of Hearts with great enthusiasm and vigor. In a letter to Scribner's, Parrish's excitement is keenly felt: "I wonder if you have ever read a little play called The Knave of Hearts by Louise Saunders Perkins?...I have read it and seen it acted, and the thought will not down that it would be a most interesting thing to illustrate...The reason I wanted to illustrate The Knave of Hearts was on account of the bully opportunity it gives for a very good time making the pictures. Imagination could run riot, bound down by no period, just good fun and all sorts of things." (C. Ludwig, Maxfield Parrish, p. 48)
The publisher at Scribner's shared Parrish's convictions and over the next three years, Parrish completed twenty-six paintings for the book. As the book was conceived as a play geared towards an audience of children, Parrish worked in a simple, broad style with figures assuming exaggerated poses and unmistakable facial expressions.
Portraying the characters of the King, the Chancellor, and the Knave, The King Samples the Tarts depicts the moment when the Knave finally brings the plate of raspberry tarts for the King to sample after he has given in to their tempting aroma while reading in a nearby garden. The King, known as Pompdebile the Eighth, is dressed in full regalia with a long billowy pink robe bordered with ermine, gilded crown and outstretched fingers bedecked with shimmering jewels. Resting on plush tasseled pillows, the King stares intensely at the Knave who tries his hardest to please his master with a big grin anticipating his response with wide-open eyes. The Chancellor, an elderly man with a full grey beard and marvelous black and white patterned gown, looks on with concern and uncertainty as he ponders the fate of the shameful Knave.
Parrish has approached this crucial moment in the story in a characteristically methodical manner, arranging each and every figure, prop, and detail to achieve the greatest effect. In Parrish's mind, composition was of paramount importance and responsible for a great degree of the overall impact. In much of Parrish's art, there is a specific focal point, here created by pointing all three faces in the general direction of the soon to be sampled tart. Parrish creates this center point by arranging the figures in a triangular configuration, all three figures lean forward creating the sides of this clear shape. Placing a triangle at the heart of the picture lends the it a symmetry which at first glance seems less than perfectly balanced. Two figures on the left are balanced by only one on the right; however, Parrish places the distant landscape on the right side and adds more foliage to the branches on this side to give it equal weight, thus capturing the symmetry set by the arcade in the background. By 1920 symmetrical arrangements had become more and more common in Parrish's art at which time the artist was familiar with Jay Hambidge's theory of Dynamic Symmetry. Attracted to its strict, methodical nature, Parrish found great use in the theory's ability to ensure formal design cohesion. The resulting harmonic balance of the composition lends a simplicity, clarity and sense of comedy to the work.
In addition to Parrish's tendency towards symmetry, The King Samples the Tarts features several other hallmarks of Parrish's fantastical vision. Most readily apparent in this work is Parrish's love of patterning. Not daring enough on its own, the black and white checkerboard floor is repeated in the full-length gown of the Chancellor. The visual impact of these areas is dramatic and playful at the same time as Parrish introduces the block pattern again in the King's pink and purple robe. Furthermore, the patterning of the checkerboard floor provides a rigid, symmetrical foundation for the remainder of the work to follow.
Examining these areas closer, one senses Parrish's keen ability to convey surface textures, most clearly demonstrated in the sumptuous clothes worn in the royal household. While the Chancellor's robe appears light and airy, it seems slightly less soothing to the touch than the King's soft, sleek robe--folds of which fall gently beneath his arms. The plush quality of the gowns is also sensed in the tasseled throw pillows which ease the King's steps onto the cold, hard floor. Similarly, one can almost feel the varying textures of the three men's hair. The Chancellor's thick hair and beard is brittle and dry, while the King's has aged more softly and the Knave's straight, black hair appears thick and starchy.
The effect of a smooth, rich surface was also the result of Parrish's method of glazing. The technique of painting with glazes was a slow, meticulous process, but one which resulted in magnificent luminosity. Parrish worked from a base of white which served to light the canvas from the first layer up through to the last. Paint was applied directly from the tube, and in between layers of paint, the artist applied layer of varnish. This application of varnish heightened the vibrancy of the colors and resulted in a smooth, rich surface. Parrish felt strongly about the purity of color and the resulting effect it made on the picture as a whole. In an unknown article, the artist expresses his aims concerning color: "Probably that which has a greater hold on me than any other quality is color. I feel it is a language but little understood; much less so than it use to be. To be a great colorist that is my modest ambition. I hope someday to express the child's attitude towards nature and things; for that is the purest and most unconscious." (Maxfield Parrish, Maxfield Parrish Papers, Hanover, New Hampshire)
Undoubtedly, Parrish succeeded in this modest ambition, and in fact, it is just this quality "of expressing the child's attitude" through color which sets Parrish's pictures apart from all others. The paintings executed for The Knave of Hearts rank among the works which best capture his "make-believe world." One of the finest illustrations in the book, The King Samples the Tarts stands as a magnificent expression of this creative genius.