 | |  | | Maxfield Parrish was a very unique figure in American art. He actually did not belong to any art style "school," and was part traditionalist, sometime illustrator of dragons and elf like figures, and at other times he found inspiration in the oak trees of his New Hampshire environment. Parrish's very unique painting method involved applying many layers of thin, transparent oil, alternating with varnish over stretched paper. This created a combination of great luminosity and fine detail.
In spite of the long time it took Parrish to finish a painting to his perfectionistic satisfaction, Parrish was quite prolific, from his children's books of the turn of the century, to his famous prints of lounging nudes. During the 1920s, he began to create calendar landscapes, which continued from the 1930s through the 1960s.
This painting is a typical example of Parrish's work from the 1920's. |