# Maxfield Parrish and my newest acquisition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maxfield-parrish-and-my-newest-acquisition/292197 "2005-02-27T22:52:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maxfield-parrish-and-my-newest-acquisition/292197/1 "2005-02-27T22:52:22Z")
I convinced my dad to “loan” me this art print that belonged to his grandmother. It’s Maxfield Parrish’s “Daybreak” and it’s in this old wooden frame. I’m wondering if there’s any way to restore this frame so that it doesn’t look so dirty and dingy. I’ve Pledged it once, but other than that I’m afraid to mess with it, lest I screw it up. And, from an art standpoint, how respected is Parrish? I know about several artists, but he’s one that I think I enjoy but whom a lot of people ignore. Anyway, this is a really beautiful piece and I’m thrilled to have it. I only wish I had a better house to surround it with ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maxfield-parrish-and-my-newest-acquisition/292197/2 "2005-02-28T01:34:50Z")
Ah, I envy you. I love Parrish. I had a print of “Aquamarine” in my last office. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maxfield-parrish-and-my-newest-acquisition/292197/3 "2005-02-28T02:18:38Z")
We’ve got a Parrish on the wall of the living room. He was an extremely popular commercial artist/illustrator, the Norman Rockwell of his day. Prints of Parrish’s work were on lots of parlor walls at one time, as evidenced by five or six, at least, being available at any decent sized antiques/flea market at any given time. Real art snots would probably look down on his work. Russell Crowe wouldn’t like the fact that Parrish created ads for Jell-O and stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maxfield-parrish-and-my-newest-acquisition/292197/4 "2005-03-09T19:06:30Z")
I’ve been trying to find a coffee table book of Maxfield Parrish’s art for my wife as I think she’d really like it. She really loves pre-Raphaelite art and I think certain aspects of his work would appeal to her. I made a comment to her that the art director on _The Lord of the Rings_ movies probably studied Daybreak for the look of Rivendell. I think Amidala’s homeworld from _Star Wars_ was supposed to look that way but IMHO came off too sterile. I think it’s fair to compare M.P. to Norman Rockwell but I considered N.R. an artists if he did not think so himself. Thomas Kinkaid however… ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maxfield-parrish-and-my-newest-acquisition/292197/5 "2005-03-09T19:10:45Z")
Well, I’m no fan of Norman Rockwell, so I guess I don’t get how you can compare his cheesy art to that of Maxfield Parrish. Parrish has such depth and beauty to his work. I don’t see that with Rockwell. I wouldn’t put a Rockwell on my living room wall. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maxfield-parrish-and-my-newest-acquisition/292197/6 "2005-03-09T19:25:52Z")
No accounting for taste **Indygrrl**. I don’t have any Rockwell haning on my walls but I do consider him an artists rather than a mere illustrator and I do see his personality in his work. Cheesy? A lot of his work may have been cliche but I see lots of depth in the people he painted if not always the situation. I like Picasso too but it’s pretty clear I’m not an art snot. > [@VernWinterbottom](#): > > Russell Crowe wouldn’t like the fact that Parrish created ads for Jell-O and stuff. ??? Please to 'splain ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maxfield-parrish-and-my-newest-acquisition/292197/7 "2005-03-10T03:17:05Z")
When I posted that, there was another thread going about Crowe’s negative thoughts on actors doing commercials, which then got into musicians and other artists “selling out.” Parrish was the “Norman Rockwell” of his day in the sense that both were primarily magazine illustrators and were extremely popular with the general public. Mass reproductions of their work were on calendars, inexpensive prints, etc. Parrish did covers for Harpers’ Weekly, Scribners’s, Collier’s and Life. Rockwell, of couse, was the Saturday Evening Post guy. Their styles and subjects were vastly different and few people would have a Rockwell hanging on one wall and a Parrish on another. An older Parrish coffee table book is _Maxfield Parrish_ by Coy Ludwig, Watson-Guptill, New York, 1973.