The National Museum of American Illustration
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MAXFIELD PARRISH "DAYBREAK" 1922, oil on board
Last Chance to View Maxfield Parrish’s Masterpiece DAYBREAK
at National Museum of American Illustration
Maxfield Parrish’s record-setting masterpiece, DAYBREAK,
is on loan to the Museum until August 25, 2006 after which it
will go into a private, closed collection never to be seen in
public again. The Museum will be open for general admission
on August
19-20 from 10am-2pm, or by reservation Mondays through
Fridays for guided tours.
“The recent results of America illustrators at auctions this
spring has confirmed their importance in American art.
Works by Maxfield Parrish and Norman Rockwell set new
records at auction, indicating the current level of respect and
appreciation for these artists, and this genre, today,”
explains the Museum’s Director and Co-Founder, Judy
Goffman Cutler.
“Although the loan of DAYBREAK was arranged with little
advance notice, we are thrilled beyond belief to offer to the
public the only opportunity to view this work. DAYBREAK has
been privately held since 1922 and only rarely exhibited to
the public in the last 80 years. In conjunction with
DAYBREAK, we have arranged the loan of several other
significant works by Parrish- MY DUTY TOWARDS MY
NEIGHBOR/ MY DUTY TOWARDS GOD, DREAM GARDEN and
PRESENTATION PIECE FOR THE FLORENTINE FETE 'A Call To
Joy'. Like DAYBREAK, MY DUTY TOWARDS MY NEIGHBOR/ MY
DUTY TOWARDS GOD is also entering a private collection
after being exhibited at the NMAI.”
In 1922, Maxfield Parrish painted DAYBREAK, which he
referred to as his 'great painting’. It was distributed as an art
print from 1922-1953, and DAYBREAK became the most
successful art print of the last century thusly securing
Parrish’s
position as the most popular illustrator after World
War I. DAYBREAK was laid out
according to dynamic symmetry
using photographs of Kitty Owen, his daughter Jean and
Susan Lewin as models, posed amidst a backdrop of
architectural elements, columns, urns, and fantastical
landscape. Art prints of DAYBREAK were the sensation of the
1920's and they were
displayed in one of every four American homes. It is said to
be the most reproduced art image in history, surpassing THE
LAST SUPPER and Andy Warhol's soup cans. The study for
DAYBREAK is also on exhibition for this unique showing of
rare and important Parrish Masterpieces. This is possibly
the only time since its creation that the study will be shown
next to the finished work.
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MAXFIELD PARRISH (1870-1966) "MY DUTY TOWARDS MY
NEIGHBOR/ MY DUTY TOWARDS GOD"
1898, oil on canvas/ oil on panel, frame: oak and white pine
MY DUTY TOWARDS MY NEIGHBOR/ MY DUTY TOWARDS GOD
was created in 1898 for the Mrs. Parsons Memorial Chapel at
the Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox, MA. The artwork
remained in the church until its sale to a private collector in
early June, and has never before been publicly exhibited. At
the church, in its position above the fireplace as placed by
Parrish’s hands, it was rarely seen by visitors, as the chapel
was later converted to a nursery school. Art historian Coy
Ludwig said of these small murals, executed on pine boards,
that they ‘have the interesting Pre-Raphaelite quality
sometimes seen in the products of the Arts and Crafts
Movement in America.’ There is no doubt that the faces and
costumes are reminiscent of Rosetti and Waterhouse. The
frame, with its design, colors and lettering, all executed by
the artist, is also derivative of the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Parrish obviously felt that such a commission deserved the
full treatment, and that if he had left the framing up to the
congregation he would have lost control of the total effect he
wished to create. As a complete object, it stands as a
testament to the artist’s many talents and vision. It is his
only diptych and truly is unique amongst his oeuvre.
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MAXFIELD PARRISH (1870-1966) "DREAM GARDEN"
1914, oil on panel
Also on loan to the NMAI is Parrish’s DREAM GARDEN, the
maquette from which his stunning DREAM GARDEN mural at
the Curtis Publishing Company building was fashioned. In the
only collaboration of his artistic career, Parrish’s 2ft 1 1/2in
x 6ft 6in DREAM GARDEN was enlarged and translated into a
15ft x 49ft favrille glass mosaic by Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Installed in the Curtis lobby in 1915, the mosaic was hailed at
the time as ‘a veritable masterpiece’. This painting is a
wonderful complement to the FLORENTINE FETE murals
exhibited at the National Museum of American Illustration,
which, like DREAM GARDEN, were commissioned for the
Curtis Publishing Company building in Philadelphia. The loan
of this study allows further insight to Parrish’s mural work
from this period. Additionally, at Vernon Court, home of the
Museum, murals by Tiffany Studios (1898) grace both
loggias, allowing the visitor to compare and contrast the
decorative work of Parrish with that of Tiffany. The Tiffany
murals at Vernon Court are among the few surviving
examples of Tiffany’s decorative murals on view today.
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MAXFIELD PARRISH (1870-1966) "PRESENTATION PIECE FOR
THE FLORENTINE FETE -A Call to Joy"
1910, oil on stretched canvas
As a complement to the FLORENTINE FETE murals by Maxfield
Parrish installed at the Museum, we are pleased to have on
exhibit the PRESENTATION PIECE FOR THE FLORENTINE FETE
'A Call To Joy'. This smaller artwork (53 1/2" x 20 1/2") was
created to convince the Curtis Publishing Company to
commission Parrish for the 18 panels that make up A
FLORENTINE FETE. “As often as possible, we try to display
preparatory works or studies next to the finished artwork, to
show the artist’s process. Having the concept piece for A
FLORENTINE FETE on loan this summer affords such
comparisons, which we are pleased to be able to offer”, Judy
Cutler, Museum Director explains. Created between 1910 and
1916 for the girls’ dining room at the publishing house, the
murals were widely reproduced throughout the years,
including use as art prints and on the cover of the first
women’s magazine, the Ladies Home Journal. The murals
became most beloved by the public in the process, and in
1917 the hall in which they were exhibited became known as
the Maxfield Parrish Dining Room, ‘the most beautiful dining
room in America’. A FLORENTINE FETE, Parrish’s largest, and
arguably greatest, work, is on permanent display at the
NMAI.
Admissions: August 19 & 20, open each day 10:00 am-
3:00 pm. Additionally, the Museum is open for guided tours
by advance reservation, Mondays through Fridays, May 30-
November 3. Groups tours (15 or more persons) are
welcome by advance reservation year-round. Tickets $25:
Seniors 60+ and military w/id, $22, Children 12 & under not
admitted. For more information telephone 401-851-8949 ext.
18 or www.americanillustration.org
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Molly K. Dickinson,
Director of Institutional Development,
The National Museum of American Illustration-
492 Bellevue Avenue,
Newport, RI 02840
T: 401-851-8949 ext.18
F: 401-851-8974
mdickinson@americanillustration.org
www.americanillustration.org
The National Museum of American Illustration is a nonprofit
independent, educational, and aesthetic organization. It is
located in Newport, RI on Bellevue Avenue at Vernon Court
(1898), a Beaux-Arts adaptation of an 18th century French
chateau.
It is the first national museum devoted exclusively to
American illustration art.
Illustration consists of original artwork created to be
reproduced in books, magazines, newspapers and
advertisements. ‘Golden Age’ paintings by such luminaries as
Norman Rockwell, Maxfield Parrish, NC Wyeth, and 75 others
are displayed in ‘Gilded Age’ architecture, creating a unique
union of art and architecture- a national treasure.
The Museum is administered by the American Civilization
Foundation, a nonprofit organization with the goal to present
the best possible venue for appreciating the greatest
collection of illustration art; the most American of American
art.
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©2005 National Museum of American Illustration
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