Parrish & Poetry: A Gift of Words and Art

One of the best-known and most successful artists of his day, Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966) is remembered as one of America's greatest illustrators. For sixty-five years Parrish produced book, magazine, and calender illustrations; advertisements; posters; paintings; and murals using a unique combination of luminescent color, photorealism, spatial balance, and fantastical imagery that captured the nation's imagination. Even today, no other artist has succeeded in equaling the technical excellence and surrealist quality of Parrish at his best. In Parrish & Poetry, Maxfield Parrish's finest works complement poetic masterpieces - or is it the other way around? - in thirty-nine exquisite pairings. Parrish's Sleeping Beauty and "Oh Mistress Mine" by William Shakespeare, Stars and John Keats's "Bright Star," Deep Woods Moonlight and "How do I Love Thee?" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Garden of Allah and "The Answer" by Rudyard Kipling - these are just a few of the charming combinations presented within. Each painting creates an ambiance for its accompanying poem, while the poems seem to evoke Parrish's style or even to have inspired his brush; together, the words and pictures offer an experince rich in literary and visual splendor. -- from dust jacket.