Lot 268: Jean Parrish 1911 - 2004 , Proposed Cover for Collier's gouache and silver paint with traces of pencil on board

signed JEAN , l.r. gouache and silver paint with traces of pencil on board

measurements 19 1/2 by 15 1/2 in. alternate measurements 49.5 by 39.4 cm.

San Francisco, Alma Gilbert, Inc., Fine Art Gallery, circa 1992

Estate of Maxfield Parrish, Plainfield, New Hampshire
Dorothy Cole, San Jose, California
Private Collection, Tokyo

Executed circa 1935
Jean Parrish, youngest child of Maxfield and Lydia Parrish, was the only offspring of the famed artist to become a well-known painter herself. She is known for her landscapes of New Mexico, where she lived off and on for several years, starting in the late 1930s. But for a short time earlier in the decade she experimented with illustration art, creating a few covers for Collier's magazine which, though charming, were never accepted for publication. The present work, which she painted at her father's studio in Plainfield, New Hampshire, is one such example.
An interesting anecdote from this period in Jean's life involves her father Maxfield, a strong and loyal supporter of her career from its beginnings. He particularly liked one of her proposed covers, which showed a gnome painting bright autumn colors on leaves. He made a deal with Jean; he obtained permission from her to develop her concept in his own style and submit it to Collier's himself. They would divide any proceeds exactly in half if the cover was accepted. It was; the fee was $2,000; she received her $1,000 as promised. Her brother Max, Jr. commented on the experience, "Jean got $1,000 and promptly took the train to New York, and came back home with a whole new set of clothes and shoes. She found, as did dad, that comic art paid less well than other types. And she soon went into landscape work in which she now makes a good living". (Laurence S. and Judy Goffman Cutler and the National Museum of American Illustration, Maxfield Parrish and the American Imagists, Edison, New Jersey, 2004, pp. 96, 97)