MAXFIELD PARRISH | Village School House

Olive Moyer, Lyonsdale, New York, 1955 (acquired directly from the artist)
Walter Pratt, Boonville, New York, 1959 (bequest from the above)
Hazel Northam, Brooklyn, New York, 1965 (by descent)
Pratt Northam Foundation, Lowville, New York, 1972 (gift from the above; sold: Sotheby's, New York, December 5, 1996, lot 177)
Acquired by the present owner at the above sale

Syracuse, New York, Everson Museum of Art of Syracuse & Onondaga County, 1967-1996 (on extended loan)
Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, Brandywine River Museum, Maxfield Parrish: Master of Make-Believe, May-September 1974, no. 82, p. 37
Southampton, New York, Parrish Art Museum, The Dream World of Maxfield Parrish, June-July 1975
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, The Natural Paradise: Painting in America, 1800-1950, September-November 1976, no. 115, n.p.
Roslyn Harbor, New York, Nassau County Museum of Art, American Realism Between the Wars, April-June 1994, p. 63

Coy Ludwig, Maxfield Parrish, New York, 1973, no. 767, p. 219, illustrated p. 169 (as The Country Schoolhouse)

There appears to be frame abrasion along the extreme edges with a few pindots of associated loss. There appears to be a pindot of possible surface accretion in the lower right foreground. Under UV: there is inpainting to address frame abrasion along the edges, a dot near the center right edge and a dot in the foreground near the lower center edge.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In 1931, at the height of his popularity in America, Maxfield Parrish issued a statement to the Associated Press announcing his decision to abandon the figurative work that had made him a household name. Now, he declared, he was devoting himself exclusively to landscape painting: “I’m done with girls on rocks. I have painted them for thirteen years and I could paint them and sell them for thirteen more…It’s the unattainable that appeals. Next best thing to seeing the ocean or the hills or the woods is enjoying a painting of them" (as quoted in Laurence S. Cutler and Judy Goffman Cutler, Maxfield Parrish: A Retrospective, San Francisco, California, 1995, p. 14).

As a result of this decision, the magical, detailed landscapes previously seen only as backgrounds for his figurative works now became the primary subject of his work. Goddesses and nymphs were replaced by another ideal—the mountains, lush meadows, grand oak trees, open blue skies, and humble dwellings that characterized the American landscape. Painted in 1937, Village School House exemplifies the vision of a pastoral Eden that, as a resident of rural New Hampshire, Parrish held in high esteem. Here he depicts a simple white clapboard schoolhouse nestled at the top of a wooded path. The jewel-like color the artist’s most successful works achieve is plainly demonstrated in the luminous palette of verdant green and brilliant blue that characterizes the painting. The crystalline quality of the light—one of Parrish's primary aesthetic interests—suffuses the composition with a radiant glow, contributing to a tranquil, idyllic vision of his beloved New England home, the place he once described as “Such an ideal country, so paintable and beautiful, so far away from everything—and a place to dream one’s life away…I long to be up there and become identified with it” (as quoted in Sylvia Yount, Maxfield Parrish: 1879-1966, New York, 1999, p. 23).