The Make Believe World of Maxfield Parrish and Sue Lewin

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Pictures, But Weak Text
Review: Any book containing attractive reproductions of Maxfield Parrish's work is bound to be visually stunning. But the text is loaded with partially informed speculation about the relationship between Parrish and Sue Lewin, his favorite model. The author is an art dealer, not a historian, and her lack of analytical training is a serious problem. Maybe Lewin was Parrish's lover. But where's the concrete evidence? Everything that the author presents to support her contentions is either hearsay or capable of more than one interpretion. The fact that they shared a house for several decades is a VERY persuasive fact, but Gilbert damages her credibility -- and her case -- by tossing in too much pointless guessing.

Rating:
Summary: A Fascinating Look into the Life of an Artist & his Subject
Review: Being an admirer of Parrish's work since childhood, I had always wondered how he worked since his paintings had a sort of surreal realism to them. I was surprised to find that he utilized photographs instead of live models and that Sue Lewin was the model for the majority of his most famous works. The art is not only beautiful in the book, but the photos are just as incredible as the paintings themselves. A must have book for anyone who has admired Maxfield Parrish's work.

Rating:
Summary: His model and muse
Review: Sue Lewin was the model for a huge number of Parrish's lovely, romantic paintings. She sat for the innumerable photographs that he used for his paintings, she tended his children, she lived with him for decades in his `studio' (a fair-sized house by any standard). He often painted her with a wedding band on her finger. He just never married her.

Another woman, Lydia, was his wife. For many years, she lived in the other house on the property, almost a mansion. This peculiar split life, wife and mistress on the same estate, just a few yards a way from each other, was a permanent feature of the Parrish household.

It seems to have started innocently enough, when Lewin was hired as nanny and maid to the Parrish household. Parrish had great financial success during his life, enough to build the two grand houses at `The Oaks.' Over time, Lewin became more involved with his art, posing and making costumes, cooking for him and fending off threats to his privacy. At the same time, Parrish became cordially estranged from his wife. There was a curtain of silence around the arrangements, but that is the story told in this remarkable book.

It is clear that Lewin had enormous importance in Parrish's work, far more than hard evidence may ever tell. If you like Parrish's work - and it's easy to like - this brief book will give real insight into the art, the man who made it, and the woman who inspired it. The only disappointment in this book is that it doesn't show more of Parrish's famous illustration.

//wiredweird


Rating:
Summary: This book is a fun, light, easy read.
Review: This book is full of conjecture about Maxfield Parrish's private life and his relationship with his model, Sue Lewin. Their relationship was kept very private (due to his married state), yet they lived together most of their lives. Despite the guessing (most of which is probably correct) on the author's part, it is a fun, easy book to read and gives a sense of the times.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: This is a fantastic book. It covers Parrish's art, life, and process in a very reader friendly form.