Maxfield Parrish, Interlude (The Lute Players), 1922, detail
Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, lent by the Eastman School of music

MAXFIELD PARRISH REVISITED

During his long life (1870-1966), Parrish saw his star rise and fall, then rise again. Scorned by the critics for decades, he regained celebrity in his 90s. Museums began mounting Parrish shows, and trendsetters such as Andy Warhol began buying up his work.

His trademark--the iridescent cobalt blue known as "Parrish blue"--is well known to those who passed by the Eastman-commissioned Interlude during the 72 years it hung at the theater. Recognized as one of Parrish's finest works, the seven-foot high oil painting is now on permanent loan to the Memorial Art Gallery--safe from the moisture and other elements that over the years had damaged its surface and forced its restoration. (A nearly undetectable photographic reproduction hangs in its place in the theater's north stairway.)

Interlude is now traveling the country as one of the key works in the Parrish exhibition, which takes an inclusive view of the artist's achievements within the context of American culture at large. But beginning February 20 it will be back at the gallery, along with the rest of the show, which remains through April 30.

Maxfield Parrish 1870-1966 opened at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in the artist's hometown of Philadelphia. In addition to its stop in Rochester, it travels to the Currier Gallery in Manchester, New Hampshire (November-January), and the Brooklyn Museum of Art (June-July).

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