Crystal Bridges to Loan Major Works by Parrish, Rockwell

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art will share important works of art by America’s most beloved artist-illustrators with the Toledo Museum of Art. Maxfield Parrish’s lyrical nocturne The Lantern Bearers (1908), originally created as a frontispiece for the December 10, 1910 issue of Collier’s magazine, and Norman Rockwell’s Rosie the Riveter (1943), an iconic representation of the American work ethic that provided the May 29, 1943 cover of the Saturday Evening Post, will go on display in Toledo beginning August 17.

“In the world of art today, there is a revived interest in process, virtuosic painting and craft that has inspired a reinvestigation of illustrators as artists,” said Don Bacigalupi, director of Crystal Bridges. “We are pleased to contribute to the dialog through this partnership with our colleagues at the Toledo Museum of Art.”

Collaborating with other institutions is an important focus of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Since 2005 Crystal Bridges has loaned 68 works of art to 38 institutions. Currently, 34 works from the Museum’s collection are on loan at 15 institutions throughout the United States and abroad.

Widely regarded as one of the most popular American illustrators in the first half of the 20th century, Maxfield Parrish (1870 – 1966) was renowned for his idealized neo-classical imagery, meticulous craftsmanship and luminous, richly saturated colors. In The Lantern Bearers, a group of Pierrot or clown figures ascend a set of stairs. The golden lanterns that they hold create a strong diagonal composition offset by a single sphere – the moon? – on the right. The clowns appear to be identical, suggesting the employment of simultaneous narrative, where multiple scenes from a sequence in time are presented in a single image.

“The detailed representational style juxtaposed with a flat, almost medieval sky create spatial ambiguities that are most interesting,” Bacigalupi said. “This work has a stage-set, dream-world quality that is compelling.”

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Source: www.artdaily.com