Moonlight 1932

Maxfield Parrish conjured "Moonlight" with who-knows-what; the effect is pure magic, maybe smoke and mirrors, but who cares? It's all about the process of illusion, isn't it? I'm stuck on the way Parrish layers his colors: thin glazes, one over the other, like building up a dream. Look at how the light hits the water; it's a trick of the eye, an impossible glow achieved with mundane materials. You get this sense that he's revealing something hidden, even if it is just a manufactured scene. "Moonlight" reminds me a bit of what Frederic Church was doing with light and landscape, but with this oddball, almost science-fiction twist. Ultimately, art is a conversation across time, about seeing, feeling, and making. We’re all just riffing on each other’s ideas, trying to make sense of the world. Parrish leaves you pondering, lost in the wonder of it all.