American Art Collaborative

Maxfield Parrish was educated at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in his native city of Philadelphia. He also studied with the renowned illustrator Howard Pyle, who was an important influence on his work. Trained as both a painter and an illustrator, Parrish became one of the East Coast's preeminent poster designers in the 1890s. In 1896 his design was awarded first place from a pool of 525 entries in the competition for the Pope Bicycle poster, and from then on, he was one of America's most frequently reproduced and prolific artists. Like so many of his contemporaries, Parrish designed posters for many book publishers. He was also successful in executing commercial commissions for such products as Colgate soap.

Therese Thau Heyman Posters American Style (New York and Washington, D.C.: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., in association with the National Museum of American Art, 1998