Stephen Parrish

Quick Facts

Significance:

print maker, illustrator, gardener, member of Cornish Art Colony

Place of Birth:

Philadelphia, PA

Date of Birth:

July 9, 1846

Place of Death:

Cornish, NH

Date of Death:

May 15, 1938

Place of Burial:

Cornish, NH

Cemetery Name:

Chase Cemetery

Stephen Parrish grew up in a prominent Quaker family in Philadelphia. While he was given art lessons as a boy, it was the family’s 1867 trip to Europe that introduced him to an array of art forms and sparked a lifelong passion. As a young man, Stephen worked in the coal business for a short time, then after his marriage to Elizabeth Bancroft in 1869 he bought a stationery store and ran it until 1877. By his early 30s, he decided to abandon the business world and devote himself to his art, waking up “in middle life to the consciousness that there was something better,” taking up the then-popular art form of etching in 1879. 

By the 1880s, Stephen was considered an etcher of the highest caliber, especially known for his harbor scenes. This decade was dubbed the “American Painter-Etcher Movement.” The United States became more prosperous in the years following the Civil War, and etchings – even originals – were affordable to a wide range of buyers. (However, eventually etchings became highly reproducible so that even originals were called into question.) Stephen urged the founding of the Philadelphia Society of Etchers in 1880 but soon left to join the New York Etching Club. His works were exhibited in major cities in the U.S. and Europe, and in 1892, his etchings were shown at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. His work used dense areas of shadow on the structures of rocks, boats, and buildings, giving substance to these forms not apparent in others’ etchings. He also was famous for his luminous twilight skies, achieved with an acid wash. Etching informed his painting, and vice versa, noting that “getting the lights and darks right was far more important than color.” 

Parrish met noted landscape architect Charles Platt while vacationing near Lake George, New York. Eventually, they became close friends and Parrish came to Cornish, New Hampshire at Platt’s invitation. Parrish joined the Cornish Art Colony in 1891 (part of the “first wave”), the same year that Augustus and Augusta Saint-Gaudens bought Aspet. His son, Maxfield, followed five years later. 

Boarding at first with friends, Stephen bought 18 acres in Cornish in 1893, beginning construction on a house in July of that year. His home, named “Northcote,” was known for its simplicity and congruence with its natural surroundings. It was the only Colony house whose kitchen (not the living room) had a direct view of Mt. Ascutney, and the grounds included a greenhouse, a shop, and a stable. Stephen entertained frequently. When his wife, Elizabeth, departed for California to join a religious community, Parrish’s young niece, Anne Bogardus Parrish, managed the house and hosted social gatherings. 

Cornish became nationally known for its stunning gardens, profiled in numerous national magazines. Cornish gardeners were recognized for their skill in utilizing their beautiful natural settings and fitting gardens into the landscape and style of their houses. Parrish was famous for his gardening intensity, filling his journals (kept from 1893 to 1911) with detailed descriptions and the correct botanical names of the plants, shrubs and trees. He frequently provided his roses and other flowers to Cornish Colony painters as their models. Often employing only one assistant, he worked as hard or harder on even the most menial of chores. On about two acres, Parrish created one of the most elaborate gardens in Cornish, locating the main garden path in a direct line with the sunset.

When Frances Duncan visited Cornish in 1906 to write a comprehensive article on “The Gardens of Cornish” for Century Magazine, she specifically singled out Northcote, saying that his house and garden were almost inseparable, and that “his garden is one of the most satisfying and one of the most individual.” The following year, she went further, publishing an article in Country Life in America about Stephen, “An Artist’s New Hampshire Garden,” going into meticulous detail about what he planted and the effect of Cornish’s cold winters on the plants. In 1908, his garden walk and lily pool were featured on the cover. 

Parrish’s diary, kept for many years, proved to be an indelible record of the social and artistic comings and goings of the Cornish Colony. Typically brief and factual, these journals provide a detailed picture of how frequently the lives of the Colony members were intertwined, fostering their artistic visions and performances. Among the innumerable entries, he noted how long each visitor stayed, accidents involving horses, and how many ice blocks he purchased (316, at $0.02 a cake) to carry him through the winter.

Parrish also took part in several Cornish Colony theatrical pageants, appearing in A Masque of “Ours”: The Gods and the Golden Bowl, and (dressing as a bird and acting in pantomime) in Sanctuary: A Bird Masque, written by Percy MacKaye to draw attention to the loss and threat of extinction of birds for the purpose of using their feathers in the trimming of women’s hats, a popular style of the time. This drama was presented in 1913 at the Meriden Bird Club and President Wilson and his wife attended, since Eleanor, their youngest daughter, also performed. The Wilsons frequently dined with the Parrishes while in Cornish; Ellen Wilson often described Parrish as “an old dear.” 

Stephen Parrish was an integral part of the Cornish Colony until his death at the age of 92.