The association between the two artists wasn’t exactly master and pupil. The two masters met briefly at the Drexel Institute, where Pyle was teaching an illustration course.One afternoon, said Schoonover, “Maxfield Parrish was in the class, and I thought Mr. Pyle was so generous. He looked down and he said speaking to us young neophytes on the high stools in the back row, he said, ‘We have a new member of this group or I might say a visitor to the class, Maxfield Parrish, the painter. You’re all acquainted with this work, especially with his achievement of color.’ His Parrish blue, you know, it was known as ‘Maxfield Parrish Blue.’ So he said ‘Mr. Parrish, I’m deeply honored by your being here but I want to say this to you and to the others. In some ways I think our positions should be reversed. You should be here talking and I should be there listening to you.’”
Parrish didn’t stay in the class. According to Schoonover, he only appeared once.
Pyle image above and further discussion at the Howard Pyle blog:
“Master Jacob Proto Parrish”, where Ian Schoenherr explores the question of how Pyle influenced Parrish.