December 1906 Good Housekeeping Magazine Cover Illustration
Cushman Parker - (1881-1940)
This painting of a beautiful young woman unwrapping a Christmas gift was created by Cushman Parker for the December 1906 issue of Good Housekeeping Magazine. This pretty young woman seems delighted to be opening her gifts, possibly from a special admirer. This painting is in unbelievable condition, and still shows the vivid color used by Parker, especially the green and red tones which were used to help enhance the Christmas setting. Note that the purple ribbon on the larger gift matches the purple flowers, also possibly a gift from her admirer. The detail and attention shown to the lace of this pretty young woman's dress is stunning, and gives us insight into the true talent of this great young artist. We say young, because Cushman Parker was born in 1881, which makes him about 25 years old at the time the image from this painting appeared on the cover of Good Housekeeping Magazine.
Little is known concerning the life of Cushman Parker. He was born in 1881. The Saturday Evening Post commissioned Parker to create covers for the September 9, 1916, October 18, 1919, and May 18, 1935 issues. All three covers show great images of young children. He created 18 cover illustrations for Good Housekeeping Magazine between August 1905 and September 1910. Most of these cover images were either a smartly dressed pretty woman (the same model in some cases) or young children. In 1909, Parker created a paper doll line known as "Little Louise", which also appeared in Good Housekeeping Magazine. Between 1909-1915, he created another series of paper dolls, called "Dorothy Dimple and Her Friends". The dolls in this series represented a specific country, each wearing paper clothing representing that country. Parker also created advertising images for Bon Ami Cleaning Powder, Welch's Grape Juice, as well as ads for Beech-Nut products, notably Beech-Nut Peanutbutter, used during the 'teens and twenties. Cushman Parker passed away in 1940.
