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A view of Parcell's mural that adorns the Citizen's Library in Washington
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At World West Galleries on North Main Street in downtown Washington, a large portrait of a well-dressed, gray-haired man hangs in the front window. Slightly leaning against a table and holding a cigarette in his right hand, the subject appears proud, even tough, his intense blue eyes seeming to pierce the watcher’s soul.
The man in the painting is former co-owner of the Meadowlands Farms, Charles W. Hughes, also known as “Butter” to many in Washington County. The artist is his good friend Malcolm Parcell, a Washington County native and well-known from Pittsburgh to Europe and as far away as Australia.
Parcell passed away 20 years ago on March 25, 1987. For some 60 years, Parcell has attracted a growing following among art buyers and art lovers who cherish both his eye for true representation of figures and landscapes and also for the romantic power of his local landscapes. Washington County residents instinctively “know” his work when they see it. And although most of his collection is now privately owned, Parcell’s work can still be viewed locally, at the Citizens Library and The George Washington Hotel in Washington. His work can also be seen at such national institutions as the Supreme Court. An estimated 2,000 of his paintings are still in existence, often with price tags that run into the thousands of dollars. For example, Parcell’s 1921 piece “Mignon” recently sold for $65,000.
Ray Forquer, who owns Gallery 200 in Washington and was a friend of Parcell’s, says Parcell’s paintings are hanging in galleries and in private homes around the world. He became very popular internationally. “There is a painting of Malcolm’s found in Australia,” says Forquer. “Malcolm did a lot of portraits when he traveled on the road, and [many of his] paintings are not even recorded. This happened when his career was becoming established.”
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Malcom Parcell, circa 1970
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Described by many as an artist who knew how to create a true likeness, Parcell was a traditional painter who liked to capture the realism of his time. Whether it was a portrait of Mrs. Mary Davis sitting in her chair and leaning sideways toward her desk, or Colonel Edward Garbisch looking stern, Parcell brought his subjects to life. “Malcolm was a true master,” says Peter West, owner of World West Galleries. “He was always concerned about anatomy. All you have to do is look at his paintings and not only do they capture the measure of a person, but their spirit.”
A Different Age
While many of his paintings show his passion for Washington County scenes, they also represent his broader appreciation for growing up in the countryside of Western Pennsylvania. “Because he was born and raised in a small town, he was captivated by the countryside,” says West. Parcell appears to invite the viewer to step back in time. Art buyers such as attorney Ben Costello of Venetia see in Parcell’s work a powerful nostalgia for bygone days when “things were slower and more relaxed.
“When I see his paintings of people fishing near a stream or people sitting on porches, they remind me of when I was growing up,” says Costello. “His paintings reflect how life was safer back then.” West adds that Parcell “painted pictures that demonstrate the old-fashioned Americana lifestyle of his days. A lot of his work is considered historical.”
Born on January 1, 1896 in Claysville, Parcell is the youngest of four children. According to “100th Anniversary: Malcolm Parcell Retrospective,” which was held more than 10 years ago at Olin Fine Arts Gallery at Washington & Jefferson College, Parcell’s father encouraged all of his children to excel at drawing and painting at an early age. When Parcell was only 12, he painted “Woman at the Well,” which demonstrated his early artistic talent.
Parcell enrolled at the Carnegie Institute of Technology as a special student in 1913. Parcell’s artistic talent soon attracted notice in Pittsburgh, where he won first prize in 1917 for “The Good Samaritan” at the Carnegie Institute of Technology student art show.
Like many other up-and-coming artists at the time, Parcell moved to New York where he set up a small studio. By the age of 23, Parcell was at the height of his career. He was winning awards and receiving recognition for his artwork, including the coveted Altus Gold Medal award at the National Academy of Design in New York, as well as having one of his paintings chosen for the cover of Town and Country magazine. Despite such accolades, however, Parcell was miserable living in New York, and returned home. Yet, just before leaving for home, Parcell won the opportunity to design the covers of the Saturday Evening Post, but instead allowed artist and friend Norman Rockwell to take over the assignment.
“Malcolm didn’t care about fame,” says West. “He wanted to be an artist and make a living as an artist. Malcolm was fortunate to be a monumental talent and always made a good living just by doing his work. He never wanted to be the center of attention.”
Nevertheless, to attract a wider audience, Malcolm took his work on the road and traveled to Cleveland, Chicago, Louisville, and even returned to New York where he would book a stay in hotels and advertise his whereabouts in a local newspaper. For three or four weeks, Parcell would paint portraits of various individuals who came to him during his stops. In time, Parcell’s reputation as a talented portrait painter was recognized by Hollywood celebrities such as the Barrymores, who asked Parcell to paint a portrait for them, but he refused. “He didn’t want to travel all the way to California to paint a portrait,” says Forquer. West also believes Parcell didn’t want to accept work from the Barrymores because he wasn’t interested in the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. “Malcolm was very old world, and he probably didn’t want to be with the ‘sheek’ crowd,” he says.
Parcell may not have wanted to live the life of the rich and famous, but by now he was well known in Washington and Pittsburgh. His work was constantly in demand, and people living in Washington thought he was the only artist in town. “Everybody in this area knew about his artwork,” says West. “He could sell every painting he did because there was always a buyer.”
Parcell enjoyed creating various pieces that demonstrated the joys of his life; especially of his wife Helen. Helen Louine Gallagher became the focus of many of Parcell’s paintings, such as “Louine” and “Helen.” “Louine”, in fact, was the painting that made the cover of Town and Country in 1919.
Retreat From the Invading World
The couple never had any children, but enjoyed their years together on a 14-acre farm near Prosperity they called “Moon Lorn,” due to the dwelling’s poor view of the moon.
By the time Parcell was in his 70s, he had become reclusive. Friends say Parcell came to a point in his career that he rarely left Moon Lorn, and only welcomed visitors by appointment. He still took commissions, but Moon Lorn became his haven.
“The older he got, the less he went out in public,” says West. Parcell displayed increasingly eccentric behavior as he aged. Besides wearing his time-worn skull cap and carrying his cane wherever he went, he would invite guests to walk with him on his property. There sits a tree where “he always kept pints of whisky inside the tree stump and referred to is as his ‘stump of water,’” says West.
“Malcolm was a very important part of Washington County history,” says West, who was mentored by Parcell when he was an aspiring artist. Another artist who was inspired by Parcell, Forquer was a first-year art teacher at Chartiers-Houston School District when he first met his mentor through a personal friend of Parcell’s. At the time, Parcell was 77 years old and was living as a “hermit” at Moon Lorn with Helen and her sister Florence. Forquer remembers Parcell as a down-to-earth man who loved to talk about art for hours.
“Malcolm would share his own thoughts about life,” says Forquer. “When I needed inspiring, I would call him up.”
Forquer and Paul Edwards, who was head of the art department at Washington and Jefferson College and wrote a book in 2002 about Parcell’s life and art, were planning to meet with Parcell on the day he died. Parcell succumbed to a heart attack at 91.
As for the portrait of Charles W. “Butter” Hughes, World West Galleries is accepting donations from corporations to purchase the $12,000 painting from its original owners in order to donate it to the Washington Historical Society.
