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Violet Oakley (June 10, 1874 – February 25, 1961) was an American artist. She was the first American woman to receive a public mural commission. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, she was renowned as a pathbreaker in mural decoration, a field that had been exclusively practiced by men. Oakley excelled at murals and
stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
designs that addressed themes from history and literature in Renaissance-revival styles.


Life

Oakley was born in Bergen Heights (a section of Jersey City), New Jersey, into a family of artists. Her parents were Arthur Edmund Oakley and Cornelia Swain. Both of her grandfathers were member of the
National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote th ...
. In 1892, she studied at the
Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...
with
James Carroll Beckwith James Carroll Beckwith (September 23, 1852 – October 24, 1917) was an American landscape, portrait and genre painter whose Naturalist style led to his recognition in the late nineteenth and very early twentieth century as a respected figure i ...
and Irving R. Wiles. A year later, she studied in England and France, under
Raphaël Collin Louis-Joseph-Raphaël Collin (17 June 1850 – 21 October 1916) was a French painter born and raised in Paris, where he became a prominent academic painter and a teacher. He is principally known for the links he created between French and Japa ...
and others. After her return to the United States in 1896, she studied briefly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts before she joined
Howard Pyle Howard Pyle (March 5, 1853 – November 9, 1911) was an American illustrator and author, primarily of books for young people. He was a native of Wilmington, Delaware, and he spent the last year of his life in Florence, Italy. In 1894, he began ...
's famous illustration class at
Drexel Institute Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Ar ...
. She had early success as a popular illustrator for magazines including '' The Century Magazine'', ''
Collier's Weekly ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Collie ...
'', ''
St. Nicholas Magazine ''St. Nicholas Magazine'' was a popular monthly American children's magazine, founded by Scribner's in 1873. The first editor was Mary Mapes Dodge, who continued her association with the magazine until her death in 1905. Dodge published work by th ...
'', and ''
Woman's Home Companion ''Woman's Home Companion'' was an American monthly magazine, published from 1873 to 1957. It was highly successful, climbing to a circulation peak of more than four million during the 1930s and 1940s. The magazine, headquartered in Springfield, O ...
''. The style of her illustrations and stained glass reflects her emulation of the English Pre-Raphaelites. Oakley's commitment to Victorian aesthetics during the advent of Modernism led to the decline of her reputation by the middle of the twentieth century. Oakley's political beliefs were shaped by the Quaker
William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...
(1644–1718) whose ideals she represented in her murals at the Pennsylvania State Capitol. She became committed to the Quaker principles of pacifism, equality of the races and sexes, economic and social justice, and international government. When the United States refused to join the League of Nations after the Great War, Oakley went to Geneva, Switzerland, and spent three years drawing portraits of the League's delegates which she published in her portfolio, "Law Triumphant" (Philadelphia, 1932). She was an early advocate of nuclear disarmament after World War II. Oakley was raised in the Episcopal church but in 1903 became a devoted student of
Christian Science Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally known ...
after a significant healing of
asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, co ...
while she was doing preparatory study for the first set of
Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in P ...
murals in Florence, Italy. She was a member of Second Church of Christ, Scientist, Philadelphia from 1912, when it was organized, until her death in 1961. She received many honors through her life including an honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree in 1948 from Drexel Institute. At the 1904 Saint Louis International Exposition, Oakley won the gold medal in illustration for her watercolors for "The Story of Vashti," and the silver medal in mural decoration for her murals at All Angels' Church. In 1905, she became the first woman to receive the Gold Medal of Honor from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In 1915, Oakley was awarded the Medal of Honor in the painting category at the 1915
Panama–Pacific International Exposition The Panama–Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California, United States, from February 20 to December 4, 1915. Its stated purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely s ...
in San Francisco for her 1912 portrait of Philadelphia poet Florence Van Leer Earle Coates as "The Tragic Muse". Around 1897, Oakley and her sister Hester rented a studio space at 1523 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia in the Love Building. The sisters decorated the space with furniture loaned by their mother and a combination of antiques, fabric, and copies of Old Master paintings. Oakley and her friends, the artists
Elizabeth Shippen Green Elizabeth Shippen Green (September 1, 1871 – May 29, 1954) was an American illustrator. She illustrated children's books and worked for publications such as '' The Ladies' Home Journal'', ''The Saturday Evening Post'' and ''Harper's Magazine'' ...
and
Jessie Willcox Smith Jessie Willcox Smith (September 6, 1863 – May 3, 1935) was an American illustrator during the Golden Age of American illustration. She was considered "one of the greatest pure illustrators". A contributor to books and magazines during the lat ...
, all former students of Pyle, were named the Red Rose Girls by him. The three illustrators received the "Red Rose Girls" nickname while they lived together in the Red Rose Inn in Villanova, Pennsylvania from 1899 to 1901. They later lived, along with Henrietta Cozens, in a home in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia that they named Cogslea after their four surnames (Cozens, Oakley, Green and Smith). In 1996, Oakley was elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame, the last of the 'Red Rose Girls' to be inducted, but one of only ten women in the hall. Cogslea was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 as the Violet Oakley Studio. Her home and studio at Yonkers, New York, where she resided intermittently between 1912 and 1915 is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Plashbourne Estate. Oakley was a member of Philadelphia's The Plastic Club, an organization established to promote "Art for art's sake". Other members included Elenore Abbott,
Jessie Willcox Smith Jessie Willcox Smith (September 6, 1863 – May 3, 1935) was an American illustrator during the Golden Age of American illustration. She was considered "one of the greatest pure illustrators". A contributor to books and magazines during the lat ...
, and
Elizabeth Shippen Green Elizabeth Shippen Green (September 1, 1871 – May 29, 1954) was an American illustrator. She illustrated children's books and worked for publications such as '' The Ladies' Home Journal'', ''The Saturday Evening Post'' and ''Harper's Magazine'' ...
.Jill P. May; Robert E. May; Howard Pyle.
Howard Pyle: Imagining an American School of Art
'. University of Illinois Press; 2011. . p. 89.
Many of the women who founded the organization had been students of Howard Pyle. It was founded to provide a means to encourage one another professionally and create opportunities to sell their works of art.''The Plastic Club.''
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
On June 14, 2014, Miss Oakley was featured in the first gay-themed tour of Green-Wood Cemetery, where she is interred in the Oakley family plot, Section 63, Lot 14788. Her life partner, Edith Emerson, was a painter and, at one time, a student of Oakley's. In 1916, Emerson moved into Oakley's Mount Airy home, Cogslea, where Oakley had formed a communal household with three other women artists, calling themselves the Red Rose Girls. Emerson and Oakley's relationship endured until Oakley's death and Emerson subsequently established a foundation to memorialize Oakley's life and legacy. The foundation dissolved in 1988 and the assets donated to the Smithsonian Museum.


New Woman

As educational opportunities were made more available in the 19th century, women artists became part of professional enterprises, including founding their own art associations. Artwork made by women was considered to be inferior, and to help overcome that stereotype women became "increasingly vocal and confident" in promoting women's work, and thus became part of the emerging image of the educated, modern and freer "
New Woman The New Woman was a feminism, feminist ideal that emerged first wave feminism, in the late 19th century and had a profound influence well into the 20th century. In 1894, Irish writer Sarah Grand (1854–1943) used the term "new woman" in an inf ...
". Artists "played crucial roles in representing the New Woman, both by drawing images of the icon and exemplifying this emerging type through their own lives." In the late 19th-century and early 20th century about 88% of the subscribers of 11,000 magazines and periodicals were women. As women entered the artist community, publishers hired women to create illustrations that depict the world through a woman's perspective. Other successful illustrators were Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, Jessie Wilcox Smith,
Rose O'Neill Rose Cecil O'Neill (June 25, 1874 – April 6, 1944) was an American cartoonist, illustrator, artist, and writer. She rose to fame for her creation of the popular comic strip characters, Kewpies, in 1909, and was also the first published femal ...
, and
Elizabeth Shippen Green Elizabeth Shippen Green (September 1, 1871 – May 29, 1954) was an American illustrator. She illustrated children's books and worked for publications such as '' The Ladies' Home Journal'', ''The Saturday Evening Post'' and ''Harper's Magazine'' ...
.


Work

Her teacher
Howard Pyle Howard Pyle (March 5, 1853 – November 9, 1911) was an American illustrator and author, primarily of books for young people. He was a native of Wilmington, Delaware, and he spent the last year of his life in Florence, Italy. In 1894, he began ...
recommended Oakley and fellow artist Jessie Wilcox Smith for their first important commission, a series of illustrations for Longfellow’s ''Evangeline'', that was published in 1897, numerous commissions followed. Oakley painted a series of 43 murals in the Pennsylvania State Capitol Building in
Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in P ...
for the Governors Grand Reception Room, the Senate and the Supreme Court. Oakley was originally commissioned in 1902 only for the murals in the Governor's Grand Reception Room, which she titled "The Founding of the State of Liberty Spiritual." In the reception room murals, Oakley depicts the story of
William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...
and the founding of Pennsylvania. She conducted extensive research on the subject, even traveling to England. The series of murals were unveiled in the new Capitol Building in November 1906, shortly after the dedication of the building. When
Edwin Austin Abbey Edwin Austin Abbey (April 1, 1852August 1, 1911) was an American muralist, illustrator, and painter. He flourished at the beginning of what is now referred to as the "golden age" of illustration, and is best known for his drawings and paintings ...
died in 1911, Violet Oakley was offered the job of creating the murals for the Senate and Supreme Court Chambers, a 16-year project. Oakley's other work includes: * Two murals and stained glass work for All Angels Church, New York City, her first commission, 1900 * Murals for the
Cuyahoga County Courthouse The Cuyahoga County Courthouse stretches along Lakeside Avenue at the north end of the Cleveland Mall in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The building was listed on the National Register along with the mall district in 1975. Other notable buildings of ...
, Cleveland, Ohio, her only major mural commission outside Pennsylvania * Panel for the living room of the Alumnae House at
Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely followi ...
* Eighteen mural panels on ''The Building of the House of Wisdom'' and stained glass dome for the Charlton Yarnell House, 1910, at 17th and Locust Street in Philadelphia (three lunettes, ''The Child and Tradition'', ''Youth and the Arts'', and ''Man and Science'' were removed and in collection of
Woodmere Art Museum Woodmere Art Museum, located in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has a collection of paintings, prints, sculpture and photographs focusing on artists from the Delaware Valley and includes works by Thomas Pollock Anshutz, ...
). * ''Great Women of the Bible'' murals, First Presbyterian Church in Germantown, 1945–1949 * Three murals, ''David and Goliath, Christ Among the Doctors,'' and ''The Young Solomon'' appear in the library at
Springside Chestnut Hill Academy Springside Chestnut Hill Academy (also known as SCH Academy or SCH) is an independent, non-sectarian Pre-K through grade 12 school located in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, approximately 10 miles from Center City. SCH serves ove ...
* ''The Holy Experiment: A message to the World from Pennsylvania'', published by the author in a limited edition of 1000, an Elephant Folio with 26 lithographic plates of the artist's mural work at the Senate Chambers, with text by the artist/author. * ''Life of Moses'', commissioned by Samuel S. Fleisher in 1927, remains today as the altar piece for the Sanctuary of the Fleisher Art Memorial on Catharine Street in Philadelphia. It is dedicated to Fleisher's mother, Cecilia '' ic' Hofheimer Fleisher and inscribed from Exodus 2: 'And the child grew and he became her song...' Oakley created the work while on sojourn in Italy, staying at a villa outside Florence.


Exhibitions

* Lehigh University Professor Francis Quirk organized an exhibit of her work that opened with a reception for 500 people in 1950. * Violet Oakley's first major retrospective was organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1979. * The
Woodmere Art Museum Woodmere Art Museum, located in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has a collection of paintings, prints, sculpture and photographs focusing on artists from the Delaware Valley and includes works by Thomas Pollock Anshutz, ...
staged a major exhibit of Oakley's work from September 2017 to January 2018. In January 2020 the museum launched The Violet Oakley Experience, a digital resource that organizes and presents over 3,000 works of art by Violet Oakley in Woodmere's collection.


Gallery

File:Pennsylvania State Capitol Senate Chamber.jpg, Senate mural, Pennsylvania State Capitol. File:Pennsylvania State Capitol Supreme Court.jpg, Supreme Court mural, Pennsylvania State Capitol. File:Pennsylvania State Capitol Supreme Court painting.jpg, Supreme Court mural, Pennsylvania State Capitol. File:LAW mural photograph.jpg, ''Divine Law'' mural in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's chamber.


References


Sources

* Patricia Likos Ricci (2017) A Grand Vision: Violet Oakley and the American Renaissance, exhibition catalog, Woodmere Art Museum, September 30, 2017 – January 21, 2018. * Patricia Likos Ricci: “Violet Oakley, American Renaissance Woman”, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. cxxvi, No.2 (April 2002). * Rowland Elzea and Elizabeth H. Hawkes (1980). A Small School of Art: The Students of Howard Pyle, Wilmington: Delaware Art Museum * Violet Oakley (1950). ''The Holy Experiment, Our Heritage from William Penn: Series of Mural Paintings in the Governor's Reception Room, in the Senate Chamber and in the Supreme Courtroom of the State Capitol at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania''. Philadelphia: Cogslea Studio Publications (limited edition, one thousand copies, hand-numbered by the author) * * *


External links


Cogslea Historic Marker

Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee's Violet Oakley Biography

Artwork by the Red Rose Girls in Bryn Mawr College Art and Artifact Collections

Finding Aid to Violet Oakley papers, 1841–1981
at Smithsonian
Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

Violet Oakley Memorial Foundation records, 1910–1987, (bulk 1961–1987)
Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

Prints, Drawings, and Photographs Department Records 1976–2000
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Violet Oakley Papers
, Delaware Art Museum * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oakley, Violet 1874 births 1961 deaths American muralists Art Students League of New York alumni American women illustrators American illustrators American stained glass artists and manufacturers Drexel University alumni Artists from Pennsylvania Lesbian artists Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts faculty American Christian Scientists Pennsylvania state historical marker significations Artists from Jersey City, New Jersey Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women artists Women muralists Converts to Christian Science from Anglicanism American women academics