Violet Oakley
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| Violet Oakley | |
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| Born | June 10, 1874 |
| Died | February 25, 1961 (aged 86) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Field | Painting, murals, stained glass |
| Movement | Pre-Raphaelite influence |
| Works | Pennsylvania State Capital murals |
Violet Oakley (June 10, 1874 – February 25, 1961) was an American artist known for her murals and her work in stained glass. She was a student and later a faculty member at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Oakley was born in Bergen Heights, New Jersey into a family of artists. Her parents were Arthur Edmund Oakley and Cornelia Swain. Two of her grandfathers were member of the National Academy of Design.[1] In 1892, she studied at the Art Student's League in New York. A year later, she studied in England and France. After her return to the United States in 1896, she began study with Howard Pyle at Drexel Institute. She had early success as a popular illustrator for magazines including The Century Magazine, Collier's Weekly, St. Nicholas Magazine, and Woman's Home Companion.[2] Oakley was greatly influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites. Like the Pre-Raphaelites, Oakley's works utilize color, capture luminosity, and portray philosophical beliefs. Oakley was a pacifist, feminist and socialist and strived to reflect her belief in a better world through her work.
Oakley painted a series of 43 murals in the Pennsylvania State Capitol Building in Harrisburg for the Governors Grand Reception Room, the Senate and the Supreme Court. Oakley was originally commissioned only for the murals in the Governor's Grand Reception Room, which she titled "The Founding of the State of Liberty Spiritual." In the fourteen reception room murals, Oakley depicts the story of William Penn 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 passed away in 1911, Violet Oakley was offered the job of creating the murals for the Senate and Supreme Court Chambers.
She received many honors through her life including an honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree in 1948 from Drexel Institute.[1] In 1905, she became the first woman to receive the Gold Medal of Honor from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.[2]
Oakley and her two friends, the artists Elizabeth Shippen Green and Jessie Willcox Smith, were named the Red Rose girls by Pyle. 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). Cogslea was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 as the Violet Oakley Studio.[3]
| Violet Oakley Studio | |
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| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
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| Location: | 627 St. George's Rd. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Built/Founded: | 1905 |
| Architect: | Day & Klauder |
| Architectural style(s): | No Style Listed |
| Added to NRHP: | September 13, 1977 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 77001188[4] |
| Governing body: | Private |
[edit] References
- ^ a b Violet Oakley papers
- ^ a b Violet Oakley (1875-1961), Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee
- ^ Violet Oakley Studio
- ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
[edit] Sources
- Rowland Elzea and Elizabeth H. Hawkes: A Small School of Art: The Students of Howard Pyle, Wilmington: Delaware Art Museum (1980)
- Alice A. Carter: The Red Rose Girls: An Uncommon Story of Art and Love, New York: HN Abrams (2000)
[edit] External links
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