Violet Oakley

Artist Info

Violet OakleyAmerican, 1874 - 1961

This biography was submitted by Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee

Violet Oakley was born into a family of artistic tradition. Oakley’s formal artistic education was rather sporadic. Although she studied at the Arts Student League in Philadelphia, and at various institutions abroad during summer trips, the bulk of her training came from copying works of the old masters on her own.

The year 1896 was a landmark in Oakley’s early career. Her family moved to Philadelphia, where she soon entered Howard Pyle’s illustration class at Drexel Institute. She flourished under Pyle’s tutelage and soon became one of America’s most popular illustrators, designing covers for Century Magazine, Collier’s Illustrated Weekly, Everybody’s Magazine, St. Nicholas and Woman’s Home Companion. At the same time, she also gained a reputation as a talented designer of stained glass.

In 1902, Pennsylvania Capitol architect, Joseph Huston, asked Oakley to paint thirteen murals for the Governor’s Reception Room. Huston believed that choosing Oakley would “act as an encouragement of women and the State.” In fact, the Capitol project signified a milestone in the history of American art, for it was the largest public commission given to a woman in the country up to that time. In addition, it allowed Oakley to transcend the conventional roles of women painters as either portrait or genre painters, and to pursue a successful career in the prestigious, but overwhelmingly masculine, field of mural decoration.

Throughout her work on the Governor’s Reception Room, Oakley received much publicity. The Capitol murals won her the Gold Medal of Honor from the Pennsylvania Academy of fine Arts in 1905, making her the first woman to receive this distinction.

After the death of Edwin Austin Abbey in 1911, she obtained the commission to complete the contract for the Senate Chamber and Supreme Court. Oakley painted a total of 43 murals for the Capitol Building.

Not only was Violet Oakley a talented artist, she was also a social activist involved in the women’s suffrage movement, and totally devoted to the ideals of international government and world peace. In fact, when the United States refused to join the League of Nations in 1927, Oakley went to Geneva herself as a self-appointed ambassador.

Through her three cycles of visionary murals in the Pennsylvania Capitol, Oakley sought to express her desire and hope for “world peace, equal rights, and faith in the work of unification of the Peoples of the Earth.”

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This biography from the archives of AskART.com.

Born in Bergen Heights, New Jersey, Violet Oakley became known as the pre-eminent mural painter of her time. She studied at the Art Students League in New York and in Paris. According to Georg Sheets, Violet Oakley was a student at the Academie Montparnasse in 1895 and among her instructors were Edmond Francois Aman-Jean and Raphael Collin. She met Charles Lasar during her first stay in Paris and then studied with him later that year in England. Her cousin, the son of a Russian count, was a sculptor in Paris and his family lived in Nice.

In 1896 she enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts as a student of Joseph DeCamp and Cecilia Beaux. She then studied illustration with Howard Pyle at the Drexel Institute, and he encouraged her to do larger paintings. Upon the death of Edwin Austin Abbey in 1911, she took over his commission to paint murals in the Pennsylvania State Capitol Building for the Governor's office, Senate Chamber and Supreme Court Building. Completed in her Cogslea studio, they became her life's work are among the largest in existence. Upon completion, she was paid $100,000.

Partial Credit: Samuel T. Freeman Company, Philadelphia.

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The following is from the web site of the Frye Art Museum in Seattle:

Frye Art Museum

Illustrator, muralist, writer and pacifist, Violet Oakley gained public recognition and critical acclaim for her professional achievements during a time when popular opinion held that a woman's true vocation was as "the angel in the house." In addition to establishing her reputation as an accomplished artist, she also co-founded several Philadelphia cultural and artistic organizations, taught art classes, and garnered international attention as a proponent of disarmament and a supporter of the League of Nations.

Oakley's illustrations appeared in many fashionable publications, including Collier's Illustrated Weekly and Everybody's Magazine. Her murals grace the interiors of both the Pennsylvania State Capitol and were in All Angels Church in New York City, but that church was razed so the whereabouts of those murals is unknown. Her pastel portraits of the dignitaries whom she viewed as the prophets of internationalism were widely exhibited throughout Europe and America.

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The following is a press release from Richard Saiers, Capitol Preservation Committee, Harrisburg, PA: May 2003

PA CAPITOL PRESERVATION COMMITTEE HONORS LT. GOV. CATHERINE BAKER KNOLL AND INTRODUCES TRIBUTE BOOK ABOUT CAPITOL ARTIST VIOLET OAKLEY

HARRISBURG, PA-On June 10, 2003-the 129th anniversary of the birth of Capitol artist Violet Oakley (1874-1961)- Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Clymer will honor Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll with an official proclamation, and introduce the Committee's newly published book entitled "A Sacred Challenge: Violet Oakley and the Pennsylvania Capitol Murals".

Making history as the first woman elected to the Office of Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Catherine Baker Knoll joins the Committee in celebrating another important woman in Pennsylvania history, Violet Oakley, who at the turn of the century received the largest art commission ever given to an American female artist. At a time before Pennsylvania women could vote or hold elected office, the Philadelphia artist received the honor of creating forty-three paintings for the State Capitol building-a task that would propel her to the forefront of the American art world.

The ceremony will be held in the Capitol's main rotunda beginning at 12:00 noon and feature remarks given by Lt. Gov. Knoll and Committee Executive Director Ruthann Hubbert-Kemper. In addition the Committee will recognize special guests who knew or were affiliated with Oakley and contributed to the A Sacred Challenge including: former neighbor Lisa Ulrich Burr; student painter Joyce Pratt; Christian Scientists Ethel Adams and Glenna Liuzzi; Woodmere Art Museum director Dr. Michael Schantz and registrar Mildred Staib; State Museum of Pennsylvania curator of fine arts Lee Stevens; and private collectors Loice Goucker and Brian Zahn.

"The contributions made by Violet Oakley are an important part of Pennsylvania history and the Committee is proud to tell the story of how one woman's talent and hard work became an integral piece of beauty in the State Capitol-truly one of America's greatest public buildings. It is especially meaningful to have Lt. Gov. Knoll, as the first female Lieutenant Governor, here with us today to celebrate the notable artistic achievements of Capitol artist Violet Oakley," said Rep. Clymer.

Notable highlights of the ceremony will include a presentation of "first stamped" books to Lt. Gov. Knoll and Rep. Clymer using Oakley's original insignia stamp, which the artist featured prominently in all of her published works, and the unveiling of a rare piece from an Oakley mural that was removed during the mid 1980s demolition of the All Angels' Church in New York City, now privately owned by Stephen James and Peter Bates in Canada. After the ceremony, birthday cake will be served and guests will have the opportunity to purchase a book with an original insignia stamp.

"A Sacred Challenge" contains over 200 photographs and a foreword by Philadelphia Museum of Art Curator Emeritus, Beatrice B. Garvan, "A Sacred Challenge" gives meaningful insight into Oakley's entire life's work combined with information about the Committee's 1992 conservation of the Capitol murals. The Committee will offer this hard cover edition at an introductory price of $49.95 with proceeds from book sales going to the Capitol Restoration Trust Fund, which helps to restore the Capitol building.

Violet Oakley became one of the most prolific artists in America, and a leading proponent of world peace. She embraced the legacy of Pennsylvania founder William Penn as her own and for the remainder of her life she steadfastly pursued peace and world harmony as her goals. Her Capitol murals are her timeless message, one that she herself termed, "a sacred challenge." These paintings serve as enduring reminders of her creativity, inspiration and belief in an attainable and lasting world peace.

PA CAPITOL PRESERVATION COMMITTEE HONORS LT. GOV. CATHERINE BAKER KNOLL AND INTRODUCES TRIBUTE BOOK ABOUT CAPITOL ARTIST VIOLET OAKLEY

HARRISBURG, PA-On June 10, 2003-the 129th anniversary of the birth of Capitol artist Violet Oakley (1874-1961)- Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Clymer will honor Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll with an official proclamation, and introduce the Committee's newly published book entitled A Sacred Challenge: Violet Oakley and the Pennsylvania Capitol Murals.

A Sacred Challenge contains over 200 photographs and a foreword by Philadelphia Museum of Art Curator Emeritus, Beatrice B. Garvan, A Sacred Challenge gives meaningful insight into Oakley's entire life's work combined with information about the Committee's 1992 conservation of the Capitol murals. The Committee will offer this hardcover edition at an introductory price of $49.95 with proceeds from book sales going to the Capitol Restoration Trust Fund, which helps to restore the Capitol building.

The Capitol Preservation Committee is an independent Commonwealth committee established by the General Assembly in 1982. Serving as historic guardian, its mission is directing programs to conserve, preserve and restore the Pennsylvania State Capitol and its contents, maintaining it for future generations. For more information, please call 717-783-6484 or visit the web site at http://cpc.leg.state.pa.us.

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Violet Oakley, painter, illustrator, muralist, sculptor, born in Bergen Heights, New Jersey, in 1874. She began studies at the Art Students' League in New York, after studying a year with Carroll Beckwith she went to Paris and became a pupil of Aman Jean, she also was a pupil of Charles Lasar in England. Upon returning to the United States she settled in Philadelphia where she received instruction from Cecilia Beaux and others.

As her work led naturally toward illustration, she entered the class of Howard Pyle. She collaborated with Jessie Willcox Smith in 1897 on "Evangeline" and in that "color work came the first suggestion for stained glass". Oakley also did illustrations for Collier's, Illustrated Weekly and Everybody's Magazine. She was also known for portraits and lakes. In 1898 she executed mural decorations, A mosaic reredos, and five stained-glass windows in the church of all saints, N.Y. She also designed and decorated a window in the convent of the Holy Child at Sharon Hill, PA. In 1893 Oakley was commissioned to decorate the walls of the governor's reception room in the capitol of Harrisburg, PA. Her preliminary studies and drawings for these famous murals in the capitol at Harrisburg, Pa. were exhibited at the St. George Gallery, Hanover Square, London. She was the first woman granted to perform such a task. An art critic writing on this work said that: "her grasp of the subject in union with great technical skill has placed Miss Oakley in the foremost rank of American artists. She was chosen to complete the important mural decorations in the capitol that Edwin A. Abbey had been commissioned to do prior to her death.

She successfully completed many other murals during her distinguished career as a mural painter and became known as the pre-eminent mural painter of her time. Violet Oakley designed the "Philadelphia award" medal, an annual gift of Edward W. Bok, which carries with it $10,000 to the citizen of Philadelphia "who has preformed an act or a service calculated to advance the best and largest interest of that city."She was a member of the National Academy of Design; Philadelphia Art Alliance; American Institute of Architects; Philadelphia Watercolor Club and others.During her distinguished career she won numerous awards including: medal, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1905; St. Louis Expo. 1904; Panama Pacific Expo., San Francisco, 1915; Architectural League, 1916; prizes, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1922, 32, 40 and others.Oakley's works are in many of the top museums and public institutions in this country and abroad. She passed away in Philadelphia in 1960.

Credit:

Blake Benton Fine Art

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Violet Oakley