Oakley, Violet, 1874-1961

Muralist and illustrator, of Pennsylvania; 1896, student of Howard Pyle; d. 1961.

Violet Oakley died on 25 February 1961.

Muralist, painter; Philadelphia, Pa.

Violet Oakley was born in New Jersey but spent most of her life in Philadelphia where she attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Drexel Institute. She is best known for a mural she painted in the Capitol in Harrisburg. Throughout her life she was active in international peace efforts.

Violet Oakley, an American artist, painted a series of murals depicting "William Penn's Holy Experiment" for the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg.

Violet Oakley (1874-1961) was a Philadelphia-area artist who had been educated both in Europe and the United States. She was a student of Howard Pyle of the Brandywine School. Her works included heroic murals found in the Pennsylvania governor's mansion and in the State Capitol, featuring William Penn and the Quaker founding of the Commonwealth. She was also a portraitist, her sketch of Jane Addams being featured on the memorial calendar to Addams in 1943 published by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. The League's fortieth anniversary in 1955 inspired Oakley to publish Cathedral of Compassion: Dramatic Outline of the Life of Jane Addams, 1860-1935. Oakley's artist companion of many decades, Edith Emerson, was instrumental in mounting an Oakley revival as an exhibition in 1979 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Muralist, painter, stained glass designer, Philadelphia, Pa.

Born Bergen Heights, N.J. Both grandfathers were painters and members of the National Academy. She studied at the Art Students' League, the Academie Montparnasse, Paris, in England with Charles Lazar, at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and at Drexel Institute with Howard Pyle. She worked as an illustrator and stained glass designer in her early career. Her study of the life of William Penn in connection with her mural decoration of the State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., inspired her to work for international peace and a series of portraits of the delegates to the League of Nations.

Her early studio "Cogslea" was shared by illustrators Elizabeth Shippen Green and Jessie Willcox Smith. Her later studio "Lower Cogslea" was shared by artist Edith Emerson, who after Oakley's death in 1961 established a memorial foundation in her name. Oakley was the first woman elected to the National Society of Mural Painters, was a recipient of the Gold Medal of Honor of the PAFA, and was the first woman to receive the Gold Medal of Honor from the Architectural League of New York. Her writings include The Holy Experiment- A Message to the World From Pennsylvania (1922), Law Triumphant-The Opening of the Book of Law, and the Miracles of Geneva (1933).