News
Events
Blogs
Violet Oakley sketchbooks and pageant paintings
Violet Oakley (1874-1961) was an American illustrator, portraitist, and mural artist, best known for painting the murals in the Senate and Supreme Court chambers of the Pennsylvania State Capitol. She also privately publishedThe Holy Experiment, which illustrated her Harrisburg murals and explained...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Collection: | Violet Oakley Sketchbooks and Pageant Paintings |
| Collection Number: | 3336 |
| Format: | Manuscript |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects and Genres: | |
| Online Access: | Link to finding aid |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Physical Description: |
9.2 Linear feet ; 1 box, 101 volumes, 3 drawers of flat files |
|---|---|
| Access: |
The collection is open for research. |
| Summary: |
Violet Oakley (1874-1961) was an American illustrator, portraitist, and mural artist, best known for painting the murals in the Senate and Supreme Court chambers of the Pennsylvania State Capitol. She also privately publishedThe Holy Experiment, which illustrated her Harrisburg murals and explained her views, andThe Law Triumphant, based on the journal she kept while in Geneva observing the League of Nations meetings. In her younger years, Oakley was known as one of the Red Rose Girls, a group of illustrators who lived and worked together in Villanova. The group included Oakley, Jessie Willcox Smith, and Elizabeth Shippen Green, all of whom were trained by Howard Pyle at the Drexel Institute. After the marriage of Green, the women and their household moved to the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia. They called their new residence Cogslea, deriving the appellation from the initial of each of their last names. Oakley met her life partner, Edith Emerson, while teaching at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. They resided together at Cogslea for over 40 years. This collection consists primarily of Violet Oakley’s sketchbooks from 1893 to circa 1949 in 101 volumes. The sketchbooks contain drawings by Oakley in charcoal, chalk, ink, and occasionally watercolor. Subjects include League of Nations meetings, Florence, Lake Geneva, Caux, other sites in Europe, Tangier, and Algiers. The collection also includes studies for the Pageant of 1908 on illustration board in watercolor, pastel, and charcoal. This collection consists primarily of Violet Oakley’s sketchbooks from 1893 to circa 1949 in 140 volumes. The sketchbooks contain drawings by Oakley in charcoal, chalk, ink, pastel, and occasionally watercolor. Subjects include friends, people, animals, architecture, landscapes, League of Nations meetings, Florence, Lake Geneva, Caux, other sites in Europe, Tangier, Algiers, Maine, New York, and Cogslea Studio in Mount Airy, Philadelphia. The drawings are primarily sketches in varying states of detail, ranging from a few lines to complex images in color. Many of the sketchbooks focused on the League of Nations and the United Nations also contain extensive notes. There are two groups of volumes, processed at differnt times. To limit confusion, each group is organized by date, but they were not interfiled to prevent nonconsecutive volume numbers. In regard to dates of the material, only some of the sketchbooks were dated by the artist. Many have had dates and locations noted on the inside covers in another hand, and these may or may not be accurate. Most of the volumes have hand-numbered stickers on their covers, and these appear to have been applied while they were held by the Violet Oakley Foundation, where they might have been filed by subject. The stickers have been left in place, and the numbers are included in the item descriptions. The collection also includes studies for the Pageant of 1908 on illustration board in watercolor, pastel, and charcoal. Additionally, there are two volumes written by Edith Emerson; one is a letter home from Italy (Volume 132a), and the other is “Little Adventures by the Way,” a partial journal of her stay in Italy (Volume 132b). |