Violet Oakley

An Artist’s Life

Bailey Van Hook

Violet Oakley: An Artist's Life is the first full-length biography of Violet Oakley (1874–1961), the only major female artist of the beaux-arts mural movement in the United States, as well as an illustrator, stained glass artist, portraitist and author. There is much human interest here: a pampered and spoiled young woman who suddenly finds herself in near poverty, forced to make a living in illustration to support her parents; a sensitive and idealistic young woman who, in a desperate attempt to save her neurasthenic father, embraces Christian Science, a religion derided by her family and friends; a 28 year old woman who receives one of the plum commissions of the era, a mural cycle in the Pennsylvania State Capitol, in a field dominated by much older and predominantly male artists; a woman in her forties who although professionally successful finds herself very much alone and bonds with her student, Edith Emerson; a friend of artists like dancer Ruth St. Denis and violinist Albert Spalding who nevertheless was supremely conscious of social mores, the “Miss Oakley” of the Social Register who preferred the company of upper class to bohemian society; the tireless self-promoter who traveled abroad to become the unofficial visual historian of the League of Nations yet who ironically was increasingly regarded as a local artist.

University Press Copublishing Division / University of Delaware Press

Pages: 412 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-61149-585-0 • Hardback • March 2016 • $136.00 • (£105.00)

978-1-61149-586-7 • eBook • March 2016 • $129.00 • (£99.00)

Subjects: Literary Criticism / Subjects & Themes / Women, Biography & Autobiography / Artists, Architects, Photographers, Biography & Autobiography / Women, History / United States / 20th Century, Literary Criticism / Feminist, History / Women

Violet Oakley

An Artist’s Life

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Violet Oakley: An Artist's Life is the first full-length biography of Violet Oakley (1874–1961), the only major female artist of the beaux-arts mural movement in the United States, as well as an illustrator, stained glass artist, portraitist and author. There is much human interest here: a pampered and spoiled young woman who suddenly finds herself in near poverty, forced to make a living in illustration to support her parents; a sensitive and idealistic young woman who, in a desperate attempt to save her neurasthenic father, embraces Christian Science, a religion derided by her family and friends; a 28 year old woman who receives one of the plum commissions of the era, a mural cycle in the Pennsylvania State Capitol, in a field dominated by much older and predominantly male artists; a woman in her forties who although professionally successful finds herself very much alone and bonds with her student, Edith Emerson; a friend of artists like dancer Ruth St. Denis and violinist Albert Spalding who nevertheless was supremely conscious of social mores, the “Miss Oakley” of the Social Register who preferred the company of upper class to bohemian society; the tireless self-promoter who traveled abroad to become the unofficial visual historian of the League of Nations yet who ironically was increasingly regarded as a local artist.

Details

University Press Copublishing Division / University of Delaware Press

Pages: 412 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-61149-585-0 • Hardback • March 2016 • $136.00 • (£105.00)

978-1-61149-586-7 • eBook • March 2016 • $129.00 • (£99.00)

Subjects: Literary Criticism / Subjects & Themes / Women, Biography & Autobiography / Artists, Architects, Photographers, Biography & Autobiography / Women, History / United States / 20th Century, Literary Criticism / Feminist, History / Women

Author

Bailey Van Hook is professor of art history and co-director of the MA program in material culture and public humanities at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Author’s Note
Preface: London, 1912
Chapter 1: A Goodly Heritage, 1874-1894
Chapter 2: The Magic Door, 1894-1897
Chapter 3: 1523 Chestnut Street, 1897-1902
Chapter 4: The Romance of the Red Rose, 1902-1905
Chapter 5: Controversy and Triumph, 1905-1906
Chapter 6: Building the House of Wisdom, 1906-1910
Chapter 7: Endings and Beginnings, 1911-1912
Chapter 8: The Painter and the Architect, 1912-1915
Chapter 9: Creation and Preservation of the Union, 1915-1917
Chapter 10: The Holy Experiment, 1917-1923
Chapter 11: Opening of the Book of the Law, 1923-1927
Chapter 12: Geneva and Florence, 1927-1929
Chapter 13: The Geneva Drawings, 1929-1937
Chapter 14: The Pilgrimage of a Painter, 1937-1961
Appendix 1: List of Violet Oakley’s Illustrations, 1896-1908
Appendix 2: List of Violet Oakley’s Murals in the Pennsylvania State Capitol
Appendix 3: List of Violet Oakley’s World War II altarpieces
Bibliography
About the Author

Violet Oakley

An Artist’s Life

Bailey Van Hook

Violet Oakley

An Artist’s Life

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