Born: 10 June 1874, United States
Died: 25 February 1961
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
The following is republished from New Jersey Women’s History, in line with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Violet Oakley, an important American muralist, was born in Bergen Heights in 1874.
She trained at the Arts Students League, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Academie Montparnasse in Paris. Oakley created oil paintings, stained glass windows, illustrations, and murals. The “Unity” frieze, a mural commissioned for the Pennsylvania State Capitol building, best expresses her vision of a peaceful world. At that time it was the largest mural commission ever awarded to a woman.
Oakley was also one of three women to receive the Gold Medal Award for distinguished service from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She received many commissions, including painting the first delegates of the League of Nations and the United Nations. Oakley’s illustrated books focus on the themes of world peace and human rights. She was a pacifist and a feminist.
References:
Oakley, Violet. Cathedral of compassion: dramatic outline of the life of Jane Addams, 1860-1935. Philadelphia : Press of Lyon and Armor, Inc., 1955. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1303940.
Van Hook, Bailey.Violet Oakley: An Artist’s Life. Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press, 2016.
Ricci, Patricia L. “Violet Oakley: American Renaissance Woman.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 126, no. 2 (2002): 217-248.
Rickey, Carrie. “The Exceptional Life and Political Art of Violet Oakley.” Hyperallergic. October 14, 2017. https://hyperallergic.com/405626/a-grand-vision-violet-oakley-and-the-american-renaissance-woodmere-museum-2017/
The following is excerpted from Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company.
Violet Oakley, an American illustrator and designer, born in New York City. She is best known for her mural paintings, which include the series of thirteen panels on the Founding of the State of Spiritual Liberty in the State Capitol at Harrisburg, Pa.; and her decorations for the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, and the Church of All Souls and All Angels, New York City.
Miss Oakley was awarded gold medals at the St. Louis Exposition (1904) and at the Pennsylvania Academy (1905) and in 1915 she received a medal of honor at the Panama-Pacific Exposition.