Violet Oakley: An Artist’s Life

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.

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

About the 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.