OAKLEY, VIOLET

Set of 5 finished pen, ink, and watercolor illustrations (9 ½ x 13 in; 242 x 335 mm) and one smaller vignette for an unknown illustration project, ca. 1925.



A lovely group of illustrations with a stylized, Persian theme, possibly for a project illustrating the Book of Esther and the present selection deals with Vashti and Xerxes.

Violet Oakley (1874-1961) was a popular illustrator, perhaps best known for her mural and stained glass works, and the present illustrations certainly convey the feel of a mural with the rosette borders along the top and text underneath the illustration. A student of Howard Pyle, she was close friends with Jessie Wilcox Smith and along with Elizabeth Shippen Green, formed one of the earliest women's artistic movements. Her best know commission is likely the 43 murals done for the Pennsylvania State Capital. Her Great Women of the Bible murals were completed for the First Presbyterian Church in Germantown, and it's possible the present were studies for that work, though they are completely finished and don't appear to be preliminary studies.