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35-481: The club's mission is "to provide a community for visual artists, appreciation of the visual arts and visual arts education." The club's low-cost workshops and competitions are open to the public. All interested artists are invited to apply for membership. The club's activities are sustained by gifts from members, friends and nearly 20 major foundations, corporations and historical organizations. The club has held shows and exhibitions since its founding. Medal winners from

70-589: A commitment to Quaker principles of pacifism , equality of the races and sexes, economic and social justice, and international government. When the United States refused to join the League of Nations after World War I , Oakley went to Geneva , Switzerland, where she and spent three years drawing portraits of the League's delegates which she published in her portfolio, "Law Triumphant" (Philadelphia, 1932). She

105-580: A foundation to memorialize Oakley's life and legacy. The foundation dissolved in 1988 and it's records were donated to the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. On June 14, 2014, Oakley was featured in the first gay-themed tour of Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn , New York City, where she is interred in the Oakley family plot, Section 63, Lot 14788. Her life partner, Edith Emerson , was

140-418: A painter and, at one time, a student of Oakley's. As educational opportunities were made more available in the 19th century, women artists became part of professional enterprises, including founding their own art associations. Artwork made by women was considered to be inferior, and to help overcome that stereotype women became "increasingly vocal and confident" in promoting women's work, and thus became part of

175-613: A section of Jersey City, New Jersey , into a family of artists. Her parents were Arthur Edmund Oakley and Cornelia Swain. Both of her grandfathers were member of the National Academy of Design . In 1892, she studied at the Art Students League of New York with James Carroll Beckwith and Irving R. Wiles . A year later, she studied in England and France, under Raphaël Collin and others. After her return to

210-863: A series of 43 murals in the Pennsylvania State Capitol Building in Harrisburg for the Governors Grand Reception Room, the Senate and the Supreme Court. Oakley was originally commissioned in 1902 only for the murals in the Governor's Grand Reception Room, which she titled "The Founding of the State of Liberty Spiritual." In the reception room murals, Oakley depicts the story of William Penn and

245-538: Is an arts organization located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . Founded in 1897 for women only, the Plastic Club is one of the oldest art clubs in the United States. It is located on the 200 block of Camac Street, the "Little Street of Clubs" that was a cultural destination in the early 1900s. Since 1991, the club's membership also includes men. The Plastic Club was founded by art educator Emily Sartain . It

280-654: Is listed in the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property to the Washington Square West Historic District . The Sketch Club purchased two of these units in 1902 and the third in 1908. Shortly after their purchase, the first two row-houses were extensively renovated to form a single building. The third property was connected internally to

315-444: The 26th show took place February 1–21, 2010. A jury awards prizes. The Sketch Club was a male-only club for its first 130 years. Philadelphia's club for women artists, the Plastic Club , was formed in 1897. For more than 100 years these two organizations had an amiable and cooperative relationship, just three doors apart on Camac Street. The Sketch Club received its 501(c)(3) non-profit status in early 1990. Several months after that,

350-633: The Club's famous members was Thomas Eakins , who was the life drawing and anatomy instructor for several years until he left in 1876 to become an instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts . His honorary membership was revoked in the same 1886 scandal that cost him his position at PAFA. Thomas P. Anshutz joined the Sketch Club in 1877 and was President of the Club from 1910 until his untimely death in 1912. Available for viewing,

385-677: The English Pre-Raphaelites . Oakley's commitment to Victorian aesthetics during the advent of Modernism led to the decline of her reputation by the middle of the twentieth century. Oakley's political beliefs were shaped by the Quaker William Penn (1644–1718), founder of the colonial-era Province of Pennsylvania , whose ideals she represented in her murals at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania . She developed

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420-545: The Love Building. The sisters decorated the space with furniture loaned by their mother and a combination of antiques, fabric, and copies of Old Master paintings. Oakley and her friends, the artists Elizabeth Shippen Green and Jessie Willcox Smith , all former students of Pyle, were named the Red Rose Girls by him. The three illustrators received the "Red Rose Girls" nickname while they lived together in

455-668: The Red Rose Inn in Villanova, Pennsylvania from 1899 to 1901. They later lived, along with Henrietta Cozens, in a home in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia that they named Cogslea after their four surnames ( C ozens, O akley, G reen and S mith). In 1996, Oakley was elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame, the last of the 'Red Rose Girls' to be inducted and the fifth women inducted since its founding in 1958. Cogslea

490-460: The United States between the Civil War and World War I . In 1991, the organization opened its membership to include men. During the 1990s the club also sought to attract art students, offering free membership to two recent graduates a year. The Plastic Club building at 247 South Camac Street was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 1962. The Plastic Club has identified

525-488: The United States in 1896, she studied briefly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia , and then joined Howard Pyle 's famous illustration class at Drexel Institute . She had early success as a popular illustrator for The Century Magazine , Collier's Weekly , St. Nicholas Magazine , and Woman's Home Companion . The style of her illustrations and stained glass reflects her emulation of

560-399: The club decided to begin seeking and accepting women members. Reasons behind this effort included making the club a more inclusive and modern-thinking organization, as well as the financial benefits of a larger membership base. Around this time, the Plastic Club also began accepting male members for many of the same reasons. Today, more than 50% of the Sketch Club members are women artists. In

595-673: The club held its first annual exhibition. The review in The New York Times began: The impression made upon the visitor to the exhibition of paintings by the Philadelphia Sketch Club at the Derby Gallery, is one of disappointment rather than of pleasure, however modest may be his expectations before entering. True, there are in the collection a number of good paintings, and a few of more than passing merit. This, at least, might be considered guaranteed by

630-678: The club's shows include Violet Oakley , John Folinsbee and Betty Bowes . In April 2008, the club held its 145th Annual Exhibition of Small Oil Paintings at the club's main gallery. The club's art collection includes 44 portraits of members painted in the 1890s by Thomas Anshutz; more than 125 etchings by members of the Philadelphia Society of Etchers; and sculpture, stained glass, ceramics, bronze plaques, medals and metal work by its own members. The Club lends pieces to other organizations and exhibitors from time to time. The Club's archives contain information from artists associated with

665-456: The club. The Sketch Club was founded by George F. Bensell and his brother, Edmund Birckhead Bensell ; Edward J. McIlhenny ; Henry C. Bispham ; John L. Gihon ; and Robert Wylie — all students at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts , where they felt that they lacked design opportunities. Since its beginning, the Club has endeavored to offer affordable life drawing classes and mount exhibitions to display local artists' work. In 1866,

700-402: The clubhouse's upper walls of the library hold an important group of 44 portraits of early members painted by Thomas Anshutz while he was Dean of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts . Anshutz offered to paint portraits of other members with the only requirement that each sitter provide his own canvas of uniform size. Its current clubhouse, assembled from three brick row-houses from the 1820s,

735-506: The emerging image of the educated, modern and freer " New Woman ". Artists "played crucial roles in representing the New Woman, both by drawing images of the icon and exemplifying this emerging type through their own lives." In the late 19th-century and early 20th century about 88% of the subscribers of 11,000 magazines and periodicals were women. As women entered the artist community, publishers hired women to create illustrations that depict

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770-550: The fall exhibition was held in 1898, the works of Pyle's former students, including Elizabeth Fearne Bonsall , Elizabeth Shippen Green, Jessie Willcox Smith, Charlotte Harding, Violet Oakley, and Angela De Cora, were singled out. In 1918, the club was involved in the founding of the Philadelphia School of Occupational Therapy, reflecting the connection between occupational therapy and the Arts and Crafts movement in

805-620: The first woman to receive the Gold Medal of Honor from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts . In 1915, Oakley was awarded the Medal of Honor in the painting category at the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco for her 1912 portrait of Philadelphia poet Florence Van Leer Earle Coates as "The Tragic Muse". Around 1897, Oakley and her sister Hester rented a studio space at 1523 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia in

840-590: The founding of Pennsylvania. She conducted extensive research on the subject, even traveling to England. The series of murals were unveiled in the new Capitol Building in November 1906, shortly after the dedication of the building. When Edwin Austin Abbey died in 1911, Violet Oakley was offered the job of creating the murals for the Senate and Supreme Court Chambers, a 16-year project. Oakley's other work includes: The Plastic Club The Plastic Club

875-591: The mid-1990s, the Sketch Club elected its first woman president, Betty MacDonald, who had also served as president of The Plastic Club. The club's members have included artists in all mediums: illustration, painting, sculpture, architecture, photography and other forms of the visual arts. Current member Bruce H. Bentzman listed the most prominent of the club's current and former members as: 39°56′51″N 75°09′42″W  /  39.94744°N 75.16160°W  / 39.94744; -75.16160 Violet Oakley Violet Oakley (June 10, 1874 – February 25, 1961)

910-403: The other two in 1915. The three adjoining basements formed a large Rathskeller (dining room) and kitchen. The first floor rooms include a billiard room, library, archive room, sitting room and vestibule areas. The second floor rooms and attics formed a large, sky-lit exhibition gallery and classroom. The club has staged an annual Philadelphia District High School Students Art Exhibition since 1984;

945-478: The presence of several names in the catalogue pleasingly familiar to the connoisseur, but in a collection of over two hundred and sixty paintings exhibited, a selection doubtless from a larger number, it would not have been unreasonable to have expected a more frequent recurrence of that pleasure with which visitors linger near an occasional work of art. The article goes on to discuss 19 of the pieces in detail and eight in passing "deserving of special mention." Among

980-484: The women who founded the organization had been students of Howard Pyle. It was founded to provide a means to encourage one another professionally and create opportunities to sell their works of art. In 1916, Emerson moved into Oakley's Mount Airy home, Cogslea, where Oakley had formed a communal household with three other women artists, calling themselves the Red Rose Girls . Emerson and Oakley's relationship endured until Oakley's death and Emerson subsequently established

1015-435: The world through a woman's perspective. Other successful illustrators were Jennie Augusta Brownscombe , Jessie Wilcox Smith , Rose O'Neill , and Elizabeth Shippen Green . Her teacher Howard Pyle recommended Oakley and fellow artist Jessie Wilcox Smith for their first important commission, a series of illustrations for Longfellow's Evangeline , that was published in 1897, numerous commissions followed. Oakley painted

1050-719: Was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 as the Violet Oakley Studio. Her home and studio at Yonkers, New York , where she resided intermittently between 1912 and 1915 is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Plashbourne Estate . Oakley was a member of The Plastic Club , a Philadelphia organization established to promote "Art for art's sake". Other members included Elenore Abbott , Jessie Willcox Smith , and Elizabeth Shippen Green . Many of

1085-546: Was an American artist. She was the first American woman to receive a public mural commission. During the first quarter of the 20th century, she was renowned as a pathbreaker in mural decoration, a field that had been exclusively practiced by men. Oakley excelled at murals and stained glass designs that addressed themes from history and literature in Renaissance -revival styles. Oakley was born in Bergen Heights,

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1120-517: Was an early advocate of nuclear disarmament after World War II . Oakley was raised in the Episcopal church but in 1903 became a devoted student of Christian Science after a significant healing of asthma while she was doing preparatory study for the first set of Harrisburg murals in Florence , Italy . She was a member of Second Church of Christ, Scientist, Philadelphia from 1912, when it

1155-560: Was designed by Elisabeth Hallowell Saunders . The club offered art classes, social events, and exhibitions. Its annual masquerade party was called "the Rabbit." Early members included Elenore Plaisted Abbott , Paula Himmelsbach Balano, Cecilia Beaux , Fern Coppedge , Elizabeth Shippen Green , Charlotte Harding , Frances Tipton Hunter , Violet Oakley , Emily and Harriet Sartain, Jessie Willcox Smith , and Alice Barber Stephens , many of whom had been students of Howard Pyle . When

1190-505: Was founded as an arts organization for women to promote collaboration and members' works, partly in response to the Philadelphia Sketch Club , an exclusively male arts club. The first President was the etcher Blanche Dillaye . The motto of the club was taken from a poem by Theophile Gautier : All passes. Art alone Enduring stays to us; The Bust outlasts the throne,— The Coin, Tiberius The Plastic Club insignia

1225-408: Was organized, until her death in 1961. She received many honors through her life including an honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree in 1948 from Drexel Institute. At the 1904 Saint Louis International Exposition , Oakley won the gold medal in illustration for her watercolors for "The Story of Vashti," and the silver medal in mural decoration for her murals at All Angels' Church. In 1905, she became

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