Howard Pyle: The Next Generation

Violet Oakly in front of her "Unity" mural in the
Senate Chamber at the Pennsylvania State Capitol

"At the time of his death, Howard Pyle's influence on American illustration was clearly visible and it was to continue to be so for at least another decade. More than threescore Pyle-trained artists were making their marks, and from their ranks came teachers to set new waves of influence in motion. The important magazine and book publishers employed a particularly high proportion of Pyle followers in their publications.

Many moved to New York, the publication hub of the country. Others were drawn to Philadelphia and Wilmington where they set up their studios. There were also those who allied themselves with art institutions and made an important commitment to years of teaching, influencing hundreds of students. Three of them, Walter H. Everett, George Harding and Thornton Oakley, held classes in Philadelphia. One, Harvey Dunn, taught in New York and Leonia, New Jersey.

Then there were those outstanding women who had studied with Pyle. The sound of their names calls up the kind of persons they were and from whence they had come - Elizabeth Shippen Green, Ethel Pennewill Brown, Ethel Franklin Betts Bains and her sister Anna Whelen Betts, Eleanor Crownfield, Frances Rogers, Olive Rush, Violet Oakley, Jessie Wilcox Smith, Sarah Stillwell Weber, Bertha Day, Wuanita Smith, Charlotte Harding, Margaretta Hinchman and others. 

Their common interests, enhanced by similar backgrounds, were evinced in the close, often lifelong, friendships they formed with each other. Elizabeth Shippen Green, Violet Oakley and Jessie Wilcox Smith shared the same studio in their early days, and then built their homes and studios nearby when prosperity came to them. In contrast to many of them,Violet Oakley yearned for size and large statements. Mural design was the obvious answer. A series of smaller commissions prepared her for the years which she would devote to the major project of her life - the extended series of decorations for the Pennsylvania State Capitol at Harrisburg."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Brandywine Tradition" by Henry C. Pitz.)