| The Delaware Art Museum is pleased to present "Blessed are the Peacemakers": Violet Oakley's The Angel of Victory (1941), on view February 8 - May 25, 2014. Oakley's The Angel of Victory, originally painted for Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Airfield and now in the Museum's permanent collections, was the first of her 25 wartime altarpieces, completed just two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Thanks to a recent gift from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia of over a dozen preliminary drawings for The Angel of Victory, this exhibition reunites the altarpiece with its preparatory studies for the first time, allowing an exciting exploration of Oakley's creative process. "This opportunity to explore the creative process of an artist whose work is represented in both our American paintings and Illustration collection is truly remarkable," explains Margaretta Frederick, Chief Curator at the Delaware Art Museum. "Despite the short amount of time she was given to complete altarpieces during the war, Oakley made almost a dozen drawings and oil studies for each of them." Violet Oakley (1874-1961), one of the first American women to find fame in the field of public mural painting, in addition to success as an illustrator and stained glass designer, devoted her 60-year artistic career to the quest for a just and peaceful world. During World War II, Oakley joined with the Citizens Committee of the Army and Navy to produce portable altarpieces for use on American battleships, military bases, and airfields around the world. The Angel of Victory altarpiece utilizes scenes from the Christian tradition to instill the American war effort with universal implications, depicting it as a fight not against other nations but against the forces of darkness and evil. The artist portrays the American fight as a sure victory, providing the embattled troops with hope, comfort, and confidence.
"Blessed are the Peacemakers": Violet Oakley's The Angel of Victory (1941) was curated by Jeffrey Richmond Moll, a PhD Candidate in Art History at the University of Delaware and the Museum's first Alfred Appel, Jr. Curatorial Fellow. This two-month Fellowship is available for graduate students working towards a museum career.
"As a doctoral student, the Appel Fellowship provided me with an ideal career opportunity," says Moll. "Through research, gallery layout, and development of educational materials, it challenged me to do the hard work of telling the story of Violet Oakley's process and her wartime altarpieces through the thoughtful selection and arrangement of objects."
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| About Violet Oakley
Violet Oakley (1874-1961) was born into an artistic family and found her early efforts at drawing heartily encouraged. She studied at the Art Students League in New York and in Paris with noted portraitist of the day, Edmund Aman-Jean. She returned to Philadelphia and and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and with Howard Pyle at the Drexel Institute. Pyle's recognition of her sense of color and ability in composition caused him to push her toward stained glass design and work in a larger scale than illustration allowed. The artist herself always felt that Pyle had been one of the two main influences on her work, the other being the Pre-Raphaelites. The first and most important commission of Violet Oakley's career was to design and execute murals for the Governor's Reception Room in the Capitol Building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1902. She created nine murals for the Senate Chamber and the 16 murals for the Supreme Court Room. Oakley was also sent to Geneva, Switzerland to record the beginning of the League of Nations in 1927. She exhibited the work from this trip in prominent locations along the mid-Atlantic coast, including the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts. Violet Oakley continued to work until the day of her death, February 25, 1961. In 1948 Drexel Institute awarded her an honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree.
The Delaware Art Museum collections now include 53 works by Violet Oakley representing all facets of her career. |
| Sponsors and Organizers
"Blessed are the Peacemakers": Violet Oakley's The Angel of Victory (1941) was organized by the Delaware Art Museum. This exhibition is made possible by the Hallie Tybout Exhibition Fund. Exhibition research funding was provided by the Alfred Appel, Jr. Curatorial Fellowship. Additional support is provided by grants from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. |
| About the Delaware Art Museum
Founded in 1912, the Delaware Art Museum is best known for its large collection of works by Wilmington native Howard Pyle and fellow American illustrators, a major collection of British Pre-Raphaelite art, and urban landscapes by John Sloan and his circle. Visitors can also enjoy the outdoor Copeland Sculpture Garden and a number of special exhibitions throughout the year. The Delaware Art Museum, located at 2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, DE 19806, is open Wednesday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. and Sunday noon - 4:00 p.m. Admission fees are charged as follows: Adults (19-59) $12, Seniors (60+) $10, Students (with valid ID) $6, Youth (7-18) $6, and Children (6 and under) free. Admission fees are waived every Sunday thanks to support from generous individuals. For more information, call 302-571-9590 or 866-232-3714 (toll free), or visit the website at delart.org.
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