Violet Oakley (1874-1961) was the first American woman to receive a public mural commission. During the first quarter of the twentieth 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 painted 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. Original auto-lithograph, plate signed 1918, 12 x 8 flush. Autolithography means an original image made directly on the stone or plate. This is from a portfolio done for the American Artists' War Emergency Fund, one of the numerous war activities of the National Arts Club of New York, its object being to aid American Artist Soldiers or their dependents. This project was done in 1918.

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