15 Facts About Thornton Oakley

Thornton Oakley was an American artist and illustrator.

Thornton Oakley was born on Sunday, March 27,1881, in Pittsburgh.

Thornton Oakley was the son of John Milton Oakley and Imogen Brashear Oakley.

Thornton Oakley never learned the nuances of color but had an ingrained predilection for the primaries, red, yellow and blue.

In March 1910, Thornton Oakley married Amy Ewing of Philadelphia.

Thornton Oakley became an illustrator and writer for periodicals, including Century, Collier's, Harper's Monthly and Scribner's.

Thornton Oakley was deeply influenced by Howard Pyle's philosophy of illustration.

Thornton Oakley's utterances were only of the spirit, thought, philosophy, ideals, vision, purpose.

Thornton Oakley had previously expounded his own philosophy of illustration as a "pictorial making clear" in an entire essay on that subject in The American Magazine of Art in 1919.

Thornton Oakley was a charter member of the Philadelphia Water Color Club in 1903, serving as its secretary from 1912 to 1938, at that time becoming its president.

Thornton Oakley died in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania on Saturday, April 4,1953.

Thornton Oakley met Beaux when he was only 17, and he remained one of Beaux's closest friends until the end of her life, even though she was 26 years his senior.

Beaux achieved considerable fame as a portrait artist, and Thornton Oakley included a 1911 sketch that Beaux drew of him in the book.

One notable magazine article, which Thornton Oakley wrote but did not illustrate, was a tribute to his friend and fellow artist, Lucy Scarborough Conant, who had recently died.

The Brandywine River Museum maintains a collection of Thornton Oakley memorabilia, including news clippings, business correspondence, sketchbooks, personal diaries, and other materials, all donated by his daughter Lansdale in 1981.