Elizabeth Okie Paxton (1878-1972) was an American painter, married to another artist William McGregor Paxton (1869-1941).
The Paxtons were part of the Boston School, a prominent group of artists known for works of beautiful interiors, landscapes, and portraits of their wealthy patrons.
Her paintings were widely exhibited and sold well.
William McGregor Paxton | Portrait of the Artists Wife, 1933
Early life
Elizabeth Vaughan Okie was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the daughter of Dr. Howard Okie (1846-1902) and Elizabeth Vaughn and had one sister Adele.
Education
Okie Paxton studied painting at the Cowles Art School, with Joseph DeCamp and Ernest Major.
She also took instruction from William McGregor Paxton, who had been a student at Cowles, during his brief tenure teaching at the school.
Career
Of the Bostonian women artists born in the 19th century, most came from families that provided sufficient financial means to open their own studios and pay for their education.
Fortunately, Boston was a city that had a number of great teachers who would teach women, including her husband, William McGregor Paxton, Edmund C. Tarbell, Philip Hale, and William Morris Hunt.
Education for women occurred in separate classes and at a higher cost than that for men.
William McGregor Paxton | Elsa in the Pink Dress | Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Women often went on to study in Europe.
Generally women stuck to domestic and still life scenes.
Many women married late, regardless of when they married, they often struggled with managing the traditional roles of wife and mother with their career as an artist.
Okie Paxton, considered by one art critic to be a better painter than her husband, "painted ravishing still lifes of moments in time".
But like Lilian Westcott Hale, who was also a talented artist married to an artist, her career was less important than that of her husband.
Okie Paxton utilized light, texture, and color like that of other artists of the Boston School.
Her painting, Continental Breakfast, was shown at Rowland's in Boston and described on May 17, 1907,
"...she has set forth a dainty little breakfast, daintily arranged on a crisp, clean white tablecloth; there is a silver coffee-pot, a coffee-cup and a saucer of thin white porcelain, with a light green rim, a brown breakfast roll, a dish of fruit containing a half of a grapefruit and a bunch of grapes, and a covered dish of blue and white hawthorn ware.
All these things are painted with so much delicacy and loving care, they are so pretty in themselves, and they are so well related together, that it is a pleasure to look at them.
It is a long time since we have seen a better piece of still life work" - Staff writer of the Boston Evening Transcript.
The Breakfast Tray is a provocative bedroom scene.
Rather than show pristine interiors typical of the Boston School, however, Okie Paxton depicted a sensual, messy environment, indicating a modern sensibility and sexuality of the occupants.
Her work resembled Modernism, rather than the more traditional Boston School.
Another modern bedroom scene was used in a Wamsutta sheet advertisement.
Her work provided insight into a new emerging woman in the intimate details revealed in the painting:
"The protagonist of The Breakfast Tray is a New Woman.
She is educated and the beneficiary of improved health care.
She advocates for women’s right to vote, to work outside the home, to go to the theater on her own, and to buy objects she uses to create an intimate space all her own, just as we see in The Breakfast Tray.
But hers is not a world without men.
She is finding new sexual freedom" - Rena Tobey.
By shifting from interior scenes to still life works, Okie Paxton avoided competing with her husband's subjects.
Copper Jug with Apples is a still life of a table dressed with a white tablecloth upon which a copper-handled jug, three apples and a green cup and saucer.
The painting was priced at $4,600 in 2011. | Source: © Wikipedia
William McGregor Paxton | In the Sunlight | Portrait of the Artists Wife, 1908
Elizabeth Okie Paxton è stata una pittrice Americana, sposata con l'artista William McGregor Paxton.
I Paxton facevano parte della Boston School, un importante gruppo di artisti noto per le opere di splendidi interni, paesaggi e ritratti dei loro ricchi mecenati.
Delle artiste bostoniane nate nel XIX secolo, la maggior parte proveniva da famiglie che fornivano mezzi finanziari sufficienti per aprire i propri studi e pagare la propria istruzione.
Fortunatamente, Boston era una città che aveva un numero di grandi insegnanti che insegnavano alle donne, incluso suo marito, William McGregor Paxton, Edmund C. Tarbell, Philip Hale ed William Morris Hunt.
L'istruzione per le donne avveniva in classi separate e ad un costo maggiore rispetto a quella degli uomini.
Le donne spesso andavano a studiare in Europa.
Generalmente le donne si limitavano a scene domestiche e di natura morta.
Molte donne si sono sposate tardi, indipendentemente da quando si sono sposate, spesso hanno avuto difficoltà a gestire i ruoli tradizionali di moglie e madre nella loro carriera di artista.
Okie Paxton, considerata da un critico d'arte una pittrice migliore di suo marito, "dipinse incantevoli nature morte di momenti nel tempo".
Ma come Lilian Westcott Hale, anche lei un'artista di talento sposata con un artista, la sua carriera fu meno importante di quella di suo marito.
Okie Paxton utilizzava luce, consistenza e colore come quelli di altri artisti della Boston School.
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