Thornton Oakley is one of Pennsylvania's most accomplished illustrators, best known for his drawings of American industrial scenes.Oakley was born in Pittsburg, PA, on March 27, 1881. As a young man, he moved east to earn a B.S. and M.S. in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA, completing his schooling in 1902. His passion for sketching led him to further his education under the instruction of Howard Pyle at the Brandywine School in Chadd's Ford, PA. Upon completion of his three-year instruction with Pyle, Oakley employed his illustrative talents journalistically, many times providing the image to his own articles. His work was featured throughout his life in Harper's Magazine, Century Magazine, Collier's Weekly, Scribner's, Everybody's Magazine, and more. During World War II, Oakley sketched a variety of war-related machinery images at the request of the National Geographic Society for their self-titled magazine. Corporations such as Sun Oil, Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Philadelphia Electric Company, also commissioned art from Oakley. From 1938 to 1939, Oakley also completed a set of large, scientific murals for Philadelphia's Franklin Institute. Oakely continued to build upon his interests and skills, adding teacher and speaker to his resume. According to Phyllis J. Nixon of the Delaware Art Museum, "In the years 1914-19 and 1921-36 he [Oakley] was in charge of the Department of Illustration at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art. In 1914-15 he [Oakley] also taught drawing at the University of Pennsylvania, and gave lectures at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Curtis Institute. He [Oakley] was a member of the jury of selection and advisory committee of the Department of Fine Arts at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915 and the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exposition in 1926." Many of the items included here are from Oakley's depiction of the Hog Island Shipyard, located on Hog Island in the Delaware River. The images, showcasing the "greatest shipyard in the world," were distributed by the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation, presumably to bolster national pride for America's battle fleet. Oakley passed away on April 4, 1953.
