Maria Oakey Dewing

Maria Oakey Dewing (October 27, 1845 – December 13, 1927) was an American painter known for her depiction of flowers. Her work was inspired by John La Farge and her love of gardening. She also made figure drawings and was a founding member of the Art Students League of New York. Dewing won bronze medals for two of her works at world expositions. She was married to the artist Thomas Dewing.

Personal life Maria Richards Oakey was born in New York City, the fifth child of William Francis Oakey and Sally Sullivan Oakey, who had ten children together. William was an importer, and was also interested in the arts, Sally was a cultured woman and writer who came from a wealthy family from Boston. Her younger brother, Alexander F. Oakey, was an architect with, like his sister, an interest in textiles. He wrote The Art of Life and Life of Art in 1884. In 1881 Maria Oakey married Thomas Dewing, whose career was less well established. After that, she was disappointed in her career. As the wife of one of the most prominent figure painters of the day, she felt unable to compete with her husband. At the end of her life, Dewing, expressed doubt in her accomplishments and regret for what she had given up: “I have hardly touched any achievement”. She and her husband had a son who died while an infant, and a daughter, Elizabeth, born in 1885. during which time she shared an apartment with de Kay In 1875, Oakey and other students from the academy left to establish the now renowned Art Students League of New York.

Dewing created embroidered applique pieces that were like tapestries in the early 1880s. and at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, where she won bronze medals. At that time her daughter was Elizabeth Dewing Bender. Her husband, Thomas, died in 1938. and the Addison Gallery of American Art.