”Violet Parkhurst is most well-known for her life-like seascape paintings depicting the bubbling foam-flinging seas of the world, which thunder off the shores in their wild rush for the beach. Her range of work, from the mysterious moonlit seas, to the shimmering Summer surf, was inspired by her undying thirst for life and the beauty that surrounds us everyday” (Source: Parkhurst Galleries). Her iconic seascapes sell for thousands of dollars and now adorn museums, celebrity homes and presidential libraries.
Violet Kinney Parkhurst was born in Derby Line, Vermont, United States on 26 April 1921. ”Her family later moved to Massachusetts, where her parents ran music schools. Parkhurst produced her first painting at the age of 6 – a small landscape that she kept through the years.” (Source: RPV artist’s career spanned the stars).
Violet Parkhurst studied art at the School of Practical Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, where she won a scholarship to the Museum of Fine Arts in Worchester, Massachusetts. She later attended Baylor College in Waco, Texas and completed her formal training in the arts at Los Angeles State College in California
Believing that an artist should see the world before they can become a great artist, she indulged her longings and visited every state of the Union, then Canada. In Mexico City she studied art for three months with Diego Rivera’s wife. She received a scholarship to the Rio de Janeiro Museum and was off to South America. On her way to Rio, the ship she was on had to drop the passengers in Natal, Brazil due to a revolution. They had to use the ship for Army personnel. She then rented a house in Natal, Brazil, studied Portuguese and wrote and illustrated a book. It was entitled “Jaguar By The Tale!” and was published in Rio. Here she painted pictures of the natives, the fruit markets and huts, all of which she sold.
To pay for the travel, she became a Foreign Correspondent for movie magazines published and distributed in South America. Her collection of black-and-white stills include shots of her with most of the major stars of the time, such as Burt Lancaster, Glenn Ford, Rock Hudson and Clark Gable whom she dated.
During her romance with Gable, the actor bought her a house in Malibu, which was destroyed several years later in a flood when a water main broke. Parkhurst was far from the matinee idol’s only girlfriend, but she was his favourite because she never asked him to get her into the movies, said Robert Freters, Parkhurst’s steady companion of the past 17 years.
It was in the 1940s, during her seven years living in the Malibu house, that she gave up writing and began to perfect her seascapes. The temperament she inherited from her French mother and Scotch-Irish father could best be expressed by oils and brush.
She sold her first painting – a nude – to actor Harold Loyd after she and an artist girlfriend set up shop on the sidewalk outside the Beverly Hills Hotel. But she soon began focusing her talent on painting the ocean, as seascapes were more widely acceptable.
This internationally acclaimed woman artist is no mild illustrator, nor is she a dabbler in prosaic landscapes. Instead she specializes in two genres into which women painters have rarely ventured, seascapes and nudes, and certainly not with the force, action and vibrancy she brings to her work.
Back in 1947, it was a difficult time for women to become One of The Greats in the Fine Arts, but this did not stop the drive and passion Parkhurst had for art.
Her legendary seascapes are collected by over five million people around the world including four US Presidents, two Presidents of China, King of Saudi Arabia, and a host of celebrities including her very first admirer Clark Gable. A few noteworthy collectors include:
- President Nixon
- Allan Sloane
- Wayne Thomas
- Hilton Hotels
- Mrs. Peabody of Howard Johnsons
- Mayor of Kobe, Japan
- Mayor Yorty, Los Angeles
- June Wilkinson
- Rory Calhoun
- Barbara Bush
- Jim Arness
- David Rose
- Felix Slatkin
- Chuck Landers
- Commander Perry
- Admiral Hayes
- Admiral Russell
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
After a period of intense travel in the US and abroad while young, she settled in California. In 1947, she founded Parkhurst Galleries Inc where she displayed and sold paintings of her favorite subjects. Judging by the wide distribution of her work, they were very successful.
Parkhurst opened another gallery in Ports O’Call Village in 1962. In the interview below, she explains how she became the first tenant of Ports O’Call Village in the 1960s and recalls the glamour of the area.
She published numerous ”how to” painting books; Painting at the Sea Shore (1950), Painting Sunsets (1970), Painting the Ocean from Slides, Parkhurst on Seascapes (1972), How to Draw And Paint Ocean Sunsets (1989), Sunsets: Learn How to Paint Step by Step (2003).
Whilst the vast majority of Parkhurst’s production is made up of seascapes, she also painted ships, animals, forest/lake landscapes, nude bodies, flowers, and even clowns.
Seascapes
The impressionist hand and the distinctive use of blue/white are typical of Parkhurst’s works. Countless prints have been made of her seascapes, and that is how most people experience them.
Parkhurst Ship Paintings
Parkhurst Landscape Paintings
Parkhurst Animal Paintings
Parkhurst Nude Paintings
Parkhurst Flower Paintings
Parkhurst Clown Paintings
Parkhurst Unique Paintings
Parkhurst paintings are usually authenticated through a certificate of authenticity or via the signature and stamps included on the back. She also occasionally hand signed the back/ frames.
For her successful masterful rendering of paintings, Violet Parkhurst won scholarships, trophies, over thirty blue-ribbons, accolades, critical acclaims and an international reputation.
One of her seascapes was chosen with twenty-four other artists’ paintings to tour Europe for the Cultural Exchange. The show was presented at all the major museums. It is now in the permanent collection in the Stockholm museum. She has also been on exhibit in the Louvre and Prado Museums.
On Allan Sloanes’ T.V. program, Allan introduced her as ”The world’s greatest woman marine painter.”
In the Spring of 2002, Violet Parkhurst was honored as the first western artist to have paintings in the collections of The Great Hall of the Peoples Republic of China and the China National Museum of Fine Arts, and was installed as Professor Emeritus at the Jilin Art College.
In 2005 Violet Parkhurst, through the efforts of Councilwoman Janice Hahn and Larry Covin, was honored for her contribution to the arts by the City of Los Angeles, with a resolution granting her a namesake day, Violet Parkhurst Day, November 3rd.
Parkhurst’s contribution to cross-cultural philanthropy was evident in her position as chairwoman of the World American Cultural Exchange, as well as her early work as a foreign correspondent. In recognition of her lifetime achievement, Parkhurst is listed in Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in International Art, Community Leaders, Noteworthy Americans and American Artists of Renown.
Parkhurst was an avid supporter of animal rights, with a distinguished history with such organizations as Actors and Others for Animals. ”She owned champion race horses and served on the board of directors of the Hollywood Bowl for its Easter sunrise service for 20 years with two years service as President. Her artwork has been seen on the cover of the program for the past 20+ years. An animal lover, she rarely had fewer than five dogs at one time.” (Source: RPV artist’s career spanned the stars).
At the age of 86, Parkhurst suffered a heart attack two days after Christmas and later had a stroke, landing her in the hospital for 10 days before she passed away on Sunday, 13 January 2008 in San Pedro, California (Source: RPV artist’s career spanned the stars).
Her legacy lives on through Parkhurst Galleries. Located in the heart of the Downtown San Pedro Art District, Parkhurst Galleries features over 3500 sq. ft. of exhibit space showcasing the latest works of local and master artists from around the world. The gallery also offers oil painting classes, custom framing, fine art restoration, consignment and certified appraisal services.
About the Author
Born in East London, South Africa, Dayne Skolmen developed a passion for writing articles in his early 20s. His favourite subjects to write about are interesting people, places, and items from the past. With every article he writes, he discovers all the details about his subjects and pieces them together to form a brief history for you to enjoy.
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