Venetia Epler and Daphne Huntington
ntington artists California murals religious paintings la
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Daphne was born in Ketchikan, Alaska. Venetia in Richmond, Virginia. Neither girl liked their given names and changed them quite early on; Daphne was originally Florence and Venetia was Van Ingen, which was an old family name. In fact over time, Daphne & Venetia used many different last names on their work as well, pulling mainly from relatives - Farrer, McLane, Peyton, Quintain and ‘Q,’ to name a few.
In their youth, the sisters traveled extensively. Venetia sold her first painting at the age of 7 in Paris. An admiring passer by bought it for a couple of francs, which enabled her to buy her favorite candied violets and rose buds. In between the painting excursions across England and France, they mixed with an elite crowd of fellow artsts and even wound up acting in a couple of plays written by their father, Franklin Epler. Their brother Richard joined them on some of these escapades as well. The first of these plays was attended by the Duke of Kent.
Their father Franklin, was a prolific poet, writer and editor. He died tragically when they were in their teens. Their mother, Anne (Farrer), a wonderful person, was very popular on the social circuit in Hollywood. She was president of several clubs and societies. She often held glamorous parties with sprinklings of local celebrities at their Hollywood home. ‘The Girls’ spent almost their entire lives living together with their close knit family. They did everything as a team: studied, grew up, played, worked, and then much later on, cared for their aging Mom, and their brother Richard, who was blind, while they pursued their life long passion - art.
Between the ‘40’s and early 70’s, Venetia worked for several Hollywood film studios. Initially she was a scenic artist at MGM, creating the panoramic backdrops for films shot on sound stages. With her bubbly character and classic Hollywood beauty, she became quite popular with some of the studio stars like Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. Barry Fitzgerald even asked her to star in a movie with him, but she turned him down, claiming to be too shy!
Venetia Epler
Following, was a period in animation. Venetia’s early handiwork can be seen in many of the popular Hanna Barbera and Filmation Associates cartoons of the time. She is credited with working on literally 100’s of episodes, including: The Archie Show, Aquaman, Batman and Superman, Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse, and Speed Buggy. Some of her most beautiful background work is immortalized in the classic Paramount Pictures’ animated version of Charlotte’s Web, in which Daphne also had a hand. Although very busy, Venetia managed to squeeze in many other projects. She did illustrations for several books: The Fables of Monrovia; her brother Richard’s unpublished book on travel; and her father Franklin’s book of poetry. She did anatomical drawings, and top secret work for Admiral Nimitz with Sy Wexler Productions, and architectural drawings for commercial properties.
Subsequently, religious art became their predominant subject. A series of oils intended as illustrations for a book entitled “Angels of the Bible” was completed in 1999. Venetia did most of the artwork, while Daphne wrote the text and painted some of the pictures. This series, and a number of other pictures of a religious nature will become the subject of a series of greetings cards entitled “The Spiritual Collection.” Many of these can be viewed on this site.
Daphne Huntington
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It is with great sadness that I have to report that our Angel, Daphne,
passed away at her home on Tuesday October 2nd 2012. She was sitting peacefully
and surrounded by her friends at the time.
I am priviledged to be related to her. Loved by everyone throughout her very long life, she also became the life and soul of her adopted home, Casa Glendale, and every other organisation she leant her talents and passion to. Her family was her priority and taking care of them was her joy. An incredibly talented artist, she often took a back seat to Venetia’s painting prowess, even though Daphne’s handiwork was present in every picture Venetia worked on and won own many awards for her glorious luminescent seascapes. Her verve for life, her sense of adventure, her wonderful stories and her wise words will be sorely missed by all who knew her. Most especially by me.
_________________________
Venetia Epler passed away peacefully December 2005.
Sorely missed by the many whose hearts she touched,
she will live long in our memories as
a devoted sister, daughter, friend and artist.
A sweet spirited, loving, incredibly talented angel,
with a glint in her eye and a wonderful sense of humor,
Venetia and her vision will be with us forever.
______________________
This site is a tribute to my dear cousins, simply the sweetest people I know,
and understandably called Angels by many.
The works I’ve included here cover the period from their youth to the present.
A truly remarkable record of two truly remarkable artists.
Please enjoy the following pages.
If you have any stories or pictures you’d like to share with us, or know of any collections or collectors of ‘The Girls’ work, please contact us, we’d love to see anything, old or new,
and with your permission add it to the page of Privately Owned Artwork on this site.
The site will be updated regularly.
Thank you for coming and looking around.
Christopher Kennedy
For further information regarding the artists or their work, please contact:
Click below to link to Venetia’s pages at AskArt.com
Below are links to web sites for well known artists related to Daphne and Venetia:
All works of art on this site © the artists or their assignees.
No works to be reproduced without prior permission.
Website © Maple Hill Productions Inc.
Florence ‘Daphne’ Epl.
Sisters Venetia Epler and Daphne Huntington are California artists whose work is represented in several permanent collections: the San Bernadino County Museum, the De Saisset Gallery, the Santa Clara Museum, the Mary Pickford Collection and
the Richard Nixon Library. Venetia and Daphne have both been included in Who’s Who in American Art, Who’s Who in California and Who’s Who in the West. Both are Fellows of the American Artists Professional League, and the American Institute of Fine Arts. Daphne is a member of the National League of American Pen Women, Artists of the Southwest, the San Gabriel Fine Arts Association and the California Fine Arts Club, for which she was Vice President in 1967.
Venetia and Daphne studied painting at Slades in London, stained glass at the London School of Arts and Crafts, and the École de Louvre in Paris. The sisters’ most extraordinary achievements are two huge oil on canvas pieces that were re-created in tesserae by Italian master mosaicists. Both mammoth mosaics were titled “The Life of Christ.” The most recent “Life of Christ’ was dedicated in 1993 and is the façade of the mausoleum at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Orlando, Florida. The first, and completely different “Life of Christ” mural was completed in 1972, and to this day serves as the Western Hemisphere's largest religious mosaic; it is the façade of the Christian Heritage Mausoleum at Forest Lawn in Covina Hills, California. It measures 30’ x 172’.
There was never a doubt about what career Daphne and Venetia would follow; art was in their genes. Their great grandfather was the famed etcher and watercolor artist, Thomas Charles Farrer, the principal founder of the Society for the Advancement of Truth in Art, which represented the Pre-Raphaelite movement in America. TC’s younger brother Henry Farrer was also a well known artist.
Growing up in Southern California, The Girls worked and became friends with many well known artists: Claude Parsons; Sam Hyde Harris; Teeny Johnson, and Percy Gray, whose landscapes they emulated. Percy adored Venetia; he called her ‘Vanilla.’ The seascapes that Daphne is well known for were painted in many locations: Big Sur, Carmel, Malibu, the Oregon coastline and Seattle. Their landscapes were done in the Big Sur / Monterey Valley areas of California.
They experimented with many different art forms, but initially their specialties were stained glass and ceramics. They created windows for churches in Beverly Hills and Compton, England. Venetia started a novelty company with their brother, Richard, making very delicate hand painted ceramic jewelry and curios. They also designed their much heralded Aztec line of turquoise ceramic ware, for which The National Ceramic magazine gave them a Gold Award. Sadly their ceramics business was to be short lived; the city of Los Angeles banned the use of kilns on residential property, and so painting became their artistic outlet and passion. They indulged in many styles, techniques and subjects: Cowboys, American Indians, Cattle, Landscape, Still life, Fantasy, a Guatemalan series, and Portraiture. Venetia’s portraits included those of President Dwight Eisenhower in 1970, which hung in the White House and is now in the Richard Nixon Library Collection; Ambassador Peter J. Valez de Silva, in the Embassy Malta to Guatemala, and Superior Judge Macintyre Faries, in the Occidental College Library.
California Artists
