OIL PAINTING: Leaving the Studio, 1912
Paxton was well known for his extraordinary attention to the effects of light and detail in flesh and fabric. Paxton's compositions were most often idealized young women in beautiful interiors. Paxton gained fame for his portraiture and painted both Grover Cleveland and Calvin Coolidge.
Paxton's highly finished surfaces, painted in the Beaux Arts manner, seemed to emphasize material surroundings and Paxton had been criticized for imitating the superficiality of the high class.