Style Imitating Art: “Still Life with Checked Tablecloth”

Style Imitating Art comes from Salazar, Terri, and Shelbee. You can think of it as fashion meets art museum! Style Imitating Art challenges people to find inspiration in different art works, create looks based upon that art work, and share them with the curator for that piece. Every other Monday one of the three selects an inspiration piece of art and posts the image on their blog. They then invite others to interpret that art work through their style. The following Monday, they share their outfits. The curator shares submissions the following Wednesday on her blog. Salazar chose this week’s art work. If you’d like, you can read why she chose it here. I always enjoy this fashion challenge as it makes me really look at my clothing to see how it meets that challenge. You can see a few of my looks here, here, here, and here.

Inspiration art work…

About the artist…

This is not the first time Juan Gris has been featured on Style Imitating Art. My first time (there may have been more before I started participating) was here. You can check out my look there. But if you’d rather not have to do that, I’m going to copy what I wrote about the artist then. The artist was born José Victoriano González-Pérez on March 23, 1887 in Madrid, Spain. He studied engineering at the Madrid School of Arts and Sciences. In 1905, he became Juan Gris. In 1906, Gris relocated to Paris where he met up with Guillaume Apollinaire, a French poet, and Henri Matisse as well as Jean Metzinger and Pablo Picasso. Prior to 1911, Gris created dark, satiric cartoons for different journals. It was in 1911 that Gris committed to becoming a full-time artist. He is recognized as one of the foremost artists in the Cubist movement.

A little more…

Juan Gris initially used his mechanical and mathematical background to create art in the analytical style of cubism. Analytic cubism is the deconstruction of the subject and recreating it from various viewpoints. In addition, artists used sharp angles and muted colors as they overlapped planes to create a new work. Gris differed from his compatriots by the use of brilliant colors rather than the monochromatic choices they made. By 1912, Gris was utilizing synthetic cubism to create his works Synthetic cubism involves the use of textures and patterns with the possible addition of collages. The resulting work was supposed to be a flattened out piece of art. As I look at the examples, though, it seems to be just the opposite. I see much more dimension in the examples of synthetic cubism. You can see for yourself here.

Still more…

Gris was a bit of a going against the grain kind of guy to my mind! He married Lucie Belin in 1909. She bore his only child, Georges, that same year. In 1912, Gris met Charlotte Augusta Fernande Herpin also known as Josette. Wikipedia says “they” lived together from 1913 or 1914 until 1922 at Bateau Lavoir. I’m not sure if “they” were just Gris and Josette or Gris, Josette, and Lucie. Josette is known as Gris’ second companion and unofficial wife. Gris’ health began to deteriorate in 1925. He was known to have heart problems. He died on May 11, 1927 at the age of 40. I could not find any information about the number of art works he produced in his lifetime. One last bit of trivia…Gertrude Stein (she of “a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose” fame) once said of Gris, he “was the one person that Picasso would have willingly wiped off the map.” Now, wouldn’t that be the perfect epitaph!

About the art work…

“Still Life with Checked Tablecloth” was painted in March 1915. It measures 116.5 cm × 89.2 cm (45.9 in × 35.1 in) and is done in oil and graphite on canvas. At first glance, it does appear to be a picnic. You can find grapes, coffee cups, a bottle of wine, a newspaper, beer, and even the shape of a guitar. But, and this is the magic of Juan Gris, if you look more closely, you can see a bull’s head. The painting sold for $57.1 million in 2014. It was purchased for the Metropolitan Museum of Art with funds from Leonard Lauder. Who knows? Maybe that tube of lipstick or mascara you bought at the Estee Lauder counter helped with this acquisition!

“Seen from a different perspective, that mass of café clutter comes together to represent a bull’s head. The coffee cup at lower center doubles as the animal’s snout, a black-and-white concentric circle at left is a “bull’s eye,” the bottle of ale is an ear, and the sinuous edge of the guitar a horn. In finding the bull, we share a brief bond with the artist. We recognize his humor, his wink of approval, and realize that he has laid bare a universal truth, namely that things are rarely what they first seem.” – Rebecca Rabinow (source)

My interpretation…

I don’t have any checked items other than some winter weight houndstooth sweaters. So, I went wandering in my closet to see what called out to me. This old J Jill dress kept yelling at me, and I kept ignoring it. Eventually, I did what I always do and caved. I could claim I knew this dress was an example of synthetic cubism, but I wouldn’t be telling the truth. I honestly thought the stripey things were more checked than they actually are. They are not woven into the fabric. Rather, they are separate strips of fabric sewn onto the sleeves and back. I thought the navy and various greens in the print of the dress came close to mimicking the different patterns and textures seen in the painting. To pick up the browns, I went with dark brown earrings and wooden bead bracelets.

The Lewk!

These Franco Sarto sandals are old and have appeared on the blog before. I also have them in a cognac color. The wooden earrings are from Target. One is actually glued back together after I broke it decades ago! The bracelets were found in a cute little boutique in Fishers last summer. Now, that I think about it, I probably should have worn the cognac sandals to harmonize more with the wooden beads and the browns in the painting.

Wrap it up, Marsha!

I had a hair appointment last week and talked to my stylist about my flat hair. She, of course, has lovely, thick hair. She’s also a couple of decades younger than me so she doesn’t necessarily go for big hair! She told me to spray a bit of hair spray at the root before rolling my hair. I had completely forgotten that hack! I can definitely tell a difference in my hair. But, now, I really need a better hair spray! So, can we talk? How do you feel about modern art? Are you a fan of cubism? What hair spray do you recomment? Please leave a comment or two, and we can talk. I promise to respond as quickly as possible.

Thank you!

Thank you so very much for reading today’s post. I hope you enjoyed it. I also very much appreciate those of you who comment, email and/or subscribe. It’s what keeps me going! If you’d like to follow me on Instagram, you can find me here.

Affiliate links and such:

Just a reminder that Marsha in the Middle may use an affiliate link. Those links are usually italicized. If you click or make a purchase from an italicized link I provide, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support. As of right now, I also have an affiliate code for Kantha Bae! Use MarshaintheMiddle in the promo code box for $5 off any order (excluding Bestie restocks)! I have also become a Halftee Partner. Use the code, MARSHA2098, for 20% off any purchase. I am also an affiliate with Clara Sunwoo. You can use my code, MARSHA10, for 10% off your entire order. I am an April Cornell Brand Ambassador for another season. You can use my code, MARSHA10, for 10% off any order over $75. For the Zuvi Halo Hair Dryer, use Marsha12 to get 12% off your order at this link: https://www.zuvilife.com/products/buy-zuvi-halo-hair-dryer?sca_ref=4039595.v4RNNsWxxF. If items are on sale, you can use Marsha5 for an extra 5% off sale prices. In case you didn’t know, bloggers must disclose the use of affiliate links. That’s why I include this in each post.

Where I link up:

Linking up with Nancy’s Fashion Style,  Fine-Whatever, Is This Mutton, Shelbee on the Edge, Chez Mireile, The Grey Brunette, and Away from the Blue as well as Deb’s World. I also link up with This Blonde’s Shopping Bag, Doused in Pink, I do deClaire, Mummabstylish, and Style Splash. Please check out these wonderful ladies and their blogs! I also am a co-host for Ageless Style on the third Thursday of the month and Songful Style on the last Monday of the month. I co-host Traffic Jam Weekend with Emma every Thursday. I also host Final Fridays on the last Friday of the month as well as 10 on the 10th on the 10th of the month! I do hope you’ll check out all of these blogs and link parties!

First Name

Last Name

List choice Marsha’s Blog

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you’re human: