Style Imitating Art…
Welcome back to my interpretation of a stunning piece of art. Salazar, Shelbee, and I are the curators. You can think of this series as fashion meets art museum! SIA 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. I am this week’s curator with this piece of High Pre-Raphaelite art. I hope you enjoy this post, the information, and my interpretation.
How it works…
Every other Monday one of us selects an inspiration piece of art and posts the image on their blog. We then invite others to interpret that art work through their style. The following Monday, we share our outfits. The curator shares submissions the following Wednesday on her blog. I chose this week’s art work for this round of Style Imitating Art. If you’d like, you can read why I chose it here. Please send your photo to me by Tuesday, February 24th, 2026 by 10 pm EST. Style Imitating Art is an interesting way to inspire your outfits. You can see a few of my looks here, here, here, and here.
The artist…
Annie Louisa Robinson was born in Hulme, Manchester, UK on February 26, 1844. Her father was a solicitor, and she had six sisters. From an early age, Annie made and sold watercolors to support the family. She studied at the Manchester School of Art, beginning in 1871 where she won a gold prize and a scholarship for an oil and watercolor painting. From 1874 – 1876, she studied in Rome with her friend, Susan Isabel Dacre. From 1877 to 1880, both women studied at the Académie Julian, a private art school in Paris. She returned to Manchester in 1880 but moved to London by 1882.
A little more…
Swynnerton and her friend, Dacre, shared a studio. They founded the Manchester Society of Women Painters in 1879. This society offered art education and exhibitions. Swynnerton painted Dacre’s portrait which was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1880. Dacre gave it to the Manchester Art Gallery in 1932. Swynnerton was the second woman to sit on the Liverpool Autumn Exhibition hanging committee in 1895.
Marriage…
Annie Robinson met William Swynnerton while both were living in Rome. They married in 1883, lived primarily in Paris and Rome, and had a studio in Shepherd’s Bush in London. William Swynnerton died in 1910. Annie never remarried.
A little more…
I thought I’d read somewhere Annie was considered a Pre Raphaelite painter, but I really couldn’t find anything to support that. Sir Edward Burne-Jones (who was our last artist) was one of her supporters along with John Singer Sargent. She painted portraits, figures, symbolist works, and landscapes. Most of what I read considered Swynnerton to be a Symbolist. That meant she was viewed as a part of the late 19th century avant-garde movement. This movement rejected realism as well as Impressionism to show emotions, dreams, and inner subjective visions. Often, the art was enigmatic, metaphorical, and very personal. She also integrated elements of the Pre Raphaelite, Neoclassicism, and Impressionist movements. Swynnerton seemed to be quite open to experimenting with the different styles popular during her lifetime.
“The catalog for the Tate exhibition ‘Exposed. The Victorian Nude’ states that ‘Rome based Annie Swynnerton was one of the most daring female painters of the nude, often shocking audiences with her robustly painted figures.’”
Even more…
After being introduced by Burne-Jones, Swynnerton exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1879 to 1886 and then 1902 to 1934. Sargent was instrumental in her election, in 1922, to be the first female associate of the Royal Academy since the 18th century. She was also the first female elected into the organization. But, since she was 78 at the time, she was actually considered a “retired Associate.” It wouldn’t be until 1936 that Laura Knight would be the first elected female Academician. Knight wrote of Swynnerton in her memoir:
“We women who have the good fortune to be born later than Mrs. Swynnerton profit by her accomplishments. Any woman reaching the heights in the fine arts had been almost unknown until Mrs Swynnerton came and broke down the barriers of prejudice.”
Finally…
As she grew older, Swynnerton’s eyesight deteriorated. After her husband’s death, she lived in Chelsea, London and Rome. Finally she settled on Hayling Island, England and died there on October 24, 1933. On February 9, 1934, Christie’s held an auction of the contents of her former studio. The auction included her own work, finished and unfinished, two paintings by the Old Masters, Guercino and Moroni, along with frames and easels.
The artwork…
This beautiful piece of art reveals “the upper body of a winged female figure, clothed, hands held out in front of her, gaze directed upwards, in the background sheep grazing, backed by a body of water with mountains in the far distance, the disc of the sun partly showing on the horizon on the right.” The painting is oil on canvas and measures 34.37 x 39.8 in (87.3 x W 101 cm) and is signed “Annie L Swynnerton/1895” on front of canvas, bottom right. Here is a wonderful article detailing the provenance as well as some closeups of the piece. Apparently, this was to be one of a set of four pieces to illustrate the senses, but it doesn’t appear that any of the others were ever created. Sense of Sight is currently owned by the National Museums Liverpool but is not on display. Swynnerton apparently “wrote a letter to the Walker Art Gallery about this painting. She describes explaining the meaning of the painting to the previous owner, Charles Proctor, who had lost most of his vision.” The museum describes the painting in this way:
“Swynnerton was a leading artist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, specialising in Symbolist pictures. Here, Swynnerton plays between physical and spiritual senses of sight. The young woman with feathered wings looks up, enraptured, at something out of our view. A fleck of golden light is reflected in her eyes. It is unclear whether she is looking at something natural or supernatural.
Sources…
Annie Louise Swynnerton website
Wikipedia: Annie Louisa Swynnerton
My interpretation…
Although I really like this painting, if I had looked more closely at it, I probably wouldn’t have chosen it. Not because I don’t like it, but because it so closely resembles Salazar’s painting the last go round. And, when it came to interpreting the artwork, I returned to the same Kantha Bae Woodstock Shortie Kimono. I honestly don’t have anything else in these colors! I knew I would wear this Kantha Bae Crepe Wild Rose Skirt, too. I think the colors in the kimono work so well for bottom portion of whatever the woman is wearing. I really have no idea what that is! I thought the skirt did a pretty good job of picking up on the colors of the wings and background. You can’t really tell, but there are some beautiful green places in the ruffle at the bottom of the skirt that mimic the grass (?) in the background.
The Lewk!
No, it isn’t sandal weather here yet! What we do for our art, right? I honestly didn’t think the woman in our painting would be wearing boots. She would probably be wearing some strappy Grecian like sandals, but I don’t have anything like that! These are my Shay sandals from Miz Mooz in sage. I have them in black, too. I may have to get them in another color this spring. Like my Miz Mooz boots, these are comfortable and walkable right out of the box. There is one exception with these, though. Since my first foot surgery in 2010, my middle toes on my left foot don’t really connect to my brain very well. And, that means, they don’t hold my little toe in, either. So, my poor little toe is often left hanging off the edge of sandals. I’ve taken to wearing silicone tubes on it which help immensely. I didn’t put one on for our photo shoot, though. But, I did want to be completely honest with you in case you have sensory issues in your feet. The necklace and earrings are from Katia Designs. The necklace is the Have Faith Amazonite Long Chain Fusion Necklace (whew, say that one fast)! The earrings are the Remember Who You Are Flower Mandala earrings. I absolutely love the necklace because it goes with so many things, and the clasp is a magnet! I added a silver multi band cuff and an old beaded bracelet from J Jill.
Wrap it up, Marsha!
I find it interesting how little information I found for Annie Louisa Swynnerton as compared to Edward Burne-Jones. I’m not sure if that’s because there was so little written about them, or if there weren’t many women painting at that time. It could also be that female painters just didn’t exhibit as much so, therefore, little was written or known about them. So, can we talk? What differences do you see between Swynnerton and Burne-Jones? Why do you think there’s so little known about female painters of the past? Which artist do you like best? Please leave me a comment or two, and we can talk. I promise to respond as quickly as I can.
Don’t forget…
If you want to be included in the Style Imitating Art round up, send me your photo by 10:00 pm EST, Tuesday, February 24th. Photos of everyone participating will appear on my blog on Wednesday, February 25th! If you’re interested in joining us, consider all of your options…the colors, the textures, the feelings they evoke! Come on, give it a try! I think you’ll love it!
Thank you!
I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for reading, commenting, subscribing or emailing! It truly means so much to me! If you’d like to follow me on Instagram, you can find me here.
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Where you can find me:
Linking up with Nancy’s Fashion Style, Fine-Whatever, Is This Mutton, Shelbee on the Edge, Chez Mireile, Suzy Turner, and Away from the Blue as well as Deb’s World . I also link up with I do deClaire, Mummabstylish, Style Splash and Elegantly Dressed and Stylish as well as the Senior Salon Pit Stop (Esme’s Salon) and Slices of Life. 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 as well as the Global Writing Challenge on the second Thursday. I co-host Traffic Jam Weekend every Thursday with Melynda, Lisa, Cat, and Rena. I also host 10 on the 10th on the 10th of the month! I do hope you’ll check out all of these blogs and link parties!
Just the other day I watched a documentary about Paula Modersohn-Becker. Like in other documentaries about female painters I’ve watched before, they pointed out how many of them got forgotten simply because men thought women didn’t have a place in art or even worse couldn’t make art. They weren’t exhibited as much, it was made harder for them to get into academies, art schools (by making them pay more for me, for example, or not granting them full access), and they got restricted to only create what was “suitable” for them or their art was.
Thank you for introducing me to a painter who was new to me.
Thank you Marsha and the skirt is so pretty.