Style Imitating Art: “Young Betsy Ross!”

Style Imitating Art…

Welcome to Style Imitating Art which comes from Salazar, Shelbee, and me. 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. Shelbee is this week’s curator. It’s a beautiful illustration. 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. Shelbee chose this week’s art work for this round of Style Imitating Art. If you’d like, you can read why she chose it here. Please send your photo to Shelbee by Tuesday, July 2nd 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.

About the artist…

Paul Carl Stahr, Jr. was the son of German immigrants and was born on August 8, 1883 in New York City. The Stahr family, including five children, lived in the Yorkville District of New York which was known for its large German community. He graduated from Morris High School and, in 1902, studied art at the National Academy of Design. He won a bronze medal as well as graduating with honors.

A little more…

In 1905, Stahr studied figure drawing at the Arts Student League. In 1906, on his birthday, he married Edith M Delaney with whom he had two children. The small family lived with the Delaneys. Stahr’s art studio was located in Washington Heights which has begun to replace Greenwich Village as the place to be if you were an artist. In 1913, he began his career as a magazine illustrator with his first drawings appearing in People’s Home Journal. Later, he would provide illustrations for other magazines like Life, Collier’s, Judge, Woman’s Home Companion, and The Saturday Evening Post. Stahr created five covers for The Saturday Evening Post.

Still more…

During World War I, Stahr was a married father and did not serve in the armed forces. He did, however, paint posters for Liberty Loans, Red Cross, National Defense, and the Hoover Food Administration. In the 1920s, he illustrated serialized novels which were syndicated by the Metropolitan News Service of NYC. Several of these stories were then published, along with his illustrations, in hardcover books by Little, Brown & Company of Boston.

Even more…

The publisher, Frank Munsey, hired Stahr to illustrate his pulp magazines. So, beginning in 1924, Stahr became a pulp artist. Pulp magazines were cheap fiction magazines that were printed on the inexpensive wood pulp paper. One of those was Argosy Magazine. He also illustrated book covers during this time. Also during this time, Stahr would sometimes sign his works J O Sterling or J J Sterling. It wasn’t uncommon for pulp artists to have pen names for a myriad of reasons:

“a desire to preserve one’s reputation for higher-paying assignments, conflicts of interest between rival publishers, avoidance of income tax or alimony payments, but sometimes a pen-name was used because the editor wanted to give readers the impression of employing a greater variety of talented artists (source).”

Stahr probably used a pen name because of the last reason as he had been illustrating Munsey’s publications for about a decade.

Finally…

During the summers, Stahr and his family spent their summers at Long Beach, Long Island, NYC. Eventually, they lived their year round. On January 5, 1953, Stahr died of a cerebral hemorrhage in the Long Beach Hospital.

About the art work…

“Young Betsy Ross, The Elks magazine cover, July 1927” is painted with oil on canvas. It measures 36 x 27.5 in (91.4 x 69.9 cm) and is framed to 43.5 x 34.5 in (110.5 x 87.6 cm). The painting is signed on the lower right. It sold at auction on October 15, 2010 from the estate of Charles Marignette. According to what I could find, it is/was valued at $1000-2000. I couldn’t find how much it sold at auction unless I signed up on the site. I’m sorry, but I didn’t want to do that!

My interpretation…

I think this illustration is quite beautiful. I appreciate the way Stahr painted Betsy in all her glory. I, however, do not have those kinds of curls nor do I have a beautiful dress in that particular shade of yellow. In fact, this is the only yellow dress I have! But, taking a cue from Sally, I decided to go with a muted palette rather than the bold colors in the illustration. This dress appeared in another Style Imitating Art challenge almost exactly a year ago. You can see it here. With the yellow taken care of, I had to come up with something that had red and blue, but I knew I wouldn’t have anything. I don’t buy red, white, and blue clothing because I feel like they really limit me as to when I can wear them. Since I’d decided to go with more subdued colors, I went looking for that. I found it in this triangular scarf from J Jill.

The Lewk!

I really do wish I’d ordered these Annmarie Wedges from L’Artiste in my regular size after Jack ate one. These are just a skosh too big, but they’re also very adjustable. I can definitely make them work. I really wanted my jewelry to take a back seat to the dress and scarf. I bought these Earth Tones Drop earrings from J Jill earlier this summer, and I wear them a lot. They really are versatile. The cuff is also from J Jill last summer, I think. It’s a little big which was a complaint in most of the reviews at the time. I squeeze it all the time I’m wearing it so I don’t lose it!

Wrap it up, Marsha!

I don’t really celebrate the Fourth of July. The holiday holds no joy for me as my dad passed on July 2 and was buried on July 4th. I know I should be loving the fireworks, but they terrify Jack. I also don’t want to yuck anyone’s yum if you are a big lover of the Fourth. It’s just not my holiday which says nothing about my patriotism, by the way. So, can we talk? Have you heard of pulp magazines? Is Stahr implying Young Betsy was thinking of General Washington while she worked on the flag? Do you avoid buying red, white, and blue clothing? 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 Shelbee your photo by 10:00 EST Tuesday, July 2nd. Photos of everyone participating will appear on Shelbee’s blog on Wednesday, July 3rd! I think there are lots of ways to take this challenge…the colors, the prints, the feeling it creates in you. 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.

Affiliate links, discount codes 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. I am an April Cornell Brand Ambassador for another season. You can use my code, MARSHA15, for $15 off any order over $100. Use Marsha12 for 12% off any order of $65 or more at Buykud. 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. In case you didn’t know, bloggers must disclose the use of affiliate links. That’s why I include this in each post.

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 and A Fresh Cup of Coffee. I also link up with This Blonde’s Shopping Bag, Doused in Pink, 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. I co-host Traffic Jam Weekend every Thursday with Melynda, Lisa, and Sue. 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!

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