Style Imitating Art | “Evening, Poplars” by T.C. Steele

About Style Imitating Art

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge, and Marsha of Marsha in the Middle. Style Imitating Art challenges us to draw style inspiration from pieces of art. Every other Monday, one of the hosts, acting as presenter, selects an inspiration image that they will each post on their blogs. The following Monday, each host shares her art inspired outfit. Participants are invited to submit their art inspired outfits to the presenter by 10:00 p.m. EST on the Tuesday following the hosts’ art inspired outfit posts. The following day, Wednesday, the presenter will share all of the submissions on her blog.

You don’t have to be a blogger to join either! In fact, you don’t even have to join but you can still use the art to inspire an outfit just for the sake of trying something different. If you want to share your inspired outfit, we invite you do so on Instagram or any other social media platform that you prefer. Just be sure to tag Salazar, Shelbee, or Marsha or use #TeamLOTSStyle and #StyleImitatingArt so the hosts know you have joined. Go have some fun in your closets and join the SIA challenge next week!

This Week’s Presenter

Being a Hoosier, Marsha wanted her first pick to feature a Hoosier artist so she chose “Evening, Poplars” by Indiana Impressionist painter, Theodor Clement Steele. You can read more about Marsha’s choice here.

The Artwork

“Evening, Poplars” by T.C. Steele

About the Artist: T.C. Steele

Theodore Clement Steele was born on September 11, 1847, in Owen County, Indiana, the eldest child born to farmer and saddle maker, Samuel Hamilton, and Harriett Newell Evans Steele. The family moved to Waveland, Indiana, in 1852, where Steele developed an early interest in art and learned to draw. Steele’s formal art training began at the Waveland Collegiate Institute (Waveland Academy) and continued at Asbury College (now DePauw University) when he was 16 years old. His childhood home in Waveland was included in the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

Steele married Mary Elizabeth (Libby) Lakin in 1870 and the couple moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, where their son Rembrandt was born later that same year. The couple had a daughter, Margaret (Daisy), in 1872, and shortly after moved to Indianapolis, Indiana. Although the young family struggled, Steele was able to support them by painting commissioned portraits and commercial signs as well as occasionally exhibiting his artwork publicly. In 1879, the couple welcomed their third child, a son named Shirley. Steele’s wife Libby died from complications of chronic rheumatoid arthritis and tuberculosis in 1899.

After Steele’s daughter Daisy married Gustave Neubacher of Indianapolis in 1905, Steele became acquainted with and eventually married Gustave’s older sister, Indianapolis art educator Selma Laura Neubacher, on August 9, 1907. She was 25 years his junior. The newlywed couple built and moved into a brand new four room home on 171 hilltop acres in Brown County, Indiana. They called their new home the House of the Singing Winds. Three years later, Steele purchased an adjoining 40 acre tract bringing his total property to 211 acres.

Steele became a well known American Impressionist artist creating beautiful depictions of the Indiana landscape. He was also an innovator and leader in American Midwest painting and is one of the most famous painters from Indiana’s Hoosier Group. He contributed writings, public lectures, and hours of community service on art juries while also being involved in organizing pioneering art associations. His work has appeared in numerous prestigious exhibitions and is widely collected by museums and individual art collectors.

As a highly acclaimed artist, Steele was appointed as Indiana University‘s first artist in residence. He continued to create and exhibit his artwork while also maintaining a busy lecture schedule at the university. In December 1925, Steele suffered a heart attack from which he recovered. For the next six months, he continued to paint but he became ill in June 1926. On July 24, 1926, T.C. Steele passed away at his home in Brown County at the age of 78. Selma died on August 28, 1945, nineteen years after her husband’s passing.

About the Artwork: “Evening, Poplars”

“Evening, Poplars” is an 1885 oil painting on board, measuring 79.38 x 64.14 cm (31.25 x 25.25 in) and currently hangs in the Indianapolis Museum of Art AKA Newfields. The painting depicts an Impressionist interpretation of an Indiana landscape in rich, dark hues of green and brown contrasted with softer shades of yellow and gray. 

References/Resources:

• T.C. Steele: Wikipedia
• T.C. STEELE STATE HISTORIC SITE
• Friends of T.C. Steele
• T.C. STEELE AND HIS INDIANA HOME
• Indianapolis Museum of Art Galleries at Newfields
• Evening, Poplars: Wikiart

About My Outfit

As soon as I saw the painting, I immediately thought of this dress which I recently styled with my Ulivary leopard print kimono robe. The colors seemed particularly in line with the greens and browns that are central to the painting while the velvety green floral print accurately represents the leafy trees lurking in the landscape. My minty green hat works well to pick up the softer colors of the moody sky. In fact, that exact outfit would have suited this challenge well enough, don’t you think?

But I like a challenge to be a challenge. That is part of the fun of this dress up game, after all. So I wanted to share a different way to style this dress. So I swapped out everything except my hat and my green Teddy Blake bag. First I traded my brown cowgirl boots for my white ones to pull in some of the lighter colors that are sprinkled throughout the painting.

Next I turned away from my kimono collection and decided that a denim jacket would be a great way to wear this dress more casually while also adding some shades of blue to the outfit to represent the sky portion of the painting. But then I got stuck and couldn’t decide which denim jacket I liked better. I could have gone jacket-less as shown above but it is still a bit too cold for that despite what my children believe.

The jacket above is a darker blue denim with pearl embellishments on the sleeves which Jeff favored over the one below which has a white and blue vertical striped pattern. I favored the one below because the lighter color seemed to match the colors in the painting better and the vertical striping provided a subtle nod to the tall poplars dominating the landscape.

Instead of the satin sash that I used to belt the dress previously, I added a metallic silver belt just because I liked the way it looked. I accessorized with my jade tree of life necklace, my new Aventurine Prosperity and Abundance Mala beads from Zen Spirit Malas, and a really adorable pair of hoop earrings that I recently purchased from my favorite jewelry booth at the STATE ST. Market.

And with this post and the previous one, I have now shared seven different ways that I could wear this pretty dress including with a leopard print kimono, leopard coat, and brown cowgirl boots; with a black velvet duster and green velvet ankle boots; with an engineer striped denim jacket and white cowgirl boots; with a pearl embellished denim jacket and white cowgirl boots; and simply standing alone with no jacket and some statement making accessories. Which iteration do you think most accurately represents the artwork? Which combination do you prefer from a purely aesthetic perspective?

I hope you enjoyed my interpretation of this painting and feel inspired to play along! Be sure to check out Marsha’s sartorial interpretation of the artwork as well as Salazar’s take on it. If you would like to participate in this challenge and have your photo featured in Marsha’s review post on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, please be sure to submit your photos to her (mlrbanks57@gmail.com) by 10:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, February 13, 2024. Happy styling!

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee

Joining these Fabulous Link Parties.