Style Imitating Art | “Les Muses” by Maurice Denis

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

Salazar chose this week’s artwork because it’s starting to get crisp outside and she wanted something autumnal before the winter arrives. The shades of ochre, brown, burgundy, and olive that dominate the painting are the perfect fall colors for style inspiration. 

The Artwork

“Les Muses” by Maurice Denis

About the Artist: Maurice Denis

Maurice Denis was born on November 25, 1870, in Granville, Manche, a coastal town in the Normandy region of France. Coming from modest beginnings, Denis was the only child of a peasant’s son and a miller’s daughter. His father spent four years in the army and was later employed in the administration offices of Western Railroads in Paris. The couple moved to the Paris suburbs in 1865, five years before the birth of their son.

Young Maurice Denis developed a passion for religion and art at an early age. When he was just 13 years old, he began keeping a journal where he recorded his admiration for the colors, aromas, and candlelight of a local church’s ceremonies. He began frequenting the Louvre where he especially admired the works of the Renaissance painters. At the age of 15, Denis decided that he must become a religious painter to celebrate the miracles of Christianity. He attended the Lycée Condorcet, a prestigious school in Paris, where he excelled in philosophy, but he left in 1887. In 1888, he enrolled in the Académie Julian to prepare for the entrance examination to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, which he successfully passed. Later in 1888, Denis received his baccalaureate in philosophy.

In 1893, Maurice Denis married his first wife, Marthe Meurier. She was a frequent model for many of his paintings. The couple had seven children. When Marthe died in 1919, Denis painted a chapel dedicated in her memory. On February 22, 1922, Denis married his second wife, Elisabeth Graterolleore, who was a model for one of his works. Elizabeth would appear in several more of her husband’s paintings, sometimes alongside Marthe. The couple had two children together, Jean-Baptiste (born in 1923) and Pauline (born in 1925). Denis died in November 1943 due to injuries from a car crash. He was 72.

Click here to read about Denis’s artistic history from his time with the Nabis to his experimentation with Japanism, his Art Nouveau years to his Neo-Classical works and Fauvism. He has created book designs and other illustrations, contributed ornate architectural decoration to churches and theaters, and produced a variety of civic murals throughout Europe.

About the Art: “Les Muses”

“Les Muses” is an 1893 Post-Impressionistic oil painting on canvas by Maurice Denis. The original work is currently on location, but not on exhibition, at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France. It measures 137 x 171 cm (54 x 67 in) and depicts the muses from classical mythology guised in contemporary fashions. The Muses are ancient mythological goddesses who are considered the source of the knowledge which inspires literature, science, and the arts. In Denis’s painting, he removes the traditional attributes of each muse which makes them identifiable, profoundly transforming the theme.

In the group of three women sitting in the foreground of the painting, we see the artist’s wife Marthe depicted twice, which was a common technique deployed by Denis. Marthe was the model for the lady in the orange dress viewed from her profile and the lady with the strapless dress with her back facing us.

The scene of the painting is set on the terrace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the town where Maurice Denis lived all his life. According to the Musée d’Orsay description of this work which was acquired by the museum in 1977,

“The century-old chestnut trees give the composition rhythm and decorative power. The regular strokes of the tree trunks are a pretext for a play of vertical lines which contrast with the curves and ornamental arabesques of the branches, the leaves strewn on the ground, and the patterns and folds of the dresses. The graphic play of lines and interlacing is intensified by the unreal, autumnal colours, painted in areas of flat colour and neatly outlined. The flattened space is that of a ‘sacred wood’, the setting for a revelation and the figures’ mysterious communication with nature and supernatural powers. An enigmatic tenth muse in the background (while traditionally there are only nine), with one arm raised to the light of the sky, convinces us of that.”

Personally, I find the “unreal, autumnal colors” to be very realistically soothing and calming and perfect for fall sartorial inspiration.

Resources/References

• Maurice Denis: Wikipedia
• Les Muses: Musée d’Orsay
• The Muses: WikiArt

About My Outfit

As I shared in this post, I had at least five different outfits already photographed that would have worked really well for this style challenge. But I always feel like I’m cheating if I don’t create something new for each one! So I headed into my closet to see what kind of magic might hit me. And hit me, it did!

Remember the big box of beautiful things that Daenel sent to me back in May? From that box, I have already shown you this tunic, this wrap skirt, this skirt and kimono combination, and these three mix and match Kantha Bae pieces. All of those outfits were created in response to some kind of style challenge. Since I have had so much luck with Daenel’s hand-me-downs for style challenges, I figured I would rely on another preloved piece for this one.

The twist front Kantha Bae tunic was another item that Daenel gifted to me. It was actually the only item in the box that I was unsure of and so my sister has already staked her claim on it if I decide I won’t wear it very often. Sadly for my sister, she is out of luck because after wearing this tunic a few times already, I plan to wear it fairly frequently this fall season.

The colors and the mixed patterns are really very accurate representations of the colors and different textures appearing in the artwork. I styled the tunic over black leggings to represent the tree trunks and a black tunic length tee shirt to represent the heavy black lines and the black clothing that a few muses are wearing.

Keeping with the “unrealistic” fall colors from the painting, I accessorized with my preloved cowboy boots in shades of brown and tan, my red Panama hat with an olive green fabric belt as a hat band, and a pile of my favorite bohemian necklaces with a pair of big dangly tassel earrings. As an afterthought because it was a brisk morning when we took these photos, I added my Kantha Bae kimono robe for an extra layer of warmth. I wasn’t sure if the two Kantha Bae pieces together would be too much color and pattern but I quickly realized that there is no such thing as too much color or pattern! I also like how the robe captures the essence of the muses’ flowing gowns.

The robe is reversible so I took photos of both sides of it as I was trying to find which color scheme matched the painting best. It turns out the best match is the reverse side/the inside/the yellow side of the kimono robe. But it doesn’t really matter which side I wear or if I wear it at all because every iteration of this outfit made me happy!

How do you like the painting? How did I do interpreting it into an outfit?

Be sure to check out how Salazar and Marsha have styled their outfits to represent this painting. If you would like to participate in this challenge and have your photo included in Salazar’s round up post on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, be sure to email your photos to her at 14shadesofgreyblog@gmail.com by Tuesday, October 8, 2024, by 10:00 p.m. EST. I am excited to see what you all style!

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee

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