Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40

Style Imitating Art: Sunday Morning by Norman Rockwell

February 7, 2022 / 34 Comments
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40

About Style Imitating Art

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, Terri of MeadowTree Style, and Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge. Style Imitating Art challenges us to draw style inspiration from pieces of art. Every other Monday, one of the hosts, acting as curator, 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 curator by 10:00 p.m. EST on the Tuesday following the hosts’ art inspired outfit posts. The following day, Wednesday, the curator will share all of the submissions on her blog.

You don’t have to be a blogger to join! You are invited to share your images on Instagram or other social media platforms. Just be sure to tag Salazar, Terri, and Shelbee 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!

The Inspiration Artwork

The inspiration artwork was curated by me. You can read why I chose this specific piece as my inspiration artwork here. Hint: It was inspired by my father.

Sunday Morning by Norman Rockwell (Oil on Canvas, 1959)
Sunday Morning by Norman Rockwell
Sunday Morning by Norman Rockwell, Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge
Sunday Morning by Norman Rockwell, Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge
About the Artist: Norman Rockwell

Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator who gained wide popular appeal in the United States for the accuracies in his depictions of the typical American middle classes during his generation.

By the way, let’s offer a quick Happy Birthday to Mr. Rockwell. Thursday, February 3, would have been his 128th birthday. I did not know of this fact when I chose this artwork, but it is a lovely coincidence of timing, isn’t it?

During his lifetime, Rockwell produced over 4,000 original works. Most of his surviving works are part of public collections. He was commissioned to illustrate more than 40 books as well as paint portraits of four U.S. Presidents and a number of foreign dignitaries. American actress and singer, Judy Garland, was also the subject for a Rockwellian portrait.

Despite his popularity among well known elite as well as middle class Americans, Rockwell was not immune from the criticism of his contemporaries. Many dismissed him as a serious artist, viewing his work, especially his Saturday Evening Post covers, as too idealistic and sentimental which led to the deprecatory adjective “Rockwellesque”. Some contemporary artists do not consider Rockwell a serious painter, referring to his work as too bourgeois and kitsch. Some critics even refused to call him an artist and instead gave him the designation of illustrator. However, Rockwell didn’t mind because he considered himself an illustrator rather than an artist anyway.

“That Dalí is really Norman Rockwell’s twin brother kidnaped by gypsies in babyhood.”

Vladimir Nabokov

Rockwell did begin to receive attention as a serious painter in his later years when he began addressing important social issues such as segregation in schools in his painting, “The Problem We All Live With”. This 1964 painting was on display in the White House in 2011 when Ruby Bridges, the girl depicted in the work, met with President Barak Obama.

Norman Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894, in New York, New York, to Jarvis Waring Rockwell and Anne Mary “Nancy” (Hill) Rockwell. He had a brother, Jarvis Waring Rockwell, Jr., one and a half years his senior. At the age of 14, Norman transferred from high school to the Chase Art School which led him to the National Academy of Design and eventually to the Art Students League. Soon after, he was hired as a staff artist for Boys’ Life Magazine which is believed to be his first paying job as an artist. He was promoted to art editor at the age of 19 and continued working for the publication until his family relocated to New Rochelle, New York, when he was 21 years old. It was in New Rochelle where Rockwell began his work with the Saturday Evening Post.

Rockwell attempted to enlist in the U.S. Navy during World War I but was denied because he was underweight, standing at 6 feet tall and weighing 140 pounds. One night, he gorged himself on bananas, donuts, and lots of liquids to make a weigh in the following day. He met the minimum weight requirement, was able to enlist, and was assigned the duty of military artist. He never saw action during his tenure in WWI.

In 1916, Rockwell married his first wife, Irene O’Connor, a marriage that ended in divorce in 1930. In a post-divorce depression, he relocated to California where he met his second wife, schoolteacher Mary Barstow. They returned to New York shortly after their marriage and subsequently had three children together, Jarvis Waring, Thomas Rhodes, and Peter Barstow. The Rockwells moved to Arlington, Vermont, in 1939, and then to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1953, so his wife could receive psychiatric treatment from Erik Erikson at the nearby Austen Riggs Center. Mary died suddenly of a heart attack in 1959.

Rockwell married his third wife, English teacher Mary Leete “Mollie” Punderson, in 1961. From 1961 until his death in 1978, he remained a member of a Pittsfield, Massachusetts, men’s literary club called the Monday Evening Club. He died on November 8, 1978, at the age of 84 from emphysema. His third wife survived him until her death in 1985.

Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
About the Art: Sunday Morning

Norman Rockwell’s oil on canvas painting, “Sunday Morning” was printed on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on May 16, 1959. It was the 305th out of 322 Rockwell illustrations that were used for Saturday Evening Post covers between 1916 and 1963. In 1959, the Post published four Rockwell illustrations on its cover with “Sunday Morning” being the second one in that particular year.

The original oil on canvas measures 53 inches x 49 inches (134.6 cm x 124.4 cm) and is currently part of a private collection.

The painting depicts a typical American family on a Sunday morning with the mother and children marching in procession toward the door in their church clothes while father, with his hair mussed up into devil horns, indulges himself with a lazy Sunday morning at home smoking cigarettes and reading the newspaper in his pajamas. The mother in the illustration was modeled by Gail Rockwell, wife of Norman’s oldest son Thomas. The twin daughters were modeled by the same girl, a technique that Rockwell began using in his 1948 painting “Christmas Homecoming”.

One obscure fact about “Sunday Morning” that is not widely known…the view outside of the large picture window is the same view outside of the big picture window in Rockwell’s studio.

References/Resources:
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
About My Outfit Inspired by Sunday Morning

Whenever I am responsible for choosing a style challenge or theme, I don’t choose them with any particular outfit in mind. I choose them just because it is what moved me in the moment. This way it offers me the same opportunity as everyone else to view the prompt with a clear mind that is open to all sorts of new creative ideas.

I chose “Sunday Morning” because it carries so much sentimental meaning for me and then I saved the image as my wallpaper for the past two weeks. It literally has made me smile every single time I have opened my phone or my laptop.

Then I started brainstorming my outfit. The father is so prominent in the center of the image that I knew immediately I wanted to make an outfit that resembled his pajamas. This old red cardigan is a few sizes too big now but I knew it would work nicely to replicate the father’s red robe. I also knew that I had striped loose fitting trousers that would be perfect for a relaxed pajama style outfit. I dug these navy striped trousers out of a bin of clothes in the basement and they are a few sizes too big as well. But they have a drawstring so I was able to cinch them tight enough.

The father is wearing a pajama top that matches his pants, but I did not have such a thing to match these pants, so I opted for this long white linen shirt dress that reminds me of a Dickens era men’s nightshirt. It is from Zara and I found it on my last thrifting adventure for under $15, new with tags. I am looking forward to styling it in the summer months.

Because the father’s robe is held shut with a typical robe belt, I added a long scarf to my cardigan to give it the slouchy belted look of a bathrobe. I forgot to take a close up photo of my shoes, but they are burgundy brogues that were the closet resemblance to men’s slippers that I could find in my extensive shoe collection. And they actually worked quite nicely with this easy, oversized, casual look. A chunky red and silver statement necklace and thrifted red beaded earrings complete the outfit.

And guess what? This outfit was just as comfortable as pajamas but cute enough to wear out and about in society…which is a very accurate representation of a typical American in 2022 compared to a typical American in 1959….pajama dressing is acceptable and stylish in 2022!

Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40
Style Imitating Art, Sunday Morning by Norman Rockwell
Style Imitating Art, Shelbee on the Edge, red cardigan, striped pants, linen shirt dresses, thrifted style, fashion over 40

Be sure to check out Salazar’s interpretation of the painting as well as Terri’s take on it. And please stop back Wednesday to see my gallery post of all the outfits submitted for this piece.

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee

Linking up with these Fabulous Link Parties.

Outfit Details: Trousers, Cardigan, and Scarf (Belt)-Target / Linen Shirt Dress-Thrifted (Zara) / Shoes-Crown Vintage from DSW / Earrings-Thrifted / Necklace-Old

I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.

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