Style Imitating Art: “Suntan” by Françoise Gilot

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 chosen by Salazar. You can read why she picked this work here.

The Artwork

“Suntan” by Françoise Gilot

About the Artist: Françoise Gilot

Françoise Gaime Gilot was born on November 26, 1921, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, to parents Émile Gilot, an agriculturist and businessman, and watercolor artist Madeleine (Renoult) Gilot. Naturally left-handed, her strict father forced her to write right-handed at the age of four. As a result, Françoise became ambidextrous and decided she wanted to be a painter a year later. The following year, her mother began tutoring her in art with watercolors and India ink. She then studied under the tutelage of her mother’s art teacher, Mademoiselle Meuge, for six years.

Wanting his daughter to be as educated as himself, Émile oversaw Françoise’s education very closely, tutoring her at home in Greek mythology, classic literature, and the sciences. But her interest and passion for the arts did not wane. While attending universities and frequenting museums in Europe, she earned her B.A. in Philosophy from the Sorbonne in 1938 as well as a degree in English literature from Cambridge in 1939. (Fun personal fact: I also have a B.A. in Philosophy and English Literature.) Upon the urging of her father to get her out of Paris during the war, Françoise was sent to Rennes, France, to study international law. However, she quickly abandoned her legal studies in favor of pursuing her artistic passions.

Françoise took private art lessons and attended art classes at the Académie Julian, but she kept returning to her law studies eventually passing her written exams but failing the oral exams. (Another fun personal fact: I also studied law and passed my written exams. There are no oral exams but if there were I surely would have failed them. In fact, the only oral argument I ever gave in law school, I completely bombed it! I think Françoise and I might be kindred spirits.)

In the spring of 1943, when she was 21 years old, Gilot met 61 year old Pablo Picasso in a restaurant. He quickly ditched his lover and muse, photographer Dora Maar, replacing her with the much younger Gilot. The two moved in together in 1946 and lived a life focused on art for the next decade. Although they never married, Gilot and Picasso had two children together, a son Claude born in 1947 and a daughter Paloma born in 1949. During their ten year union, Gilot was often publicly harassed by Picasso’s legal wife, Russian ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova, while Picasso himself physically abused her in private.

When she finally was able to leave the relationship, Picasso essentially blacklisted Gilot in the art community, deterring art dealers from purchasing her work. Many historians believe her relationship with Picasso is what ended her art career.

In 1964, eleven years after their separation, Gilot wrote an autobiographical book, Life with Picasso, which Picasso unsuccessfully attempted to legally block from publication. From that point forward, Picasso refused to have contact with his children ever again. All of the book profits supported Claude and Paloma’s litigation to be recognized as Picasso’s legal heirs.

Picasso sounds like a real dick, eh?

Two years after leaving the arsehole, Gilot married artist Luc Simon in 1955. They had a daughter Aurélia born in 1956 and they divorced in 1962. In 1970, Gilot married American polio vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk. Although their union produced no children, the couple remained married for 25 years until Salk’s death in 1995. For the rest of her life, Gilot split her time between New York City and Paris. She died two weeks ago in a New York City hospital on June 6, 2023, at the age of 101.

About the Art: Suntan

Although Picasso did have an apparent influence on Gilot’s work, she developed her own personal style by softening the sharp edges and angular forms characteristic of his cubist style and using organic figures in her construction. Sadly, many of Gilot’s early drawings and watercolors were lost when a truck carrying her family’s belongings was bombed by Nazis.

Gilot had her fist art exhibition in Paris in 1943, but then that whole Picasso nightmare happened. He died in 1973 and Gilot’s stature as an artist has grown steadily since. In 2021, Paloma à la Guitare, a 1965 portrait of Gilot’s daughter, was sold at Sotheby’s in London for $1.3 million. As of 2022, Gilot’s work is on exhibition in major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Suntan is a 1973 painting using watercolors, gouache, brush and ink on paper measuring 25.5 x 19.5 inches (64.8 x 49.5 cm). The framed work measures 33.3 x 26.8 inches (84.5 x 67.9 cm). This work went from the Mary Moore Gallery in La Jolla, California, to a private collection in Chicago, Illinois, in 1972. With an estimated price of $6,000-$8,000, Suntan sold at auction from that private collection on May 18, 2023, for $23,940.

The painting features the silhouette of a young woman with her hair pinned in a low bun. Deep black, bright yellow, and eggshell white dominate the color palette with broad strokes creating the woman’s form. She appears to be wearing a shift dress in the fashion of the 1970s with a big, bold print. It reminds me of this dress which I would have worn for this challenge if I still had it!

Resources/References:

• Françoise Gilot: Wikipedia
• Françoise Gilot
• Suntan by Françoise Gilot: Artnet
• Hindman Auctions

About My Outfit

This is the second outfit I created for this artwork. I actually started with a yellow tie dye shirt dress, a black and white patterned scarf, and my black cowgirl boots but I was wholly unsatisfied with the lack of vibrancy in the yellow once it was photographed. So I started over and went for a color blocked look rather than a mix of black, white, and yellow prints. For purposes of this art challenge, I think the color blocked outfit photographed much better. What do you think?

Lately I have been finding myself very attracted to yellows, oranges, and reds. While red is always a top favorite color, yellow and orange very rarely appeal to me. But recently, I have been adding yellows and oranges and more reds to my wardrobe. This mustard yellow ruana is a recent find from my favorite hat wholesaler and my little black dress was an end of season purchase from Torrid last year. My white cowgirl boots make their rounds frequently enough that they should not require any further comment and my white cowgirl hat is old and not my favorite chapeau. I found this woven belt on clearance at Kohl’s when I went shopping with my birthday rewards.

I finished painting my bedroom but I am still working on the wall decor before I share the completed makeover. I have been organizing my jewelry and finding creative ways to incorporate my accessories into the decor of the room. In my organizing, I am finding all sorts of lost treasures including this fun western style leather necklace. I paired it with yellow and black glass heart earrings that were a gift from my children.

As much as I don’t really like black and yellow together because it reminds me of my high school team colors and it makes me feel kind of like a bumblebee, I do quite like the resulting outfit. I had not intended to wear this yellow ruana with black and white, but I was inspired by the artwork and it ended up bringing me much sartorial satisfaction!

I hope you enjoyed my interpretation and feel inspired to play along! Be sure to check out Salazar’s interpretation of the artwork as well as Terri’s take on it. If you would like to participate in this challenge and have your photo included in Salazar’s round up post on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, be sure to email your photos to her by Tuesday, June 20, 2023, by 10:00 p.m. EST. I am excited to see what you all style! 

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee

Joining with these Fabulous Link Parties.

Outfit Details: Dress and Lace Bralette-Torrid / Ruana-Wona Trading / Boots-Idyllwind Fueled by Miranda Lambert (Boot Barn) / Belt-Kohl’s / Hat-Burlington Coat Factory / Earrings-Gift from my children / Necklace and Bracelets-Old