Style Imitating Art | “The Basket of Flowers” by Frederick Carl Frieseke

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

It was Marsha’s turn to choose. While she wasn’t looking for an Impressionist painting for this round, she had been scrolling and scrolling through the National Gallery of Art’s free images and found herself disappointed with the selection which included things she did not want like a portrait of a man, anything to do with religion of any kind, or naked people. Marsha eventually came upon this pretty painting which struck a chord for her with its beautiful colors and elegant model. But, most of all, Marsha loves the feeling this painting conveys…peace and contentment. You can read more about her choice of artwork here.

The Artwork

“The Basket of Flowers” by Frederick Carl Frieseke

About the Artist: Frederick Carl Frieseke

Frederick Carl Frieseke was born on April 7, 1874, in Owosso, Michigan, to Herman Carl Frieseke, a former Union soldier and owner of a brick manufacturing business, and his wife Eva Graham. Frederick had an older sister, Edith, who was born in 1871. In 1880, when Frederick was just 6 years old, his mother died which prompted the family to move to Jacksonville, Florida, the following year where his father started another brick manufacturing business.

As a child, Frederick exhibited much more interest in the arts than he did in sports with his artistic interests being encouraged by his maternal grandmother who enjoyed painting. After graduating from Owosso High School in 1893, Frieseke began his formal training at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1895, he relocated to New York where he continued his art education at the Art Students League in 1897. During his time in New York, Frieseke made a living by selling cartoon illustrations to publications like The New York Times, Puck, and Truth. He claims that had he been more successful with his published illustrations, he would have likely halted his art education.

In 1898, Frieseke moved to France where he continued his art education at the Académie Julian in Paris. He would remain living in France as an expatriate for the rest of his life except for a few short visits to the United States and other locations. During one such visit to Holland in the summer of 1898, he sketched and painted in watercolors, intending to make this his artistic speciality, until he was encouraged by one art instructor to work in oils.

Although he received significant formal education in the arts, Frieseke discounts the value of this education referring to himself as a self-taught artist, claiming that he learned more from his own independent studies of artists and their works than he did from any academic studies.

Just over a year after he arrived in Paris, Frieseke first exhibited his artwork at the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1899. By the 1900s, his work began taking on a heavy Impressionist influence.

Following a summer’s month at the Giverny art colony, Frieseke married Sarah Anne (Sadie) O’Bryan in October 1905. The couple had met seven years earlier and spent the summers from 1906 to 1919 in Giverny while maintaining their winter home in Paris. Their Giverny house was adjacent to the home of Claude Monet but the artists never became close friends or cited one another as artistic influences.

Frieske and his wife welcomed their only child, a daughter named Frances, in 1914. In 1920, the family moved to Normandy during which period Frieseke’s art focused on the female figure, particularly nudes. In 1923, Fieseke co-founded an annual art exhibition, the Salon des Tuileries, with a group of international artists in France. At this time, he resumed painting in watercolors.

Having won all sorts of artistic awards in his lifetime, Frieseke was recognized as a highly reputable artist by the early 1930s. He died in his Normandy home on August 24, 1939, at the age of 65.

About the Art: “The Basket of Flowers”

The Basket of Flowers is an oil on canvas painting by Frederick Carl Frieseke completed circa 1913-1917. The canvas is 81.4 x 81.5 cm (32 1/16 x 32 1/16 in.) with the framed painting measuring 93.8 x 94 x 6.7 cm (36 15/16 x 37 x 2 5/8 in.).

The original artwork was owned by Alex M. Hudnut of New York until November 12, 1931, when it was sold to Chester Dale of New York. Following Mr. Dale’s death in 1962, the painting was bequeathed to the National Gallery of Art in 1963 where it is currently not on view.

Resources/References:

• Frederick Carl Frieseke: Wikipedia
• National Gallery of Art: The Basket of Flowers, c. 1913/1917

About My Outfit

As soon as I saw the light purple and pink floral wall in the background of the painting, I was immediately reminded of this preloved April Cornell shirt dress that I thrifted years ago. The periwinkle color with the ditsy floral print is pretty much spot on.

To mimic the woman’s outfit, I wore a long white cotton sundress (I have the same one in blue) with the floral dress unbuttoned on top. Because the woman in the painting is wearing a blue and white striped topper, I tied a blue and white striped scarf around my hat as a hat band.

To represent the flowers and the basket in the painting, I chose my straw hat that is trimmed in brightly colored floral adornments and a straw bag which I stuffed with the fake flowers from an old Halloween costume. I also wore my April Cornell fabric beaded necklace with a floral pendant and colorful dangly earrings made by Michelle.

I didn’t want to ignore the little shots of pink in the stripes on the chair upholstery so instead of neutral colored shoes, I went for these old pink velvet slippers. Not only do they seem like the style of shoe the woman in the painting might be wearing, they really were the perfect complement to this light and cheerful, easy, breezy summer outfit.

With a heat waving arriving here today, breezy fabrics and cheerful colors are just what the weather ordered!

I hope you have 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 want to participate in this challenge and create your own outfit inspired by Frieseke’s The Basket of Flowers please submit your photos to Marsha (mlrbanks57@gmail.com) by 10:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, June 18, 2024, and she will feature your outfit in her gallery of style post on Wednesday, June 19, 2024.

Until then, happy styling! 

Keeping it on the edge, 

Shelbee

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