Style Imitating Art | The White Rabbit by John Tenniel

Oooh, I really challenged myself with this one! But I think I succeeded in the end.

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 my turn to choose the artwork and I wanted to pick something that would be meaningful to Sally of Within a World of My Own. Sally joins us on a regular basis for these challenges and her blog posts are always so interesting to read. Not only does she put lots of thought into every detail of her outfits, but she also adds a little extra fun with her Rabbit Improving Art segment. I always leave her blog with a big old smile on my face! In addition to being a lover of those adorable floppy eared fur balls, Sally is also an avid fan of all things Alice in Wonderland. So I have chosen John Tenniel‘s illustration of The White Rabbit from the 1890 edition of Lewis Carroll’s The Nursery “Alice”, an abridged version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Not only does this artwork serve as a heartfelt thank you to Sally, but the white rabbit is perfect for spring and the upcoming Easter season, too.

The Artwork

The White Rabbit by John Tenniel

About the Artist: John Tenniel

One of six children, John Tenniel was born on February 28, 1820, in Bayswater, West London, to Eliza Maria Tenniel and John Baptist Tenniel, who was a fencing and dancing master of Huguenot descent. All throughout his life, John Tenniel was a quiet and introverted person, content to stay out of the limelight and seemingly unaffected by competition or change.

In 1840, Tenniel was practicing fencing with his father when his father’s foil struck him causing a serious injury to his right eye. Not wanting to upset his father, the younger Tenniel never disclosed the severity of the wound which led to the gradual loss of sight in that eye.

In 1842, John Tenniel was accepted for a probationary period to the Royal Academy of Arts. This formal training was beneficial to Tenniel despite his disagreement with their teaching methods. Eventually, Tenniel took to educating himself by studying classical sculptures through painting, drawing classical sculptures at London’s Townley Gallery, copying illustrations from costume books in the British Museum, drawing animals from the Regent’s Park zoo, and sketching actors from the London theaters. In the mid-1840s, he also gained additional “formal” training through a variety of artists’ groups which freed him from the stifling rules of the academy. At this point, Tenniel began to emerge as a satirical draughtsman. He also had a photographic memory and was happiest when he could draw from memory.

Also in 1842, Tenniel created his first book illustrations for The Book of British Ballads by Samuel Carter Hall. After illustrating an edition of Aesop’s Fables, he was invited in 1850 to fill the position as joint cartoonist (with John Leech) for the British weekly satire magazine, Punch. In 1861, he was offered Leech’s position as political cartoonist. When Leech died in 1864, Tenniel continued his work alone. During his time at Punch, he contributed over 2,300 cartoons in addition to numerous minor drawings, a variety of double-page cartoons for Punch’s Almanac and other specials as well as 250 designs for Punch’s Pocket-books. His work was in such high demand by this time that he could “command ten to fifteen guineas for the reworking of a single Punch cartoon as a pencil sketch.” In addition to the extra commissions, Tenniel was earning a comfortable annual salary from Punch of approximately £800 a year.

Sometime in the 1850s-1860s, Tenniel married Julia Giani, who died two yeas later. I am finding conflicting information about Julia’s timeline. One source says she died in 1867, two years after marrying Tenniel. Another source says she married Tenniel in 1854 and died in 1856. Yet another source says the couple was married in 1852 and Julia died in 1854. In any event, the couple did not have any children and Tenniel never remarried after his wife’s passing. For twenty-three years following Julia’s death, her mother acted as John Tenniel’s housekeeper until her death when one of his sisters stepped in to care for him.

Despite his success and acknowledgement as a very successful political cartoonist, much of Tenniel’s fame came from the illustrations he created for Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland series. In total, he drew 92 illustrations for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1871). Lewis Carroll had originally illustrated Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland himself, but his artistic abilities were limited at best. Upon the advice of an engraver that he had employed, Carroll was prompted to hire a professional artist. Being an avid reader of Punch, Carroll was familiar with Tenniel’s work and so he hired Tenniel to illustrate the first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

The print quality in the first run of the book did not meet Tenniel’s expectations so he insisted that the first issue of 2,000 books be released only in the United States. A new edition with better print quality was released in December 1865, using an 1866 publication date, and became an instant best seller in England. Tenniel’s drawings for both Alice books have become some of the most famous and well known literary illustrations in the world.

After his projects with Lewis Carroll were completed in 1872, Tenniel largely abandoned literary illustrations. In fact, Carroll later approached him to work on another project, to which Tenniel replied, “It is a curious fact that with Looking-Glass the faculty of making drawings for book illustrations departed from me, and… I have done nothing in that direction since.”

In 1893, Tenniel received the highest possible honor when he was knighted for public service by Queen Victoria. He was the first illustrator or cartoonist to ever receive such recognition. This granting of knighthood elevated the social status of black-and-white illustrators and sparked a sense of respectability for what was previously considered a lowly profession.

Tenniel retired in 1901 and was honored with a farewell banquet hosted by the Leader of the House of Commons, who described him as “a great artist and a great gentleman”. Tenniel died of natural causes on February 25, 1914, just three days before his 94th birthday. He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery in London.

About the Artwork: The White Rabbit

The illustration of the White Rabbit featured for this week’s Style Imitating Art was created for The Nursery “Alice”, an abridged version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland which was published in 1889-1890, a quarter of a century after the original book was published. The Nursery “Alice” included 20 of Tenniel’s original illustrations from the 1865 printing of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. All 20 illustrations were redrawn enlarged, colored, and in some cases revised by Tenniel himself.

The creation of these illustrations included engraving the pictures onto wood blocks which then served as the electrotype copies for printing the books. The original wood blocks created by the Brothers Dalziel, a notable wood engraving company in Victorian London, are currently held by the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The blocks, which were last exhibited in 2003, are generally not on public view.

Resources/References:

• Wikipedia: John Tenniel
• Wikipedia: The White Rabbit (Tenniel) – The Nursery Alice (1890)
• Wikipedia: The Nursery “Alice”
• Norman Rockwell Museum Illustration History: Sir John Tenniel
• Geni: Sir John Tenniel
• Find a Grave: Julia Giani Tenniel

About My Outfit

Like I said earlier, I really challenged myself with this choice of artwork. But I think I pulled it off quite well despite my failed first attempt. Because I don’t have any plaid blazers in an appropriate color palette, I knew that I was going to wear this thrifted yellow corduroy blazer which matches the color of the White Rabbit’s waistcoat. To incorporate some plaids, I reached for this black and white plaid tunic which is similar to the White Rabbit’s ascot and this plaid neckerchief in the same colors as the White Rabbit’s plaid blazer.

To create the illusion of a waistcoat underneath my blazer, my first attempt was to layer this white sundress on top of the tunic and underneath the blazer but when I put it all together on my body, it was an absolutely hideous concoction of grotesquely voluminous proportions which sent me straight back to the drawing board. My second attempt was much better with my wide legged white denim jeans and my two tone thrifted cowboy boots. I accessorized using the same black, white, and yellow color palette of the illustration incorporating my shaggy raggy necklace, gold earrings, a gold leaf brooch, and my new tan Panama hat which I adorned with a dark brown woven belt as a hat band.

While this outfit is a far cry my current style aesthetic, it really does appeal to the cowgirl in me. I always feel a little costumey when I wear too many western elements in one outfit but if I add just a smidge of confidence before leaving the house, I can rock it as good as any true cowgirl can!

I hope you have enjoyed this round of Style Imitating Art. If you want to play along and be featured with your White Rabbit inspired outfit in my gallery post on Wednesday, March 26, 2025, be sure to submit your photos to me at shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com by 10:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. In the meantime, be sure to check out Salazar’s interpretation of this illustration as well as Marsha’s take on it. 

Happy styling, my friends!

Shelbee

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