Gibson Girl

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Gibson Girl

A creation from the pen of illustrator Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944), the Gibson Girl came to be viewed as an ideal image of youthful femininity in the early 1890s. Statuesque and athletic, she was a contemporary incarnation of the beautiful, desirable, and modern woman. In one drawing from around 1900 she is pictured on the golf course in her signature long skirt and blouse. She stands tall and straight, one hand planted firmly on her hip, and lifts her head majestically. Her male partner stands well to the side and stares in rapt admiration. The captivating Gibson Girl appealed to the imagination of a nation that craved an image of femininity that was fresh and uniquely American.

Gibson, the most popular illustrator in the United States at the turn of the century, began his career in New York during the early years of what has come to be known as the golden age of American illustration—the mid-1880s. By 1890 he was drawing for Life, Scribner's Magazine, Century, Harper's Magazine, and Harper's Weekly. He began drawing the Gibson girl in the early 1890s. She was featured in the first folio edition of his work, which appeared in 1894, and soon became a national sensation. Gibson's wife, the aristocratic Irene Langhorne Gibson, whom he met in 1893 and married in 1895, was widely believed to have been the inspiration behind her husband's creation, but she could not have been his original model. There was, in fact, no single model for the Gibson Girl, and the artist himself claimed that he had used several; moreover, he said that he had never intended to represent any one particular type of woman. Many young society women did actually seek out the illustrator, hoping to enhance their social standing further by posing for the famous Gibson Girl.

As Lois Banner observes, the Gibson Girl has often been identified with high society, the American "aristocracy" to which Gibson himself belonged. Nonetheless, she had qualities that also endeared her to the working class. Two working-class women, in particular, were thought to have been her inspiration: Minnie Clark, a professional model with an Irish working-class background, and the unnamed personal maid to the dancer Loie Fuller. The Gibson Girl, however, was rarely pictured as a working girl, and the settings in which she appeared were almost invariably fashionable. We see her at fancy dress balls, musical and theatrical events, and engaged in then-elite sporting activities. She was essentially a privileged socialite and her image, despite its modern trappings, incorporated traditional aspects of femininity. Contemporary feminists, such as writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, saw in her the strength, ability, and freedom of the "new woman," although her fundamental appeal was her feminine beauty. Charles Dana Gibson emphasized her decorative qualities when he designed wallpaper for bachelors' rooms featuring a dense pattern of Gibson Girl faces.

The popularity of the Gibson Girl was reflected in many related phenomena in American popular culture. She was a paragon of beauty and style for millions of American women, who sought to emulate her in dress and hairstyle. Songs and plays were written about her, and her image was reproduced everywhere: on dishes and clothing, tablecloths and pillow covers, ashtrays and umbrella stands. For almost two decades she wielded a powerful influence in American popular culture. By the early 1910s, however, her vogue began to wane as a new image of femininity began to emerge—that of the liberated style and daring spirit that would culminate in the Jazz Age flapper at the end of World War I.

—Laural Weintraub