Charles Dana Gibson and the Gibson Girl

American illustrator Charles Dana Gibson, born in 1867, began contributing pen and ink drawings of tall, patrician women with spectacular upswept hair to the humorous weekly Life in the early 1890s. Gibson’s illustrations took America by storm, creating an ideal of American womanhood–aloof, athletic, socially adept and forever being wooed by unworthy men. Above all, the Gibson Girl was beautiful and thousands of American women emulated her distinctive hairstyle. ‘You can always tell when a girl is taking the Gibson Cure,’ wrote one observer, ‘by the way she fixes her hair.’ So great was the popularity of Gibson’s creation that lithographs of his work decorated parlors and adorned various products throughout the country. Until the outbreak of World War I Gibson was said to be America’s highest paid illustrator, earning $55,000 per year. He died in 1944.

Illustration: Dover Publications

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