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An Illustrated Celebrity in American Society: The Biography of the Gibson Girl, 1890-1920 Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors Manzur, Jennifer Elena Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 29/09/2021 14:26:44 Item License http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/321797 ABSTRACT The purpose of this research project is to determine the evolving role of the Gibson Girl as an icon in popular magazines and periodicals as well as in works of literature during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In a time where the structure of a patriarchal society suppressed female independence, the image of the Gibson Girl encouraged change and opportunity for women in American urban society. Appearing in the late nineteenth century by the hands of illustrator Charles Dana Gibson, the Gibson Girl defined the ideal female of the time: white, graceful with beauty and independence. She epitomized the function of a quintessential woman in American society at the turn of the century. Arguably, the Gibson Girl was an early standardization of American female beauty. The ubiquity of her image in periodicals and magazines conceptualized a vision of faultless beauty, such as her bouffant pompadour hair and S-curve silhouette. The illustrations depicted her in a variety of situations, from attending high-society events to lounging on a beach in a bathing suit, all while setting fashion trends. Her image offered visualization for imitating a new kind of lifestyle for women. Manzur 1 I. INTRODUCTION Who was the Gibson Girl? What was her impact on society? How had she become iconographic and survived through time? These three questions look at the woman as well as the image. The anonymity of the Gibson Girl helped her image survive, but is there a woman behind the illustration? At the beginning of the twentieth century, the term “Gibson Girl” was considered a label, an expression, and most importantly a celebrated identity. She was a two-dimensional illustration drawn with pen and ink featured in magazines, newspapers, and even on current memorabilia— wallpaper, stationery, etc. The woman represented by the Gibson Girl encouraged females at the end of the nineteenth century to modify their persona. Her published image transcended across art fads and literary texts to become a fictional character that would survive beyond the lifetime of those influenced by her image. She allowed women to step out of the class boundaries and fall into the wider category of simply being like a Gibson Girl. Even in her flat-surfaced two- dimensional existence, she as a character developed a third, elusive dimension that women could grasp and project onto her their own identities. The Gibson Girl represented a social convention in the form of an individualized identity imitated by the greater, urbanized female population of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century. The first appearance of the Gibson Girl was in popular culture during the late 1890s. She was drawn as a mirrored image of the everyday women on New York streets. She was seen on Fifth Avenue, both behind the counter working and in front of the counter purchasing items for her modish wardrobe. She became an icon of ideal beauty because of the ideals she embodied— elegance, grace, and self-confidence. Over the next three decades she became a trend both in fashion style and mannerisms for women. From all social classes, women imitated her in Manzur 2 personality and appearance to varying degrees by dressing like her or holding themselves with an air of dignified finesse. She allowed women to step out of the class boundaries and fall into the wider category of simply being a Gibson Girl. Everyone knows the Gibson Girl even if they do not recognize her by name or even by her image. Her name became synonymous with the idea of ideal feminine beauty; she has contributed to current female prototypes of stereotypical expectations as seen in celebrities and do-it-all-dolls like Barbie. However, because she was a fictional, and technically an anonymous figure in American history, her legacy has since been lost. By tracking the development of this illustrated woman from 1890-1920 through magazines, newspapers and contemporary literature, in particular Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie, and Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth, we can understand the impact she had on social conventions of American society. II. CRAFTING AN AMERICAN WOMAN At a time when photography was a new method of capturing images and realism was the main artistic influence on artists, the illustrated Gibson Girl was drawn impeccably with pen and ink by Charles Dana Gibson. The two-dimensional beauty captured a third, elusive dimension of the reality in human nature that other images were attempting in the late 1890s. She first appeared in Life magazine and continued to be published in other popular media outlets. Gibson’s drawing of the emblematic woman generated a craze of idolizing a lifestyle that many assumed idyllic and one of rounded-out perfection. The Gibson Girl’s realistic appearance and demeanor made it appear as if Charles Dana Gibson was a natural with a pen and ink. According to Gibson’s biographer Fairfax Downey, “Scissors and never a pencil were his chosen Manzur 3 instruments.”1 Before he was an illustrator, Charles Dana Gibson made art with scissors. Gibson was introduced to silhouette cutting at the early age of five. His father entertained Charles by creating silhouettes of animals with the use of a simple pair of scissors.2 These paper figures fascinated Gibson and inspired him to begin creating silhouette cutouts on his own. Gibson’s true artistic talent emerged when he started to cut “his silhouettes from memory and produce whole scenes from a single sheet, with never any pasting or other makeshifts.”3 With age Gibson applied stories he learned in school to inspire new creations of silhouette narratives: “a silhouette of a pretty little maiden in bonnet and bustle about to dig in the sand records the first appearance of the Gibson Girl.”4 The illustrator found his calling at a young age. His silhouettes foreshadowed his success in creating the Gibson Girl, an illustrated portrait of the American woman at the cusp of the twentieth century. Charles Dana Gibson pursued an education that would hone his artistic talents. He attended the Art Students’ League of New York, where he took courses that would “benefit him more than any university course.”5 Gibson succeeded in the educational field of artistic training. His approach towards an education for his artist profession was short-lived. With his skills nearly perfected after two years of training, “Gibson could not wait until he finished school to test the practical value of art he [learned].”6 He ventured out into the urban world of New York City in search of starting his profession as an illustrator. However, Gibson was “far more eager than [a] 1 Fairfax Downey, Portrait of an Era as Drawn by Charles Dana Gibson, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1936), 6. 2 Ibid., 5. 3 Ibid., 6. 4 Ibid., 8. 5 Ibid., 38. 6 Ibid., 41. Manzur 4 polished artist,” and arguably not ready to begin his career just yet.7 Despite his enthusiasm from his youthful attitude, Charles Dana Gibson received many rejections before he was able to achieve commissioned work. The many refusals and rejections with the occasional low-paying work eventually passed, and Gibson then found himself in the office of Life magazine commissioning his work. After gaining some income from drawing for Life in his pre-Gibson Girl lifetime, Gibson saved enough to travel overseas to Europe and embark on a “pilgrimage” to the “metropolises of Art,” London and Paris.8 From there Gibson sought to meet George Du Maurier, an Englishman artist known for his self-titled maiden which is known to have directly inspired Gibson’s on illustrated Girl: Life printed several composites in which girls by the two artists met in the same picture. There and thereafter for American devotees the Gibson Girl demonstrated her superior loveliness over her elder, slightly taller relative from the Old World. The Du Maurier maiden was statuesque and her noble proportions sometimes reminded one of her creator’s admiration for ‘that mighty, beautiful but most uncertain quadruped thoroughbred horse.’ The Gibson Girl was stately, too, but more animated and graceful because, among other reasons, she wore a few less than the eight petticoats encompassing her British cousin.9 For Charles Dana Gibson, his trip across the Atlantic made his career a success. After returning from his adventure abroad, Gibson found inspiration for new work to be commissioned. He had with him an image of a stunning beauty that embodied the essence of American womanhood. He created this woman in a clear illustration that would be named the Gibson Girl. III. DEFINITION OF THE GIBSON GIRL The Gibson Girl represented the feminine ideal for a generation of women during the early twentieth century. The Gibson Girl appealed to all social classes in her actions as depicted 7 Ibid., 42. 8 Ibid., 81. 9 Ibid., 86. Manzur 5 in the multitude of illustrated scenarios. But the questions with elusive answers remain: What was a Gibson Girl? Who was the model? Gibson’s intention with the Gibson Girl was to create a mirror image of the everyday American woman as he saw her.

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