Born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, Charles Dana Gibson attended the Art Students League in New York, studying with Thomas Eakins and Kenyon Cox. Hugely successful at the turn of the century, he left New York from 1905 to 1907 to study painting in France, Spain, and Italy.
Gibson's name is still remembered for its association with the icon he created, the "Gibson Girl." This idealised, refined upper-middle-class woman became so popular that she was featured in stage plays, and her image was printed on a variety of domestic objects. The highest-paid illustrator of his time, in 1904 Gibson accepted a contract from Collier's Weekly, which paid him $100,000 for one hundred illustrations over four years. Gibson's illustrations gently satirised public life and mores. During World War I, as president of the Society of Illustrators, Gibson formed and became head of the Division of Pictorial Publicity under the Federal Committee of Public Information. Through this program, prominent illustrators were recruited to design posters, billboards, and other publicity for the war effort. His involvement with publicity during the war led Gibson to become owner and editor of Life, a New York-based magazine filled with short articles and illustrations. In the early 1930s Gibson retired in order to devote more time to painting.
For more information about Charles Dana Gibson see part 1, and for earlier works see parts 1 - 11 also.
A few late works:
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| 1923c Like the moth, it works in the dark charcoal 34.7 x 56.4 cm Library of Congress, Washington, DC |
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| 1925 Life magazine Beauty Number March 26 1925 |
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| 1925 Life magazine cover "Worship" April 9 1925 |
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| 1926 Eenie, meenie, minie, mo pen and ink over graphite 38.1 x 53.8 cm Library of Congress, Washington, DC |
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| 1938c Mrs. Micawber, David Copperfield, and Traddles |
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| 1942 Girl in Red and Blue oil on canvas 95.2 x 71.1 cm |
Works by Gibson I didn't find dates for:
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| "Bedtime Story," by Charles Dana Gibson Life Publishing Co. |
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| (Three Women) ink on paper 22.2 x 34.9 cm |
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| A First Night |
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| A Word to the Wise. Have a Book in Case you are Bored. |
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| After Dinner 43.2 x 56.5 cm |
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| After Dinner |
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| Big Game Life Publications Co. |
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| Bull And Bear Fight. New York Public Library |
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| Duplicates pen and ink over graphite 33 x 51.7 cm |
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| Foiled Again. ink on paper 25.1 x 38.1 cm |
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| Inauguration Day in the Diplomatic Gallery, Washington |
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| Paderewski at the Piano ink and wash on paper 38.1 x 27.9 cm |
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| Studies in Expression pen and ink on board 72.7 x 48 cm |
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| The Golfer ink on paper 45.7 x 25.4 cm |
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| The News pen and ink on board 48 x 72.7 cm |
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| The Proposal pen and ink on paper 55.9 x 38.1 cm |
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| The Street Singer pen and ink on paper 57.5 x 91 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| The Vanishing Sex Interesting Survival of an Old School Custom of Asking Husbands to Dinner-Parties Life Publishing Co. |
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| Two Blind Women |
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| Two Figures in Interior ink on paper 17.8 x 19 cm |
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| Untitled pen and ink on board 72.7 x 48 cm |
Lastly, undated examples of Charles Dana Gibson's most iconic creation, "The Gibson Girl" :
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| Gibson Girl pencil on card 22.9 x 15.9 cm |
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| Gibson Girl pen and ink on paper 31.7 x 24.2 cm |
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| Gibson Girl Smithsonian Museum, Washington, DC |
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| Head of a Girl pen and ink 34 x 27.2 cm ( sheet ) Library of Congress, Washington, DC |
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| Untitled pen and ink on paper 53.3 x 35.6 cm |
