Blogging US History: The Iconic Gibson Girl

Throughout the early 19^th century the development and rise of industry in the United States was exponential. Industrial growth was taking on new formats where human work wasn’t nearly as involved. The moving assembly line by Henry Ford cut down work hours and production costs and in return workers received higher wages and better work hours. All the people who had flocked to the cities for work now had to find ways to spend their ‘free time’. This spare time gave rise to entertainment like sports, theater, and movies. The country work life that consumed all time was a thing of the past. Men and women alike now had the time to go out and explore the world around them. Women who had once been invisible now had personas and ideals. The birth of the ‘American woman’ came to be known as the Gibson Girl, credited to the artist Charles Dana Gibson.

Original Drawing of the Gibson Girl

Charles Dana Gibson first began drawing the Gibson Girl in the late 19^th century. The official start of the Gibson Girl was the publishing of his first portfolio of the iconic woman in 1894. The Gibson Girl took shape with the help and idolization of 4 women that Charles Dana Gibson knew personally. The early model for the Gibson girl was dance star, Evelyn Nesbit. Her upswept hair and fragile face was the ideal model for the beginning of the Gibson Girl. She was followed by the actress Camille Clifford and both are well known “living models” for the Gibson Girl. But of the four women the one most direct reflections were Gibson’s wife, Irene Langhorn. Mrs. Gibson provided the Southern Belle looks with a demure facial expression, modest dress and regal air. She set a standard for the Gibson Girl that Charles Dana Gibson stuck to. The Gibson Girl’s Influence all across America was extraordinary from the comic strips was born an ideal—The ‘New Woman’.

Evelyn Nesbit

The Gibson Girl was the “perfect image of femininity, uniquely American.” Every woman strived to be her, the nameless figure that was America’s woman. Everything from songs and operettas, to clothing lines, hairstyles and wallpapers were made in the Gibson Girl image. For every new bow that Charles Dana Gibson put in a comic strip, an identical and real version was being worn in every lady’s hair up, down, and across the United States. The dresses that revealed the lithe figure of the Gibson girl could be found on every mannequin in every store. The Gibson Girl was a revolution in the development of the ideal woman. The Gibson Girl was brought to life the American women. Every girl strived to the one and every guy dreamed of finding his ‘Gibson Girl’. The irony was that Charles Dana Gibson had never intended the Gibson Girl to be anything more than a mockery of high society Americans, but even the highest women of society adopted the ideals. One of the most recognizable figures of the Time period was Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter, Alice Roosevelt. If anyone was the Gibson Girl Alice Roosevelt was. Even President Roosevelt had to agree, “I can do one of two things. I can President of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both. –Theodoore Roosevelt” ("Woman of the Year." This Fabulous Century, 1900-1910. Vol. 1. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life, 1969. N. pag. Print.). The Gibson Girl had created the fun loving woman that would grow into the Flappers of the 20’s and would remain a figure of American society until the first World War.

For as much as the Gibson Girl affected the woman and ‘who she was’, it also became a trend among the men. The creation of a Gibson Man was eminent. As men showed up in comics with the Gibson Girl, many of those fictional males became real life people. For every girl that shaped herself into the Gibson Girl there was an equivalent male figure close by waiting to woo her. Everything characterized in the comics, man or woman, could be found walking the streets of New York or hiking up the mountains on trails nearby. Men fantasized about being the man in the picture. The man of the Gibson Girl can clearly be identified in the drawing in many photos, one of which selected is Their First Quarrel. The men of the United States were rising to meet the expectations set forth by Charles Dana Gibson’s characters, who till this remain nameless, which would explain why so many people were able to connect and develop themselves without changing their identification; women especially.

Their First Quarrel

Leisure time was the start of the entertainment craze and the beginning of the Gibson Girl. As both of these aspects became more plentiful, the Gibson Girl had more facets. Her ideals manifested into activities like sports and jobs. Later drawings picture her playing the violin, riding a bike and even selling newspapers that featured herself. The Gibson Girl was the headway into women becoming a part of the workforce rather than just being the invisible housewife. The influence of the Gibson Girl spread into many areas from entertainment to commercialization. The American woman had developed into an able bodied person of society who could walk among men, maybe not as equals but with more influence.

Women as Jurors

American women would not be the multifaceted figures of the 21^st century if they had never given the jump start in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Without the formation and development of the Gibson Girl, many iconic ladies we knew might have never come to light and more importantly, without the industrial revolution and the imagination of Charles Dana Gibson.

Sources:

Wikipedia:Camille Clifford

I used this source to make Camille Clifford had actually modeled for the Gibson Girl. I also used it as a source of way to describe the Gibson Girl

Wikipedia: Evelyn Nesbit

I used this source to make sure Evelyn Nesbit had actually modeled for the Gibson Girl. It also gave me sources for a picture of her.

JSTOR: Charles Dana Gibson, Illustrator

This source offered insight from another person's side of the Gibson Girl. It goes a bit more in depth into his studies in France and how he developed his style of art.

JSTOR: The Gibson Girl Goes to College

This paper gave insight from a woman's point of view of the Gibson Girl from a later date. I used it to see different and conflicting points.

Library of Congress: Gibson Girl's America

I used some direct quotes from this site to help show how writers in the time period pictured the Gibson Girl.

Library of Congress: The Gibson Girl Phenomenon

I used this source to see how it influenced other cartoonists and culture surrounding the cities in the early 1900's.

Library of Congress: The Gibson Girl as The New Woman

Described the activities that the Gibson Girl would have done. Gave me a better idea of how women would have acted when trying to copy the Gibson Girl.

Library of Congress: Creating an Ideal