Charles Dana Gibson

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Charles Dana Gibson

Charles Dana Gibson (born September 14, 1867 in Roxbury , Massachusetts , † December 23, 1944 in New York City ) was an American cartoonist and illustrator , best known for his cartoons that have appeared in American magazines for several decades. The Gibson Girl , an ideal representation of the independent, elegant young lady of the upper class, is named after him.

Life

Gibson was the son of businessman Charles De Wolf Gibson and Josephine Lovett. When Gibson was 3 weeks old, the family moved to Flushing so he spent all of his youth in New York City . Already at the age of five he showed artistic talent in making paper cuttings . An approach to training with the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens showed that his talent was not in the field of plastic arts, but a small prize, which he won with a drawing, encouraged him to focus entirely on art. In 1884 he graduated from high school and began a two-year course at the Art Students League , a traditional New York art school .

On March 25, 1886, a first drawing by Gibson in Life appeared , at that time a humorous entertainment magazine similar to the English Punch , which established a more than 40-year collaboration, at the end of which Gibson was the publisher and owner of the magazine. In addition to Life , he also worked for the British magazine Tit-Bits . In 1888 his income allowed him to travel to Europe. In London he met the punch cartoonist George du Maurier and then traveled to Paris, where he completed his artistic training at the Académie Julian for two months. When he returned to New York, he began working for Life , where his cartoons mostly appeared on the inside double-page spread, and for Harper's New Monthly Magazine , Scribner's Magazine , and The Century Magazine .

Gibson Girl , around 1900
Under the microscope (1903)

The basis of his great success was the development of a type of woman who repeatedly appeared in his cartoons, the so-called Gibson Girl , with whom he shaped fashion and culture in America from the early 1890s to the First World War. It is the type of sporty and very self-confident young lady of the upper class who knows how to deal with the expectations placed on her (which of course included entering into an advantageous marriage) in a sovereign manner. Outwardly, the Gibson Girls are characterized by a fashionably piled-up hairstyle, an often strict facial expression, high neck and a very straight posture, which is supported by wearing a corset . Models of the Gibson girl have been seen in the actress Evelyn Nesbit and especially in Gibson's wife Irene, née Langhorne.

Gibson himself denied having created a type, rather the type known as Gibson Girl is a concentrate of what he sees in women and admires in them. He said of the living models of his drawings:

“I saw her in the street, I saw her in the theater, I saw her in the churches, I saw everywhere and in every activity. I saw her strolling Fifth Avenue and working behind the counter. From hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, I formed my ideal. […] A poet may be [ideal of femininity] created entirely from fantasy. I don't think I am a poet. My ideal comes from the crowd. "

The Gibson Girl's broad impact began in 1894 with the publication of a portfolio of drawings that had previously appeared in Life . In order to be able to adequately reproduce the images on the double pages of the magazine, the portfolio was published in large-format landscape folio (30 × 46 cm). In the following years more than a dozen volumes of drawings and sketches appeared, which together with his work for prominent magazines established his fame and raised his market value to hitherto unheard of heights. In 1902 he signed a contract with Collier's Weekly to supply 100 drawings over a period of several years, each drawing to be rewarded with $ 1,000. Not only was the total of $ 100,000 unheard of for a magazine artist, such a contract had been quite unusual until then. Artists worked freelance or commissioned, and always depending on whether their work was approved by the editor or publisher. Gibson's contract contributed significantly to the professionalization of the terms and conditions for illustrators.

His secure economic position enabled him to marry Irene Langhorne on November 7, 1895, one of four daughters known for their beauty of a distinguished southern family from Richmond , Virginia (whose sister Nancy became the wife of Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor and first Woman who won a seat in the House of Commons ). The marriage had two children. In addition, he was able to settle in New York in a stylish way. Commissioned in 1902 to architect Stanford White and completed in 1904, the five-story house at 127 East 73rd Street was to become one of the centers of social life in New York for many years. At the same time, a summer residence was built on Seven Hundred Acres Island in Penobscot Bay , Maine, which he had acquired . However, losses as a result of the financial crisis of 1907 forced him to break off a study visit to Europe that had begun in 1905 and to rent the New York house. He began providing illustrations again, his financial situation improved, and the family was soon able to move into the New York house. The illustrious guests of the time included Lady Astor and the former French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau .

Before that, however, Gibson had been involved in the war against Germany. His work became political and anti-German, and with the US entry into the war he was appointed chairman of the Committee on Public Information's Division of Pictorial Publicity and sought to get other artists to produce posters, promotional materials, and artwork in support of the Allied war effort. The end of the war brought a new challenge for Gibson: in 1918, John Ames Mitchell , the founder, owner, and longtime editor of Life, had died . When the magazine was to be sold in 1920, Gibson organized the purchase and acquired the majority stake in the process. However, he was unable to adapt to the changed taste of the post-war period, neither in his own work nor in the design and style specifications for the magazine, whose ideal type was no longer the “Gibson girl” but the “ flapper ”. The circulation decreased, in 1928 Gibson resigned from the line and delivered his last work for Life in 1930.

In addition to his work as a cartoonist, Gibson also worked as an illustrator. In 1890, Constance Cary Harrison's The Anglomaniacs appeared in sequels in The Century Magazine , and further works followed, for example illustrating the adventure stories of his friend Richard Harding Davis , two novels by Anthony Hope and several novels by the fantastic storyteller Robert W. Chambers . A total of almost 30 books with illustrations by Gibson are known. After he had finished his work at Life , he largely turned away from drawing and devoted himself to oil painting in the years that followed . His paintings have found acceptance in numerous museums and collections. In 1934, around 100 of his paintings were shown in an exhibition at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York. He lived on Seven Hundred Acres Island until his death . He suffered a heart attack in September 1944 and was at the instance of President Franklin D. Roosevelt with a seaplane of the Navy brought to New York, where he at Doctors Hospital treated. He was soon taken to the house on East 73rd Street, where he died of myocarditis on December 23, 1944 .

Memberships and honors

  • 1898 National Institute of Arts and Letters
  • 1902 Society of Illustrators, President from 1904 to 1907 and from 1909 to 1921, then Honorary President
  • 1921 American Academy of Arts and Letters, director from 1932
  • 1932 National Academy of Design (associated since 1918)
  • 1943 American Artists Professional League gold medal

Cartoons

  • On the beach , 1901

  • Costumed , 1901

  • Love in the Garden , 1901

  • The Swarm , 1901

  • Art class , 1901

  • Everything you can buy , 1901

  • Trample , 1901

  • Fanned out , 1914

  • Expression Study: Women as Jurors, 1902

Works

Sketches and cartoons

  • Drawings (RH Russell, New York 1894)
  • Pictures of people (RH Russell, New York 1896)
  • London as seen by Charles Dana Gibson (C. Scribner's Sons, New York 1897)
  • Life's comedy (C. Scribner's Sons, New York 1897)
  • People of Dickens (RH Russell, New York 1897)
  • Sketches and cartoons (RH Russell, New York 1898)
  • The education of Mr. Pipp (RH Russell, New York 1899)
  • Sketches in Egypt (Harper, London 1899)
  • Americans (RH Russell, New York 1900)
  • A widow and her friends (RH Russell, New York 1901)
  • The social ladder (RH Russell, New York 1902)
  • Eighty drawings: including The weaker sex, the story of a susceptible bachelor (C. Scribner's Sons, New York 1903)
  • Everyday people (C. Scribner's Sons, New York 1904)
  • Our neighbors (C. Scribner's Sons, New York 1905)
  • The Gibson book (C. Scribner's Sons, New York 1906)
  • Twelve new Gibson girls hitherto unpublished (PF Collier & Son, New York 1909)
  • Other people (C. Scribner's Sons, New York 1911)
  • Gibson new cartoons; a book of Charles Dana Gibson's latest drawings (C. Scribner's Sons, New York 1916)

Illustrations

Frontispiece from The Prisoner of Zenda , 1898
Illustration for Rupert of Hentzau , 1898
  • Constance Cary Harrison: The Anglomaniacs. New York 1890
  • Frank R. Stockton : The Merry Chanter. New York 1890
  • Richard Harding Davis : Gallegher, and other stories. C. Scribner's Sons, New York 1891
  • Richard Harding Davis: Van Bibber and Others. New York 1892
  • Richard Harding Davis: The exiles and other stories. New York 1894
  • Richard Harding Davis: About Paris. Harper, New York 1895
  • Abbe Carter Goodloe: College girls. Scribner, New York 1895
  • Julia Magruder: The Princess Sonia. Century Co., New York 1895
  • Richard Harding Davis: The Princess Aline. Harper & Bros., New York 1895
  • HC Chatfield-Taylor: Two Women and a Fool. Stone & Kimball, Chicago 1895
  • Robert Grant: The Art of Living. D. Nutt, London 1895
  • Julia Magruder: The Violet. Longmans, Green and Co., New York & London 1896
  • Post Wheeler: Reflections of a Bachelor. JS Ogilvie, New York 1897
  • Richard Harding Davis: Soldiers of Fortune. New York 1897
  • Anthony Hope : Rupert of Hentzau; from the memoirs of Fritz von Tarlenheim. H. Holt and Co., New York 1898
  • Anthony Hope: The prisoner of Zenda; being the history of three months in the life of an English gentleman. H. Holt and Co., New York 1898
  • John Kendrick Bangs: The booming of Acre Hill, and other reminiscences of urban and suburban life. Harper & Bros., New York & London 1900
  • Richard Harding Davis: Her first appearance. Harper & Brothers, New York & London 1901
  • Richard Harding Davis: The king's jackal. The reporter who made himself king. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1903
  • Julia de Wolf Gibbs Addison: Mrs. John Vernon: a study of a social situation. Richard G. Badger, Boston 1909
  • Robert W. Chambers : The Common Law. D. Appleton & Co., New York & London 1911
  • Robert W. Chambers: Blue-bird weather. D. Appleton & Co., New York & London 1912
  • Robert W. Chambers: The streets of Ascalon; episodes in the unfinished career of Richard Quarren, esq. D. Appleton & Co., New York & London 1912
  • Robert W. Chambers: Japonette. D. Appleton & Co., New York & London 1912
  • Margaret Wade Campbell Deland: Partners. Harper & Bros., New York & London 1913
  • Robert W. Chambers: The business of life. D. Appleton & Co., New York & London 1913
  • Rex Beach : The auction block: a novel of New York life. Harper & Brothers, New York & London 1914
  • Ethel M. Kelley: Over here; the story of a war bride. Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis 1918
  • Richard V. Cutler: The Gay Nineties. Garden City, NY 1927

Exhibitions

  • American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York 1934
  • Charles Dana Gibson exhibition of drawings and paintings , Chicago Historical Society, November 9 - December 6, 1942
  • Charles Dana Gibson retrospective exhibition: drawings and paintings, Cincinnati Art Museum , September 29 - October 25, 1942
  • Charles Dana Gibson: exhibition of drawings and paintings , Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, January 13 - February 21, 1943
  • Charles Dana Gibson, 1867–1944: creator of the "Gibson girl": exhibition of over 100 original Gibson "black & white" drawings from the artist's collection, Berry-Hill Galleries, New York, October 11 - November 15, 1965

Selection expenses

  • The best of Charles Dana Gibson (selected and introduced by Woody Gelman; Bounty Books, New York 1969)
  • The Gibson Girl and Her America (selected by Edmund Vincent Gillon; Dover, New York 1969)

literature

Web links

Commons : Charles Dana Gibson  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Helmut Kronthaler: Gibson, Charles Dana . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 53, Saur, Munich a. a. 2007, ISBN 978-3-598-22793-6 , p. 235.
  2. ^ Edward Marshall, The Gibson Girl Analyzed By Her Originator: Artist Whose Delineation of the Young American Woman Made Him Famous Tells How the Type Came Into Existence and What Her Mission Is. In: The New York Times . November 20, 1910.
  3. ↑ Elzea: Gibson, Charles Dana. In: American National Biography. 2000.
  4. ↑ a b daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.de
  5. ↑ americanillustration.org ( Memento of the original from August 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.americanillustration.org
personal data
SURNAME Gibson, Charles Dana
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American cartoonist and illustrator
DATE OF BIRTH September 14, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH Roxbury (Boston)
DATE OF DEATH December 23, 1944
Place of death New York City