Gibson Girl Engraving / Design For Wall Paper

Artist - Charles Dana Gibson

One of the most collectible Gibson Girl original images from 1902. Charles Dana Gibson's lovely black and white drawings represented a new fashion and beauty symbol for women in the 1890s and early 1900s. They established a lasting style (The Gibson Girl) and were topical and even humorous. Gibson was able to invoke a confident yet evocative look to the expressions on his subjects' faces, thus giving women a modern appearance that still resonates.

Fortunately, his art was presented exactly as he drew it in a series of large format books around the turn of the 20th century. Unfortunately, not many of the original plates from those books survive. This example is one of the authentic plates from those books.

It is printed in sharp, black and white lines on good paper. Later halftone editions don't capture the crispness and subtle character of his art. In these original plates, the blacks are dense black, and the finer lines are true to Gibson's original drawings. This example was meant to be a design for wallpaper, specifically for a "bachelor's apartment." It is one of the best Charles Dana Gibson original images attainable.

As a bonus, the back contains a plated image of "The Seed of Ambition" from 1903. The image is of a young woman of a lower class gazing at the display of another woman of wealth. One can only wonder if this image is really planting the seed of ambition to work hard to achieving wealth or maybe displaying the more unattainable goal and class disparity.

Engraving Size: 10"x16"
Condition: Near Fine