Charles Dana Gibson

{{short description|American artist, illustrator, and publisher (1867–1944)}}

{{Infobox artist

| name = Charles Dana Gibson

| image = Charles Dana Gibson 02.jpg

| caption = Gibson {{Circa|1900}}

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|mf=yes|1867|9|14}}

| birth_place = Roxbury, Massachusetts, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|1944|12|23|1867|9|14}}

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| nationality = American

| known_for = Illustration

| training = Art Students League of New York

| notable_works = Gibson Girl series

| spouse = {{marriage|Irene Langhorne|November 7, 1895}}

}}

Charles Dana Gibson (September 14, 1867 – December 23, 1944) was an American illustrator who created the Gibson Girl, an iconic representation of the beautiful and independent American woman at the turn of the 20th century.

He published his illustrations in Life magazine and other major national publications for more than 30 years, becoming editor in 1918 and later owner of the general interest magazine.

Early life

Gibson was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on September 14, 1867. He was a son of Josephine Elizabeth (née Lovett) and Charles DeWolf Gibson.{{Cite book|publisher=The Biographical Society|author=Rossiter Johnson, John Howard Brown|title=The twentieth century biographical dictionary of notable Americans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1IDAAAAYAAJ&q=DeWolf+Gibson&pg=PT303|year=1904}} He had five siblings {{Cite book|title=Descendants of Francis Le Baron of Plymouth, Mass.|last=Stockwell |first=Mary Le Baron Esty |date=1904|publisher=T.R. Marvin & Son, printers|oclc=359772}} and was a descendant of U.S. Senators James DeWolf and William Bradford.{{cite news|publisher=National Park Service|author=Laura Barbeau|work=Historic American Buildings Survey|title=LONGFIELD (Gibson House) HABS No.RI-129|url=http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/ri/ri0300/ri0359/data/ri0359.pdf |access-date=2010-06-29|date=December 1979}}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

A talented youth with an early interest in art, Gibson was enrolled by his parents in New York City's Art Students League, where he studied for two years.

Career

File:Gibson Girl.png

Image:Their First Quarrel, Gibson.jpg

Peddling his pen-and-ink sketches, Gibson sold his first work in 1886 to Life magazine, founded by John Ames Mitchell and Andrew Miller. It featured general interest articles, humor, illustrations, and cartoons. His works appeared weekly in the popular national magazine for more than 30 years. He quickly built a wider reputation, with his drawings being featured in all the major New York publications, including Harper's Weekly, Scribners and Collier's. His illustrated books include the 1898 editions of Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda and its sequel Rupert of Hentzau as well as Richard Harding Davis' Gallegher and Other Stories.{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Richard Harding |author-link=Richard Harding Davis |year=1905 |orig-year=1891 |chapter=Frontispiece |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5s40AAAAMAAJ&pg=PP8 |title=Gallegher and Other Stories |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5s40AAAAMAAJ |location=New York |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |oclc=168633}}

It is an oft-repeated urban legend that Gibson's wife and her elegant Langhorne sisters inspired his famous Gibson Girls, who became iconic images in early 20th-century society. The truth is that the first Gibson Girl appeared in 1890, more than two years before Gibson ever met the Langhorne family, and in later years it became fashionable for many of Gibson's friends and family to model for his illustrations.{{Cite book |last=Downey |first=Fairfax |title=Portrait of an Era As Drawn by C.D. Gibson |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=1936 |location=New York |pages=100, 210–211 }} Their dynamic and resourceful father Chiswell Langhorne had his wealth severely reduced by the Civil War, but by the late 19th century, he had rebuilt his fortune on tobacco auctioneering and the railroad industry.[http://www.mainememory.net/bin/Detail?ln=1304 "Charles Dana Gibson and his wife at their Islesboro, Maine, home"], mainememory.net; accessed September 2, 2017.[http://www.mainememory.net/bin/Detail?ln=1301 "Mrs. Gibson, the original Gibson girl"], Maine Memory Network; accessed September 2, 2017.

After the death of John Ames Mitchell in 1918, Gibson became editor of Life and later took over as owner of the magazine. As the popularity of the Gibson Girl faded after World War I, Gibson took to working in oils for his own pleasure. In 1918, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member,{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalacademy.org/all-national-academicians|title=All National Academicians (1825 – Present)|website=National Academy of Design|access-date=2020-02-26}} and became a full Academician in 1932."[http://www.nationalacademy.org/academy/national-academicians/?na=G National Academicians – Past Academicians] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116090401/http://www.nationalacademy.org/academy/national-academicians/?na=G |date=2014-01-16 }}". National Academy. nationalacademy.org; retrieved March 19, 2017.

He retired in 1936, the same year Scribner's published his biography, Portrait of an Era as Drawn by C. D. Gibson: A Biography by Fairfax Downey. At the time of his death in 1944, he was considered "the most celebrated pen-and-ink artist of his time as well as a painter applauded by the critics of his later work."{{cite news |title=Charles Dana Gibson |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/12/25/84015660.pdf |access-date=12 December 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=25 December 1944}}

Personal life

File:C.D. Gibson & wife LCCN2014717834 (cropped).jpg

On November 7, 1895, Gibson was married to Irene Langhorne (1873–1956), a daughter of railroad industrialist Chiswell Langhorne. Irene was born in Danville, Virginia, and was one of five sisters, all noted for their beauty, including Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor,{{cite news |title=ASTORS TO VISIT MAINE.; Will Spend August With the Charles Dana Gibson Family. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1926/06/11/98479724.pdf |access-date=12 December 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=11 June 1926}} the first woman to serve as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.[http://www.virginia.org/site/description.asp?attrID=14885 Langhorne House, 117 Broad Street, Danville, Va., virginia.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080602145943/http://www.virginia.org/site/description.asp?attrID=14885 |date=2008-06-02 }} Irene and Charles were the parents of two children:

Irene Langhorne Gibson (1897–1973),{{cite news |title=Mrs. John J. Emery |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1973/08/02/90460728.pdf |access-date=10 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=2 August 1973}} who married George Browne Post III (1890–1952), a grandson of architect George B. Post, in 1916.{{cite news |title=MRS. G.B. POST JR. ASKS PARIS DIVORCE; Former Irene Langhorne Gibson Accuses Her Husband of Desertion. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1926/02/16/99378753.pdf |access-date=12 December 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=16 February 1926}} They divorced and she married real estate developer John Josiah Emery (1898–1976) in 1926.
Langhorne Gibson (1899–1982),{{cite news |title=Langhorne Gibson, 82 Writer and Artist's Son |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/12/obituaries/langhorne-gibson-82-writer-and-artist-s-son.html |access-date=10 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=12 July 1982}} who married Marion Taylor (1902–1960) in 1922.{{cite news |title=MISS TAYLOR TO WED LANGHORNE GIBSON; Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Moses Taylor Engaged to Son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Dana Gibson. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/07/01/99032816.pdf |access-date=12 December 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=1 July 1922}} He later married Parthenia Burke Ross (1911–1998) in 1936.{{cite news |title=PARTHENIA B. ROSS HAS HOME BRIDAL Mrs. PauI.Downing's Daughter Wed to Langhorne Gibson, Nephew of Lady Astor. WILL VISIT WEST INDIES Bridegroom, Author of Books on Naval History, Is Executive of Life and Son of Noted Artist. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1936/01/10/88624816.pdf |access-date=12 December 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=January 10, 1936}}

For part of his career, Gibson lived in New Rochelle, New York, a popular art colony among actors, writers and artists of the period. The community was best known for its unprecedented number of prominent American illustrators.[https://books.google.com/books?id=mWfnAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA35 Progressive Architecture – Volume 3, 1922], google.com; accessed September 2, 2017. Gibson also owned an island off Islesboro, Maine which came to be known as 700 Acre Island; he and his wife spent an increasing amount of time there through the years.[http://www.vintagemaineimages.com/bin/Detail?ln=1299 Charles Dana Gibson at his Islesboro home, vintagemaineimages.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306142848/http://www.vintagemaineimages.com/bin/Detail?ln=1299|date=March 6, 2009}}

Gibson died of a heart ailment in 1944, aged 77, at 127 East 73rd Street, his home in New York City.{{cite news |title=CHARLES D. GIBSON DEAD AT AGE OF 77; Famed Illustrator, Creator of 'Gibson Girl,' Succumbs to Heart Ailment in Home LAUNCHED VOGUE OF '90'S Noted for His Lighter Works, He Also Gained Recognition for His Paintings in Oils |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/12/24/84013639.pdf |access-date=12 December 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=24 December 1944}} After a private funeral service at the Gibson home in New York, he was interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.{{cite news |title=RITES FOR C. D. GIBSON; Relatives and Friends Attend Service at Artist's Home |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/12/27/88610807.pdf |access-date=12 December 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=27 December 1944}} His widow died at her home in Greenwood, Virginia in April 1956 at the age of 83.{{cite news |title=Mrs. Charles Dana Gibson Dies; Original Model for Gibson Girl; Widow of Artist Was One of Five Langhorne Sisters --Symbol of Nineties American Ideal of Beauty Founded Alliance Branch |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1956/04/21/86560125.pdf |access-date=12 December 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=21 April 1956}}

Work

File:Zenda1 Gibson.jpg|Frontispiece to The Prisoner of Zenda, 1898

File:Hentzau Gibson.jpg|Illustration from Rupert of Hentzau, 1898

File:At the Beach, Gibson.jpg|At the Beach, 1901

File:Fancy Dress, Gibson.jpg|Fancy Dress, 1901

File:Love in a Garden, Gibson.jpg|Love in a Garden, 1901

File:The Crush, Gibson.jpg|The Crush, 1901

File:Art Lesson, Charles Dana Gibson.jpg|Art Lesson, 1901

File:Everything in the World That Money Can Buy, Gibson.jpg|Everything in the World That Money Can Buy, 1901

File:Stepped On, Gibson.jpg|Stepped On, 1901

File:Fanned Out, Charles Dana Gibson.jpg|Fanned Out, 1914

File:Charles Dana Gibson (1902) Studies in expression. When women are jurors (compressed).jpg|Studies in Expression: When Women Are Jurors, 1902

File:LIFEMagazine26Mar1925.jpg|March 26, 1925 Life cover by Gibson

Citations

General and cited sources

{{Cite magazine |last=Bulloch |first=J. M. |authorlink=John Malcolm Bulloch |year=1896 |title=Charles Dana Gibson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o_cEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA75 |journal=The Studio |volume=VIII |pages=75–81 |access-date=2009-07-27}}
{{Cite magazine |last=Davis |first=Charles Belmont |date=January 1899 |title=Mr. Charles Dana Gibson and His Art |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uprPAAAAMAAJ |journal=The Critic |volume=XXXIV |issue=859 |pages=48–55 |access-date=2009-07-27}}
{{Cite book |editor-last=Gelman |editor-first=Woody |year=1969 |title=The Best of Charles Dana Gibson |location=New York |publisher=Bounty Books |oclc=71597}}
{{Cite book |last=Gibson |first=Charles Dana |year=1969 |title=The Gibson Girl and Her America: The Best Drawings of Charles Dana Gibson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=815pCDy1fkoC |editor=Edmund Vincent Gillon Jr. |location=New York |publisher=Dover Publications |oclc=1112853195|isbn=9780486219868 }}
{{Cite book |last=Gibson |first=Charles Dana |author-mask=2 |year=1905 |title=Sketches in Egypt |url=https://archive.org/details/sketchesinegypt00gibsgoog |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday & McClure Co |oclc=3537342 |access-date=2009-07-27}}
{{Cite book |last=Marden |first=Orison Swett |year=1905 |title=Little Visits with Great Americans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xF0oAAAAYAAJ |chapter=Chapter XXXIII: Being Himself in Style and Subjects, the Secret of an Artist's Wonderful Popularity: Charles Dana Gibson, Originator of the 'Gibson Girl' |publisher=The Success Company |location=New York |pages=342–352 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xF0oAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA342 |oclc=5292021 |access-date=28 August 2019}}