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Charles Dana Gibson

Charles Dana Gibson: The American Trendsetter

This exhibition features Charles Dana Gibson (1867–1944), an American illustrator best known for his creation of the Gibson girl. Gibson was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts and moved to Flushing, Queens as a young child and grew up on 149th street (originally named Jagger) and Sanford. Items in this exhibition feature original books filled with illustrations by Gibson published in the turn of the century, canvas and paper prints, and photographs. The exhibition displays not only Gibson’s legacy but his close connections to Queens.

Coming from an old New England family, which included merchants, seamen, and artists, his artistic interest showed itself early in his life. Gibson’s father often cut silhouette figures to amuse his son which influenced the young Gibson to create his own drawings. At fourteen years old, his skill with scissors had become a local legend. This led him to obtain an apprenticeship with Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907), the notable American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation. During this apprenticeship, Gibson did not show an aptitude for sculpture and preferred to work on paper, leading him to his experimentation with pen and pencil. In 1883, Gibson enrolled in the Art Students League, NY at sixteen years old.

Eventually he developed an extensive portfolio which made its way in the New York City offices of Life magazine, a young humor magazine which began in 1883. By 1904, a contract with Collier’s weekly made him the highest paid illustrator in America, where collections of his drawings appeared periodically in a series of books that ran into many editions. Gibson studied in Paris briefly which contributed to the improvement of his drawings and inspiration to depict high society. By the 1890s, Gibson fashioned a new standard for romantic love, revival of chivalry, and beauty—the Gibson Girl. He became president of the Society of Illustrators during World War I, and served as the head of the Division of Pictorial Publicity under the Federal committee of Public Information.