Research Article: 1900s: Print Culture

In the late 1800s, the socially restrained Victorian era was coming to an end, giving way to the more permissive modern era. In the last days of the Victorian age, a young American artist named Charles Dana Gibson (1867–1944) began to publish sketches of a new kind of American woman who was emerging in the new era. More women were going to work, and the money they earned gave them a new independence and confidence. Gibson was impressed with these dynamic young women, and he drew them over and over, at home, at work, and at play. Once women saw the romantic and elegant images of these "Gibson Girls"—which appeared in popular magazines like Life (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) Harpers, and Collier's Weekly—they began to imitate their style, creating a period of fashion that lasted from 1890 to 1910.

Gibson Girls were tall, athletic, and poised,...
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