March 30, 2013–August 17, 2013
In the 1890s Charles Dana Gibson (1867–1944) created the “Gibson Girl,” a vibrant, new feminine ideal who was the visual embodiment of what writers of the period described as the “New Woman.” From the 1890s until World War I, the glamorous Gibson Girl set the standard for beauty, fashion, and manners, bringing her creator unrivaled professional and popular success. This exhibition, selected from the exceptional collection of Gibson's work at the Library of Congress, traces the arc of the artist's career, highlighting the rise of the Gibson Girl from the 1890s through the first two decades of the twentieth century.
The exhibition is made possible by the Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon.