Online Exhibition
Unless otherwise noted, all items are preserved
in the Cabinet of American Illustration, Prints
and Photographs Division of the Library
of Congress.
Wladyslaw
T. Benda (1873-1948)
Head of girl with
long blonde hair, ca.
1923
Watercolor, charcoal, and colored pencil on paper
Published as cover of
Hearst's International Magazine, April 1923
(1)
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Polish-born Wladyslaw T. Benda pursued
art training in Krakow and Vienna before coming to the
United States at the turn of the century to begin his
career as an illustrator. He created his own idealized
beauty, the "Benda Girl," whose elongated, almond-shaped
eyes and exotic appearance distinguished her from other
American types. The example here, done for Hearst's International,
was one of hundreds of images for magazines Benda did
before turning his attention to theatrical masks late
in his career.
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In this drawing of a blonde girl with earrings, stylishly
short hair, and flawless features, Benda fashioned an
enchanting vision that was glamorous and up-todate for
the era. His skillful modeling of forms, attention to
detail, and use of strong color enabled him to create
dramatic, balanced designs. This and similar drawings
by Benda graced the covers and pages of numerous magazines
such as Hearst's International, Cosmopolitan, Liberty,
Redbook, St. Nicholas, and the Saturday
Evening Post.
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Wladyslaw
T. Benda (1873-1948)
Girl with earrings, ca. 1924
Watercolor, charcoal, graphite, and brush and ink on paper
Published as cover of
Hearst's International Magazine, ca. 1924 (2)
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Wladyslaw
T. Benda (1873-1948)
There Was a Woman Standing in the Door
as Though Posed in the
Dark Wood of a Frame, ca. 1918
Charcoal on paper
Published in "The Sun Burned Lady" by Melville Davisson Post, Hearst's
International Magazine, December 1918 (3)
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In addition to cover art, Wladyslaw T. Benda created
many illustrations for short stories in magazines. Benda
depicts the sudden entrance of Mrs. Danvers Buller, a "Southeastern
beauty" into the story, as she makes a mysterious, nocturnal
visit to a chemist. Benda illuminates her form from the
lower left so that she stands out dramatically against
the towering shadow that she casts on the right. Her
dazzling appearance in evening dress and jewelry and
her watchful gaze to the left contribute to a mood of
intrigue and expectation.
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Creator of the "Brinkley Girl," female illustrator
Nell Brinkley, a pioneer in the field, drew idealistic,
active young women for newspaper stories that she wrote.
In this image, Brinkley depicts "Golden Eyes," the World
War I heroine of her illustrated serialized story that
was probably published in the New York Journal, around
1918-1919, according to Trina Robbins, Brinkley's biographer.
Brinkley employs a fine-lined Art Nouveau style in portraying
her heroine Golden Eyes, who promoted the sale of Liberty
Bonds and supported overseas war efforts. She embodies
women's active patriotism during the war. Unlike most
of her peers, Brinkley also depicted beauties of different
cultures and races.
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Nell Brinkley (1886-1944)
Golden Eyes with
Uncle Sam (dog), ca.
1918
Watercolor, ink, gouache, and opaque white over graphite under drawing on illustration
board
Swann Fund purchase (4)
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Jaro Fabry (1912-1953)
Katherine Hepburn, ca. 1937
Published as cover of Cinema Arts, 1937
Watercolor and gouache on paper
Swann Fund purchase (5)
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Jaro Fabry began his career as an artist soon after
graduating from Yale University in 1933. His work was
published in The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar,
Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Colliers, Town and Country, and Cinema
Arts. Fabry applies watercolor with loose free brushwork
to achieve a fresh, spontaneous portrayal of the actress
Katherine Hepburn.
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When Charles Dana Gibson introduced the "Gibson Girl" in Life in
the 1890s, she set a standard for physical beauty that
lasted for two decades. Gibson depicted his tall, graceful
ideal as an equal companion to man and showed her engaged
in diverse activities out of doors. He occasionally highlighted
her humorous, teasing side, as seen in this amusing scene
in which Gibson Girls fly kite-men and clearly enjoy
toying with their minuscule male companions.
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Charles
Dana Gibson (1867-1944)
Summer Sports, ca. 1904
Ink over graphite under drawing on illustration board
Published in Life, June 2, 1904 (6)
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Charles
Dana Gibson (1867-1944)
The Sweetest
Story Ever Told, ca.
1910
Ink over graphite on illustration board
Published in Collier's Weekly, August 13, 1910 (7)
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Charles Dana Gibson worked almost exclusively in black
and white, skillfully using pen-and-ink like a paintbrush
in creating the "Gibson Girl," his tall, narrow-waisted
ideal. He portrayed her as multi-faceted and highlighted
her interests and talents as seen in this drawing of
a violin player. Following her initial appearance in Life in
the 1890s, the Gibson Girl gained widespread popularity--being
featured in varied media, including plays, songs, and
advertisements, and on products such as wallpaper.
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Fashion and glamour intertwine markedly in images
of American beauties in the 1910s-1920s. Though John
Held, Jr., is best remembered for his images of flappers
rendered in a highly linear, dynamic manner, he reveals
another aspect of his artistic persona in this example
of his work. He depicts an exotic beauty in elegant evening
dress in an unusually detailed, vividly colored drawing
that also is a striking example of Art Deco style.
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John Held,
Jr. (1889-1958)
Elegant woman in
silver dress holding a fan, n.d.
Watercolor, metallic silver paint, gouache,
and graphite on paper
Swann Foundation Fund purchase (8)
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Georges
LePape (1887-1971)
Couple Lighting
Cigarettes, ca.
1919
Gouache over graphite on bristol board
Published in Vanity Fair, December 1919 (9)
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Paris-born illustrator Georges Lepape was also a painter,
designer, and engraver. Like Russell Patterson(1893-1977),
he possessed an exceptional talent for fashion illustration,
which enabled him to pursue an impressive career in France
before American art editors discovered him. Lepape created
this drawing of a couple smoking at a time when this
pleasure was regarded as glamorous, as well as mildly
risqué when done by women. Lepape makes minimal
use of modeling and relies on the graphic power of elegant,
outlined forms, linear patterns of clothing, and trailing
smoke to compose a strongly decorative, eye-catching
design.
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Like John Held, Jr., Russell Patterson created images
of flappers that earned him wide popular and professional
recognition. In this drawing, Patterson depicts a classic
beauty of the 1920s lost in revery. The jagged hem of
her sleeveless dress and angle of her bent arm play off
against the delicate loops of smoke wafting across black
space.
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Russell
Patterson (1893-1977)
Where There's
Smoke There's Fire, ca.
1920s
India, red and brown inks,
and
watercolor on illustration board (10)
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Coles Phillips (1880-1927)
Know All Men
by These Presents, ca.
1910
Gouache, watercolor, and charcoal on illustration board
Published as cover, Life, January 27, 1910
Bendiner Fund Purchase
(11)
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Coles Phillips developed his idealistic portrayals
of American women in the early twentieth century after
the Gibson Girl appeared. Phillips's girls, who graced
the covers of Life, Good Housekeeping, and other
magazines, were rivaled in popularity and beauty only
by those of Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944). This drawing
represents an excellent example of Phillips's unique "Fadeaway
Girl," a design tour-de-force in which he uses negative
space brilliantly to compose a dynamic, innovative, and
attractive image in which the main emphasis falls upon
the head and hands of the beauty. In this and other examples,
he depicts the main part of the figure--usually the clothing--so
that it blends into the background.
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Brooklyn-born Ethel McClellan Plummer came of age
artistically after the introduction of modern European
and American art into an increasingly urban American
society. Shaped by these influences, Plummer depicts
American beauties in an urban setting, as stylish, flattened
figures, defined by sophisticated use of line, color,
and pattern, as in this drawing for Vanity Fair.
Plummer made cover designs and illustrations in the 1920s
and 1930s for magazines of sophisticated fashion such
as Vogue and Vanity Fair, as well as
publications with broader appeal such as Life, Women's
Home Companion, Shadowland, and the New
York Tribune.
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Ethel McClellan
Plummer (1888-1936)
Vanity Fair
on the Avenue, 1914
Watercolor, gouache, and ink on paper board
Published in Vanity Fair, June 1914 (12)
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Rita Senger (active
1915-1930s)
Woman dancing on
the shore, ca. 1916
Gouache, watercolor over graphite on watercolor board
Published as cover of Vanity Fair, July 1916 (13)
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Rita Senger renders her young beauty as a lithe, graceful,
open form dancing on a shore. Wearing a simple black
dress, she glides forward to the left, her streaming
hair emphasizing her motion. Senger's boldly simplified
forms with little modeling share traits in common with
the forms of other artists working in modernist styles,
such as Plummer and Patterson. Senger created striking
cover designs for Vogue and Vanity Fair,
whose audiences were highly sophisticated and urban.
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Charlotte Harding depicts a tall, stately beauty,
whose figure, demure dress, and elegant ease conform
closely to Gibson's influential icon of American womanhood.
Her drawing illustrated a story in Century by
male author Eliot Gregory, who commented with great skepticism
on the growing independence of women at the turn of the
century. Harding was one of a cadre of unusually talented,
hard-working women illustrators who were educated and
worked in Philadelphia during America's "golden age of
illustration."
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Charlotte
Harding (1873-1951)
A "quick change"--for the rest of the afternoon, ca.
1901
Charcoal, wash, and opaque white on layered paper
Published in "Our Foolish Virgins" by Eliot Gregory, Century, November
1901 (14)
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Frederic
Rodrigo Gruger (1871-1953)
Too Chary of
Their Complexions
to Brave the Sun, ca. 1914
Crayon and wash on paper
Published in "The Goldfish,"
Saturday Evening Post, January 10, 1914
(15)
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Frederic Gruger's training as a newspaper illustrator
developed his rapid-fire execution and broad imagination,
both of which enabled him to fashion a productive career
in story illustration. His drawings had a depth of tone
that was perfect for the black-and-white images in the Saturday
Evening Post, his primary employer. The elegant
woman drawn by Gruger departs from the Gibson type. Less
aloof, thinner, but still conservatively dressed, she
foreshadows Held's flapper in pose and appearance.
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Instantly recognizable, Held's colorful drawings of
flirtatious, flippant flappers and "Joe College" were
widely published in such magazines as Judge, Life,
The New Yorker, College Humor, and Harper's
Bazaar. In this cover drawing for Life,
we see a later form of Held's flapper, who, with her
longer face and upturned nose, appears less cartoon-like
than her grinning companion. The multi-talented Held
also designed costumes and sets for musical reviews,
wrote and illustrated books, and created comic strips,
including Oh! Margy (later Merely Margy),
Joe Prep, and Rah Rah Rosalie.
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John Held,
Jr. (1889-1958)
The Girl Who
Gave Him
the Cold Shoulder, ca.
1925
Gouache on illustration board
Cover of Life (16)
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Edward Penfield 1866-1925)
Young woman sitting
beside table
holding
umbrella, 1910-1925
Watercolor, gouache, and ink over graphite on paper
Advertisement for Hart,
Schaffner, & Marx clothes (17)
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Edward Penfield gained fame as a graphic designer
in the 1890s, when he and Will Bradley (1868-1962) led
the American poster renaissance. Subsequently, when he
became the art director for Harper's magazine,
his graphic designs of elegant women remained in demand
as both magazine covers and advertisements. Here the
clean lines and simple composition make an easily read
advertisement for Hart, Schaffner, & Marx, a men's
clothing firm that engaged Penfield's talents for many
years.
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Harrison Fisher's sophisticated young beauties graced
the majority of covers of Cosmopolitan between
1912 and 1934. This image of a well-dressed woman in
evening clothes was one of the last works he completed
and was published a few months after his death in January
1934. His "Fisher Girl" became a notable rival to the
Gibson Girl and the Christy Girl.
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Harrison
Fisher (1875-1934)
Young woman holding
a rose, ca. 1934
Cover of Hearst's International
combined with Cosmopolitan,
April 1934 (19) |
Howard Chandler
Christy (1873-1952)
Young woman holding
skates, ca. 1924
Cover of Motor, February 1924 (20) |
Among the best known of "pretty girl" illustrators,
Howard Chandler Christy was considered so knowledgeable
about beautiful women that he was chosen to be the sole
judge of the first Miss America contest, held in 1921.
Christy first won notice when drawings he made while
he accompanied U.S. troops to Cuba during the Spanish-American
War were published in Scribners and Leslie's
Weekly. Not long after, he concentrated on drawings
of beautiful women that were published in McClure's and
other magazines, and the "Christy Girl" came to rival
the Gibson Girl and Fisher Girl.
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