Antique Art Nouveau Gibson Girl Harrison Fisher Watercolor Dated 1909 Oval Frame
When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Antique Art Nouveau Gibson Girl Harrison Fisher Watercolor Dated 1909 Oval Frame:
$1000.00
Description: Antique Art Nouveau Gibson Girl Harrison Fisher Watercolor Dated 1909 Oval Frame
Magnificent Antique Art Nouveau Gibson Girl Harrison Fisher Type Watercolor Portrait of an Elegant Lady Dated 1909. It comes in the original gilt gesso on wood oval frame. The painting is signed E.A.L. \'09 lower right corner. The frame measures 14 7/8\" x 17 7/8\" that holds 11\" x 14\". It also contains the original glass, not convex, normal flat panel glass. The art is in excellent condition, tint slight edge water stain along the left side near the frame, quite minimal. The frame shows a couple slight areas of previous edge chipping typical of gesso style frames. It is guaranteed genuine authentic original artwork painting, not a print. Very well done, same quality and era as Harrison Fisher - check my photos.
The Gibson Girl began appearing in the 1890s and was the personification of the feminine ideal of beauty portrayed by the satirical pen-and-ink illustrations of illustrator Charles Dana Gibson during a 20-year period that spanned the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in the United States. The artist saw his creation as representing the composite of \"thousands of American girls.\"
The Gibson Girl image that appeared in the 1890s combined elements of older American images of female beauty, such as the \"fragile lady\" and the \"voluptuous women\". From the \"fragile lady\" she took the basic slender lines, and a sense of respectability. From the \"voluptuous women\" she took a large bust and hips, but was not vulgar or lewd, as previous images of women with large busts and hips had been depicted. From this combination emerged the Gibson Girl, who was tall and slender, yet with ample bosom, hips and buttocks. She had an exaggerated S-curve torso shape achieved by wearing a swan-bill corset. Images of her epitomized the late 19th- and early 20th-century Western preoccupation with youthful features and ephemeral beauty. Her neck was thin and her hair piled high upon her head in the contemporary bouffant, pompadour, and chignon (\"waterfall of curls\") fashions. The statuesque, narrow-waisted ideal feminine figure was portrayed as being at ease and stylish.
She was a member of upper class society, always perfectly dressed in the latest fashionable attire appropriate for the place and time of day. The Gibson Girl was also one of the new, more athletic shaped women, who could be found cycling through Central Park, often exercised and was emancipated to the extent that she could enter the workplace. In addition to the Gibson Girl\'s refined beauty, in spirit, she was calm, independent, confident, and sought personal fulfillment. She could be depicted attending college and vying for a good mate, but she would never have participated in the suffrage movement.
Taking part in the suffrage movement was something more associated with the New Woman, another cultural image of women that emerged around the same time as the Gibson Girl. The Gibson Girl was a more popular version of the New Woman, who both undermined and sanctioned women\'s desires for progressive sociopolitical change. The New Woman was the more disconcerting of the two images at the time as she was seen as an example of change and disruption within the old patterns of social order, asking for the right to equal educational and work opportunities as well as progressive reform, sexual freedom and suffrage. Whilst the Gibson Girl took on many characteristics of the New Woman, she did so without involving herself in politics and thus did not appear to contemporaries at the time to be usurping traditionally masculine roles as the New Woman was deemed to. She therefore managed to stay within the boundaries of feminine roles without too much transgression.
Gibson depicted her as an equal and sometimes teasing companion to men. She was also sexually dominant, for example, literally examining comical little men under a magnifying glass, or, in a breezy manner, crushing them under her feet. Next to the beauty of a Gibson Girl, men often appeared as simpletons or bumblers; and even men with handsome physiques or great wealth alone could not provide satisfaction to her. Gibson illustrated men so captivated by her looks that would they would follow her anywhere, attempting to fulfill any desire, even if it was absurd. One memorable drawing shows dumbstruck men following a Gibson Girl\'s command to plant a young, leafless tree upside-down, roots in the air, simply because she wanted it that way. Most often, a Gibson Girl appeared single and uncommitted; however, a romance always relieved her boredom. Once married, she was shown deeply frustrated if romantic love had disappeared from her life, but satisfied if socializing with girlfriends or happy when doting on her infant child. In drawings such as these there was no hint at pushing the boundaries of women\'s roles, instead they often cemented the long-standing beliefs held by many from the old social orders, rarely depicting the Gibson Girl as taking part in any activity that could be seen as out of the ordinary for a woman.
The artist believed that the Gibson Girl represented the beauty of American women:
I\'ll tell you how I got what you have called the \'Gibson Girl.\' I saw her on the streets, I saw her at the theatres, I saw her in the churches. I saw her everywhere and doing everything. I saw her idling on Fifth Avenue and at work behind the counters of the stores... [T]he nation made the type. What Zangwill calls the ‘Melting Pot of Races’ has resulted in a certain character; why should it not also have turned out a certain type of face?...There isn’t any ‘Gibson Girl,’ but there are many thousands of American girls, and for that let us all thank God.
Gibson believed that America\'s Gibson Girls would become more beautiful:
They are beyond question the loveliest of all their sex...In the United States, of course, where natural selection has been going on, as elsewhere, and where, much more than elsewhere, that has been a great variety to choose from. The eventual American woman will be even more beautiful than the woman of to-day. Her claims to that distinction will result from a fine combination of the best points of all those many races which have helped to make our population.
Many models posed for Gibson Girl-style illustrations, including Gibson\'s wife, Irene Langhorne (who may have been the original model, and was a sister of Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor) and Evelyn Nesbit. The most famous Gibson Girl was probably the Belgian-American stage actress, Camille Clifford, whose high coiffure and long, elegant gowns that wrapped around her hourglass figure and tightly corseted wasp waist defined the style.
Among the many Gibson Girl illustrators were Howard Chandler Christy whose work celebrating American \"beauties\" was similar to Gibson\'s, and Harry G. Peter, who was most famous for his art on Wonder Woman comics.
- Shipping:Unless free shipping is listed,buyer is responsible for all shipping, crate, freight charges, and any applicable taxes.PAULARTGALLERYwill make every effort to ship items within 5 business days from the date payment is received or cleared. However, there may be instances when this is not possible and wewill notify you immediately of the delay and anticipated shipping date.Items are shipped using First Class Swiss Post Priority Mail and a tracking number will be provided immediately upon shipment of your item. Larger items may require crating and freight shipping. Your item will be carefully wrapped and packaged in a secure container. Please ensure we have correct address information to avoid lost or misdirected items. Combined shipping is possible upon multiple item shipping to same buyer.
- Contact Us:We encourage buyers to ask any and all questions prior to purchase. We are happy to answer your questions and will make every effort to do so within 24 hours. Excellent customer service and satisfaction is our goal, you are our #1 priority! We are available between the hours of 8AM to 11PM, all the week, Central European Standard Time. Please email with any questions.
- PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ASK ANY QUESTIONS AND EVEN SUGGESTING A LOWER PRICE - WE ARE READY TO ACCEPT ANY REASONABLE OFFER
- PLEASE CHECK OUT OUROTHER LISTED ITEMFOR A SUPERB ART COLLECTION OF YOUR CHOICE
Phone:0041 78 744 08 84
Return policy details
Refund given if customer not 100% satisfied. Time limit for return of item within 14 days of delivery.
Antique Art Nouveau Gibson Girl Harrison Fisher Watercolor Dated 1909 Oval Frame:
$1000.00