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"She was taller than the other women currently seen in the pages of magazines, infinitely more spirited and independent, yet altogether feminine." The "inventor" of this elegant, willowy image of feminine beauty was Charles Gibson. In the fall of 1886 he sold his first drawing to Life Magazine for four dollars and that was the start of a 30 year relationship with the magazine. By 1890, he was working for all the major publications in New York: The Century, Harper's Monthly, Weekly and Bazaar, plus doing his weekly drawings for Life. Not only did he become a social lion and New York's most eligible bachelor (until he settled down with Virginia society belle Irene Langhorne in 1895), but he saw the nation decree "Gibson-mania" for the next two decades. |