Picturesque America — In the Mountains

A landscape of rocky mountain terrain frames five or more Gibson Girls at leisure — two in the foreground, one seated in dark dress with arms crossed, one reclining in white with an elaborate flower-trimmed hat; a third waves her hat jubilantly at right. Smaller sketched figures recede into the background hills, giving the composition a panoramic, almost cinematic sweep. The caption, Picturesque America — Anywhere in the Mountains, is the joke: the scenery is merely backdrop for the women themselves, who are the real spectacle. Gibson flatters and gently mocks simultaneously — these confident, fashionably corseted figures have colonized the wilderness as thoroughly as any resort hotel, their elaborate dress utterly indifferent to terrain.