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Gibson, Charles Dana, 1867-1944, artist · Charles Dana Gibson, 1903
A ballroom or reception hall, rendered in Gibson's precise pen-and-ink line, splits into two distinct social worlds. At left, a seated older woman—jeweled, elaborately coiffed—holds court as four men in formal evening dress crowd around her with attentive, slightly fawning postures. The cluster radiates money and status. At right, a young woman in a low-cut ball gown sits alone on one of a row of empty gilt chairs, her gaze cast downward in quiet isolation. No caption is visible in this reproduction. The title—five repeated dollar signs—makes the argument explicit: wealth commands all masculine attention. The young woman's beauty counts for nothing against the older woman's fortune. Gibson indicts the marriage market with characteristic economy, no caricature required; the cruelty is purely sociological.
About this artifact
- Creator
- Gibson, Charles Dana, 1867-1944, artist
- Date
- Charles Dana Gibson, 1903
- Rights
- Public domain — free to view, share, and reuse.
- Restoration
- Digitally restored and hosted by comicbooks.com.
Part of our mission to preserve and restore the public-domain heritage of the medium.