Charles Dana Gibson, Chairman, Division of Pictorial Publicity

This archival photograph — not a cartoon plate — documents Charles Dana Gibson in a formal portrait pose, head inclined, hat in hand, wearing a dark suit. The mount card identifies him as artist, illustrator, and Chairman of the Division of Pictorial Publicity within the Committee on Public Information, Woodrow Wilson's wartime propaganda bureau. Gibson, already famous as creator of the idealized 'Gibson Girl' in Life magazine, here served a governmental function: chairing the Engineer Corps committee that recommended artists for official Army commissions. The image records the moment American commercial illustration was conscripted wholesale into state propaganda, transforming satirists and society draughtsmen into instruments of the war effort.