Plein Air Heritage
At a time when digital media is rapidly changing the publishing business and the market for original illustrations is greatly reduced, it is hard to imagine an era in which artists could become rich and famous by creating drawings and paintings for newspapers, books, magazines, and commercial advertising. However, during the Golden Age of American Illustration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, artists like Charles Dana Gibson could become wealthy celebrities. Gibson was educated at the Art Students League of New York and wanted to create paintings for publication, but the marketplace definitely favored his pen-and-ink drawings. That preference was so strong that his “Gibson Girl” became an ideal image of youthful American femininity, and Gibson’s drawings of her were responsible for the success of several magazines. At the…
