Royal Doulton Flow Blue Gibson Girls

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Royal Doulton Flow Blue Gibson Girls:
$69.00

Charles Dana Gibson was an illustrator who invented the image of the Gibson Girls.

Born in Roxbury, Mass. in 1867, as a young man he studied art in New York City specializing in silhouette drawingHe first commission was for Life Magazine, a positionthat lasted thirty years.

His illustrations appeared in Life, Collier’s and Harper’s Weekly. He illustrated books, including a rather famous one:“The Prisoner of Zenda.” On a trip to Europe, he met his idol, English artist George du Maurier, who did satiric drawings for the British publication, Puck. Du Maurier was famous for his drawings of striking society women.

When he returned, Gibson started developing the Gibson Girl image around 1890.She was taller than other women in magazines.She was poised and well bred, but she had a mischievous streak.She was spirited and independent, but she was still thoroughly feminine. She appeared in a stiff shirtwaist, her long, soft hair piled into a chignon, and topped by a big, plumed hat. Her flowing skirt was hiked up in back with just a hint of a bustle.

One of his collaborations featured a timeline of a young widow and her grief over the death of her loved one. Her friends, Miss Babbles and Dr. Bottles try valiantly to help her through this period of readjustment.Deciding she has been in confinement long enough, she ventures slowly but surely back into her world of social activities.Suitors appeared delighted by her presence and she moves from city social life to the countryside. The suitors follow and, unable to shake the memories of the past, she forsakes them all and takes the veil and seems satisfied with her new role of religious services. But the suitors, who, not able to bear the thought of being without her presence, become men-of-the-cloth so as to be ever near.

There were two sets of plates done by Doulton, one of which is listed here. The second set has a smaller cobalt blue border on a white background of lover’s knots entwined with hearts.

The Gibson Girl plates were ordered and distributed by George F Bassett & Co. of New York in 1901. There were 24 (10.5”) plates in this series chosen by Doulton to be used a decorative plates:

She Contemplates the Cloister*

She Decides to Die in Spite of Dr. Bottles

She Finds that Exercise Does Not Improve Her Spirits

Miss Babbles, the Authoress, Calls and Reads Aloud*

She Finds Some Consolation in Her Mirror*

A Quiet Dinner With Dr. Bottles*

A Message From the Outside World*

Some Think that She Has Remained in Retirement etc.

She is the Subject of More Hostile Criticism

Mrs. Diggs is Alarmed at Discovering What She Imagines*

She Looks for Relief Among Some of the Old Ones*

She Longs for Seclusion and Decides to Leave Town etc.

The Day After Arriving at Her Journey’s End etc.

She Goes Into Colors*

They Go Fishing*

Failing to Find Rest and Quiet in the Country etc.

Mr. Waddles Arrives Late and Finds Her Card Filled

She Becomes a Trained Nurse

They Take A Morning Run*

Miss Babbles Brings a Copy of a Morning Paper etc.

They All Go Skating

She Goes to a Fancy Dress Ball*

She Is Disturbed By a Vision of Herself etc.*

And Hers, Winning New Friends and Not Losing the Old etc

At this time, the collection has 17 plates remaining (items pictured below are marked with an *).

The plates were designed with a reproduction of a rectangular copy of a print surrounded a blue-white arabesques inside of a leaf-style border, 10.5”. On the lower left hand corner of the print face is the signature of C.D. Gibson, the title of the illustration, and the copyright 1900 (or 1901) by Life Publishers Co. for the print and on the reverse side the Royal Doulton England Lion and Crown trademark, I-08, and imprinted Doulton Burslem -England. Also on the back is the mark or initial(s) of the name of the artist(s).