À force de bouffer de l’illustration US d’avant la photographie dans les magazines, j’en suis venu à interroger le monde très artificiel, blanc et banlieusard qu’elle met en scène au kilomètre. Mais cette gêne ne date pas d’hier et explique probablement pourquoi je n’ai jamais parlé du travail de Charles Dana Gibson (1867 – 1944) sur ce blog. Très populaire dans les années 1890, il a créé le premier type de femme « typiquement américaine » – et oui, vous imaginez bien, elle n’est ni Dakota, ni Sioux…
L’élite plaquée or
À la fin du XXème siècle, les États-Unis cherchent à définir ce qu’ils sont réellement alors que les émigrants débarquent de toute l’Europe. Les illustrateurs sont en première ligne pour proposer des modèles auxquels s’identifier. La Gibson Girl est une jeune femme de bonne famille WASP, élancée (sportive), à la chevelure épaisse, aux paupières lourdes et au port altier. Ce que dans notre jargon professionnel, nous appelons « une bourgeoise bien coincée ». Et c’est la raison principale pour laquelle je ne me suis jamais penché sur le travail de Gibson, je trouvais son personnage insupportable.
Et puis j’ai croisé d’autres images, j’ai découvert son sens de la caricature et j’ai appris à apprécier son travail à la plume. On trouve assez facilement ses illustrations sur le Web et des livres récents sont consacrés à son travail. Mais comme je suis un peu fouineur, je suis allé récupérer The Best of Charles Dana Gibson, publié en 1969 chez Bounty Books. Le livre reprend des ouvrages de Gibson, des espèces de livrets à l’horizontale présentant une petite histoire – je n’ai pas réussi à savoir s’il y avait un texte qui accompagnait les illustrations. The Education of Mr.Pipp, qui voit une famille visiter l’Europe, semble avoir été adaptée au théâtre et a été adaptée au cinéma (copies perdues).
La Gibson Girl a eu un énorme succès, notamment dans la publicité, dans le monde entier, Gibson a dirigé le magazine Life, a épousé une fille de la haute société new yorkaise, a vu la mode passer après la Première Guerre Mondiale (ce qui fait quand même trente ans de carrière) et s’est tourné vers la peinture (je n’ai pas vu d’exemple de tableaux de sa main).
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Je suis ÉVIDEMMENT extrêmement choqué par les commentaires,et j’ai meme tenté de ne pas sourire.
L’homme sait y faire et s’y complaire dans le jeu et le mouvement du tissu,des amples étoffes,et de subtils drapés…pour ce qui est de sa ”philosophie”…fin travail de la plume, académique mais avec un discret pas de côté élégant et vivant.
Je reste un inconditionnel d’Al Dorne et William mead Prince …mais c’est juste pour causer…
Mead Prince, j’en ai déjà parlé ici. Dorne, j’aime bien mais je n’ai trouvé une série d’images qui me motive pour un billet.
Je suis moi aussi très impressionné par le travail sur les robes. Ça devait lui prendre la moitié du temps.
Les femmes ressemblent un peu à celles de Alfons Mucha.
Oui et non. Les femmes de Mucha sont des espèces de déesses inaccessibles. Celles de Gibson sont des bourgeoises qui se la jouent inaccessibles. Mais elles ont la même façon de poser, c’est vrai.