“Paper Dolls by Vann” is how I signed my artwork…
This is Evelyn Nesbit.
A beautiful, young, turn of the (19th) century lass.
An in demand artist’s model, she gained fame as one of the “Gibson Girls” by modeling for Charles Dana Gibson a noted illustrator of the day.
She had several affairs, most notably with Stanford White architect of Madison Square Garden.
Sweet little fox worked as a model and a showgirl and in that capacity met and married Harry Thaw.
Harry was very rich, very jealous and just a tad nuts. He shot ol’ Stanny in June of ’06 and the tabloids of the day had a feast.
It has since been the topic of several books and a couple of movies.
I had a page that had been taken from a dilapidated album that had a pen and ink head sketch of Evelyn Nesbit that is a superb example of the genre.
Looking about to cry, she has a defiant chin thrust out and an amazing pout.
Amazing what a person can do with just a pen and black ink!
Well, I tried several times to run that over to color and haven’t got it right yet.
This one came out pretty good…
Gave it to a good friend, a lawyer. I expected to see it in his office and was put out when I didn’t see it so I got on him about it a little. I thought he had put her in a closet or his garage or something.
He has it at home, hanging on a wall.
It’s nice to know when they make it to a good home…