Existing comment:
United States Fleet Navy Girl, 1934
by Howard Chandler Christy, 1934
Forty years before this piece was painted, artist Charles Dana Gibson created portraits of idealized American women who became known as "Gibson Girls." Christy followed in short order with the "Christy Girls," and the Naval Academy midshipmen commissioned the "Navy Girl" for use in yearbooks, posters, and Christmas cards. This "Navy Girl" was used on the program cover for the May 1934 Navy Fleet Week ball held at the Waldorf Astoria, New York.
Christy was so popular with the Academy Class of 1921, he was made an honorary classmate. He is primarily known for his many magazine covers and recruiting posters in both world wars, but is also noted for several mural paintings in the US Capitol depicting the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the naval Battle of Lake Erie. |