Determined Woman 

Charles Dana Gibson made "Determined Woman" with ink on paper. It’s a sketch, really, not a fully rendered painting. That's important because Gibson was a magazine illustrator. He needed to produce images quickly and efficiently for mass consumption. The sweeping lines and dramatic use of light and shadow speak to the demands of the printing press. Ink is cheap, fast, and reproducible – a perfect medium for the burgeoning world of mass media. But the real subject here is class. These are society people, made visible through the labor of countless others: the dressmakers who created those voluminous gowns, the tailors who crafted the man's suit. Even the pen Gibson used was made by someone, somewhere. So, next time you look at a drawing, don't just see lines on paper. Consider the whole social network that brought it into being. It really changes how you see things.