From the exhibition
Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Mo
Gibson, Charles Dana, 1867-1944, artist · 1926

Charles Dana Gibson's pen-and-ink cartoon stages a drawing-room tea as a quiet competition. A bobbed-hair young woman—unmistakably the late Gibson Girl, now cropped and modern—sits apart at left, cigarette in hand, legs crossed with studied nonchalance. Four suited men occupy the right half: one standing, gesturing as if mid-speech; two seated with teacups; one at the far right, silent and watchful. A crowded tea table anchors the center. The caption, *"Eenie, Minie, Mine, Mo"* printed below, frames her predicament as a child's counting rhyme—she must choose among indistinguishable suitors. Gibson's satire cuts both ways: the men are interchangeable peacocks, but the woman's agency is still framed as a game of chance rather than judgment. The composition is Gibson at his most economical, the social comedy carried entirely by posture and glance.
Gibson, Charles Dana, 1867-1944, artist Public domain