page_title: Nell Brinkley
section_title: The Brinkley Girl
hierarchical_section_title: Nell Brinkley / The Brinkley Girl
caption_attribution_description: Uncle Sam's Girl Shower - illustration by Nell Brinkley (1886–1944).
context_page_description: Nell Brinkley was an American illustrator and comic artist who was sometimes referred to as the "Queen of Comics" during her nearly four-decade career working with New York newspapers and magazines. She was the creator of the Brinkley Girl, a stylish character who appeared in her comics and became a popular symbol in songs, films and theater.
context_section_description: Brinkley was known for her idyllic designs in her artwork, and her female characters drew attention from readers. In comparison to the staid Gibson Girl stereotype established earlier by Charles Dana Gibson, the Brinkley Girl was feminine, fun-loving and more independent. Syndicated nationally, her drawing The Three Graces helped establish this character as an icon. The piece, displaying three women singing the praises of suffrage, preparedness and Americanism with regards to love of country, was one of the first to link young, attractive women with the concept of suffrage. 
  The Brinkley Girl was generally a young working woman who was often seen wearing lacy dresses and wearing her hair in curls, engaged in activities that were more independent than the general female standard. Her work was often considered to have a feminist slant.
  The Brinkley Girl became a national sensation, the topic of pop songs, poetry and theater. The second Ziegfeld Follies (1908) featured a number of references to the Brinkley Girl, including a song "The Nell Brinkley Girl" by Harry B. Smith and Maurice Levi.
caption: Uncle Sam's Girl Shower, by Nell Brinkley, 1917, an image using her iconic Brinkley Girl in support of working women who arrived in Washington, D.C. only to find they were denied the ability to rent apartments.
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