No drawing by Charles Dana Gibson captured the playful spirit of the Gilded Age quite like Puzzle. Find the girl who has been kissed within ten minutes. When first published in the pages of Life magazine, Gibson’s witty social puzzles were eagerly awaited by readers, who delighted in their gentle satire of upper-class rituals.

This particular work became a minor sensation, with parties and parlors across America turning the drawing into a parlor game, as viewers challenged one another to spot the telltale clues of romance hidden in a crowded scene. At the heart of Puzzle. Find the girl who has been kissed within ten minutes is a bustling gathering of young women, each rendered in Gibson’s crisp pen lines, their elaborate hats and coiffures forming a forest of Edwardian fashion. The challenge is to discern, from subtle cues—a blush, a sly smile, perhaps a slightly askew ribbon—which of the “Gibson Girls” has just received a kiss.

Unlike the grand dramas of myth or history, Gibson’s narrative is intimate and mischievous, inviting the viewer into a game of observation. The cleverness recalls the riddles of Norman Rockwell, though Gibson’s approach is sharper, his satire more pointed at the rituals of courtship among the American elite. The precise date and medium of this drawing remain uncertain, as is often the case with Gibson’s prolific output for illustrated magazines. Like many of his works, Puzzle.

Find the girl who has been kissed within ten minutes was likely created for publication rather than for gallery display, and its original sheet may now reside in a private collection or remain untraced. Nevertheless, the image endures in countless reproductions and anthologies of Gibson’s art, a testament to his influence on American illustration and the enduring charm of his “Gibson Girl” archetype. Today, it stands as a lively record of both a vanished era and the artist’s sly wit.