Puck Mid-Summer Number

Frank A. Nankivell's cover for Puck's Mid-Summer Number presents no satirical target—it is pure seasonal promotion. Within an Art Nouveau oval frame, a young woman in an extravagant pink ruffled gown and broad-brimmed bonnet sits at the edge of a golden pool, fishing rod in hand, expression dreamily self-satisfied. The composition carries no political argument; its purpose is to sell the issue by embodying fashionable leisure at its most decorative. Smaller vignettes in the corners suggest other summer pastimes. The image carries no racial caricature. Nankivell, Australian-born and technically accomplished, uses the cover as an advertisement for Puck's companion "Summer Girl" supplement, price ten cents.