Judge — November 13, 1915 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes early 20th-century high society's competitive nature regarding fashion and status. The scene depicts an elegant social gathering where a woman has just won a prize for being "the most fashionably gowned woman present." The humor lies in the contradiction posed by the caption: one man notes she's won the fashion prize, while another sarcastically asks if "the Venus in the fountain" was entered in the competition. This implies the statue—representing classical beauty and artistic perfection—should logically have competed if fashion competitions are truly about aesthetic excellence. The cartoon mocks how shallow and arbitrary these society competitions appear, suggesting that if genuine beauty were the standard, an actual work of art would outshine any fashionable guest.