Judge — July 6, 1918 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Conundrum of the Workshops" This satire by Corporal L.M. Connolly critiques three artistic/cultural pursuits as questionable "art." Each section mocks a creative workshop: **Pictures**: Satirizes magazine cover art and illustration as shallow, derivative work ("born of a brain, long since conjugated / By opium, hemp and coke"). **Music**: Attacks modern jazz and popular music as derivative trash—"butchered and hacked with drags and vamps," copied from lesser sources rather than original composition. **Poetry**: Mocks soldier/military poetry as clichéd complaint-writing about hardships (Georgia heat, army drills, homesickness). All three conclude identically: "It's pretty; but is it Art?"—the cartoon's point being that commercial entertainment and amateur creative output, while aesthetically pleasing, lack genuine artistic merit.