Judge — August 30, 1919 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Ladies' Fancy Work This illustration by Walter de Maris depicts a woman standing in a cornfield, looking upward. The title "Ladies' Fancy Work" is a satirical reference to genteel needlework and decorative crafts traditionally associated with upper-class women. The joke likely mocks the contrast between delicate, ornamental "fancy work" and agricultural labor—suggesting that women's actual work in farming or fieldwork constitutes their "fancy work." The woman's pose and expression suggest either aspiration, exhaustion, or resignation to farm labor. Without additional context, the exact satirical target remains unclear, but the piece appears to comment on women's labor, class expectations, or rural life during the period Judge was published.