Judge — April 14, 1923 — page 15: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page features a caricature by Ralph Barton of **George Jean Nathan**, a prominent American theater critic and editor of *The Smart Set* magazine. The exaggerated features—prominent nose, large ears, and stylized face—are typical of Barton's caricature style. The caption's humor relies on **self-deprecation**: it claims Barton's portrait, though flattering to Nathan, is merely a "wiener-wurst" (crude sketch) compared to works by **Sacha Guitry** (French actor/playwright) exhibited in Italy in May 1922. This appears to be mock-humble satire—Barton ironically diminishing his own skillful work while referencing contemporary European artistic circles, likely amusing readers familiar with Nathan's prominence in American theater criticism. The "excessively handsome" characterization in the caption is itself ironic, given the deliberately unflattering caricature.