Judge, 1928-12-01 · page 7 of 36
Judge — December 1, 1928 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This cartoon satirizes interior decorating trends of its era. The main illustration shows a woman sitting on a dirt pile while a decorator gestures dismissively—the humor stems from absurdist "aesthetic sensibility." The "Questionnaires for the Querulous" section mocks fashionable interior design through Q&A. A woman asks why holding a Tudor pole makes sense; another questions placing Italian Renaissance furniture next to Duncan Phyfe tables. The responses defend these eclectically mismatched styles as "modernistic" aspirations. The satire targets wealthy people chasing trendy but contradictory decorating advice—combining Colonial gatelegs with Gregorian commodes, Japanese lamps in Spanish foyers. Judge ridicules both the pretentious homeowners and the decorators encouraging expensive, aesthetically incoherent choices. The dirt floor emphasizes how divorced these fashionable ideas are from practical reality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Bretre or ax JUDGE E.x-Huspaxp —Yes, and I’m going to d liver my alimony every week entirely in pennies! Questionnaires for the Querulous The Interior Decorator Q. Who is that exotic lady in the Russian blouse and sandals? A. An interior desecrat—ex- cuse me, an interior decorator. Q. Why is she so. deathly pale? A. Her asthetic sensibilities are offended by the furnishings in that room, Q. Why does she look as if she would swoon? A. Because she beholds a Tu- dor chest next to a Colonial gate- leg table. Q. What's wrong It looks okay to me. A. Hush, body might hear you. Q. Look! y does she seem to falter and clutch her throat? A. Poor lady, she beholds an Italian c ya Louis Sixteenth cl Dunean Phyfe table Sheraton mantel. Q. Horrors! And what does the good lady propose in place of these atrocities? with that? lowbrow! — Some- beside a A. She visualizes a modernis- tic tea table on which will rest a pewter platter close beside a Gregorian commode and. several Queen Anne cl she would p sofa and an early American hook rug. Arabesque draperies would cover the windows, while a Wil- liam and Mary footstool would nestle by the fect of an Adam settee; and a Heppelwhite radio cabinet would complete the en- semble by standing beneath a Japanese lamp in the Spanish foyer.—Antucn L, Livestans, |