Life, 1890-02-20 · page 10 of 18
Life — February 20, 1890 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page contains two distinct satirical illustrations from *Life* magazine. **Top cartoon ("A Serious Want of Knowledge"):** Shows a man being chased by an ostrich while fleeing from what appears to be a building. The caption references Italian opera (*Brandello*), with dialogue about "Il Trovatore" and a "trombone." The satire mocks someone's ignorance of high culture—they've confused an operatic reference with something mundane, exposing their pretension or lack of education. **Bottom cartoon ("She trying to give the conversation a literary turn"):** Depicts a domestic scene where a woman attempts literary discussion by mentioning "Marie Bashkirtseff" (a real 19th-century Russian artist/diarist). The man dismissively responds she's "not Lillian Russell"—a famous actress of the era. The joke: the woman's attempt at intellectual sophistication fails because her companion only recognizes entertainers, not serious artists. It satirizes both feminine intellectual pretension and masculine philistinism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
110 ART AND LITERATURE. TH series of tableaux to be given at the Berkeley Lyceum on the evenings of February 21 and 22 promise to be events of unusual im- portance, These tableaux, under the direct supervision of many of the first artists in thecity, are to illustrate scenes from the pages of American authors. Among the attractions is a minuet, to be danced in costumes of the Court of Louis XVI. It is rare that an entertainment of this kind is offered with such a rich promise of historical accuracy and artistic taste. The performance is given for the ben- efit of the Messiah Home for Children, N spite of the noise overhead, the A SERIOUS WANT OF KNOWLEDGE. Elevated Railroad sleepers con- Bendetto (the Sicilian): Sicnor! WHISTLE “IL TROVATOR! ZE BEAR STOP AN’ DANCE! tinue to rest quietly on their pillars. Party in distress: 1 D—DON'T—KNOW TH'—B—BLAMED T—TUNE! She (trying to give the conversation a literary turn): WHAT DO YOU THINK OF * MARIE BASHKIRTSEFF"? He (who prides himself on his general information); ER—EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT, BUT—ER—SHE’S NOT LILLIAN RUSSELL, YOU KNOW. comicbooks.com