Life, 1894-11-15 · page 8 of 16
Life — November 15, 1894 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 314 This page contains humorous sketches about everyday life rather than political commentary. The left column features two brief dialogues: "Not Strange" depicts a couple in darkness, and "Plenty of Company" shows a man and woman discussing train travel and a servant girl. The right column discusses an exhibition of women's portraits at the Academy of Design, critiquing American portrait painters. It specifically praises John Singer Sargent's superior skill while noting other painters' inability to capture personality and character—the essential elements of portraiture beyond mere technical cleverness. The sketches illustrate rural or working-class scenes with dialogue about found objects and worn clothing, reflecting period humor about ordinary people's lives and domestic situations rather than specific political targets.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“DPEE NOT STRANGE. E sat together side by side In total darkness. Yet I know Her lips were moving now and then— Somehow I felt that this was so, PLENTY OF COMPANY. INGO: Now that you are living in the country, I should think you would find it lonesome riding back and forth on the train. WITHERB' Not at all, old man, servant girl with me, I always have a ‘IT FIND IN YOUR HAT MANY SILK HANDKERCH “GOL DERN 1T, NO YE DON'T; JES’ PUT THEM THINGS BACK WHERE YE POUND ’Es.” THE PORTRAITS OF WOMEN. you will perhaps make a mistake if you miss the collec- tion of feminine faces that are glad to look down upon you from the walls of the Academy of Design. There is no doubt, in LiFe’s mind at least, that womankind is a thing of absorbing interest. And here you get her of every complexion. In some of these cases she is unfairly treated, but that is the painter's fault; and even then the dear things are seldom without an interest of some sort. This exhibition is especially valuable as showing what good work the American portrait painter‘can do, and yet just fail of doing it well enough. ‘The painters themselves. seem to consider the portraits of John S. Sargent as the culmination of human cleverness in this direction, and the humility with which they prostrate themselves before his canvases is the saddest feature of the present display. Mr. Sargent is ex- hilaratingly clever, but he will never be anything more. This cleverness seems to satisfy.the minds of other artists, but it will not make Mr. Sargent a great painter. The lights and shades of character, the indefinable subtleties of expression, the personality, in short, of the sitter, these are the things of which he has not, apparently, the crudest comprehension. And these happen to be the things that constitute a portrait. The old portraits form an unusual collection, and one of rare interest and value, for this country at least. STOUTER. O you think my figure has improved ?” ‘They were preparing for the ball, and the girl who had ridden her wheel all summer paused as she asked the question, “Yes, indeed. They remind me of "—(her companion gazed admiringly at the objects in question) —‘ Ada Rehan’s.” “I'VE WORE THIS OLD HAT NIGH ONTO THREE YEARS AND I NEVER KNOWED THIS HERE TRUCK WAS IN IT.” comicbooks.com