Life, 1900-12-20 · page 14 of 22
Life — December 20, 1900 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page presents a democratic beauty contest where Life magazine readers rank twenty illustrated female heads by attractiveness. The winner is whoever's ranking most closely matches the majority consensus—a clever inversion of typical beauty judgments, which normally relied on expert or editorial authority. The contest reflects turn-of-the-century American culture: growing mass participation in print media, emergence of "scientific" or quantifiable aesthetics, and the magazine's satirical approach to society's obsession with female beauty standards. The $100 prize (substantial for 1901) incentivized widespread participation. The illustrated faces appear to represent various feminine ideals of the era—different hairstyles, expressions, and fashions—suggesting beauty was debatable and culturally constructed, even if readers didn't consciously recognize this satire. Life weaponizes democratic voting to simultaneously celebrate and mock society's preoccupation with ranking women's appearances.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
TS CARR Life’s Contest of Beauty. LL? offers a prize of one hundred dollars to the person who shall correctly select the twenty heads shown above in the order of their beauty. DIRECTIONS. Select the face you consider the most beautiful and beneath {t place distinctly the figure 1. Beneath the face you consider second In order of beauty, place the figuri write your name and address plainly 1n the margio, tear te page out, and mall {t to Live's Contest of Beauty, 19 When all have been numbered West Thirty-first Street, New York City. HOW THE PRIZE WILL BE AWARDED, ‘The contestants themselves will award the prize. ‘The face which 1s marked 1 by the greatest number of competitors will be considered the most beautiful. The one marked 2 by the greatest number of competitors will be considered the next most beautiful, and ‘80 on to the twentieth, The prize will be awarded to the person whose page goes farthest down the list in the exact order of selection chosen by the majonty. ‘Tho same competitor may send tn any number of pages. Under this plan no partiality can be shown, and there ts practically no possibility that the prize will be divided. Should this occur, however, Live reserves the right to divide It among the successful competitors. and so on through the entire twenty. CONDITIONS. The contest closes at noon on January 14th, 1901. at Lire Office after that hour will be considered. The page appears in the tasues of Lirg dated the 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th of December, 1900, 5 As goon as possible after the close of the competition, Lire will send one hundred dottars to the winner, and will print the page showing the order In which the faces were selected by @ majority of the competitors, together with the selections of the winner. Envelopes should contain nothing but the marked pages, and be addressed to Lire’s Contest or Beacty, 19 West Taixty-Finst STREET, EW YoRe City, No pages recetved comicbooks.com