Life, 1905-10-12 · page 5 of 26
Life — October 12, 1905 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon depicts an artist in a studio showing work to an elegantly dressed woman visitor. The caption reads: "Please don't linger in the studio, Janet. You upset all my ideas" / "What are you doing?" / "I'm trying to create a new Venus." This satirizes the romantic notion of artistic inspiration—the artist claims he needs isolation to create beauty, yet his "Venus" appears mundane. The joke mocks pretentious artists who blame external distractions for uninspired work. Below are two brief commentary sections: "Dirt Cheap" discusses price inflation except for human life, and "Commerce" uses a mathematical analogy about Jewish merchants. The latter reflects period stereotyping common to early Life magazine's satirical content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Copyright, rs, by Life Publishing Co. “PLEASE DONT LINGER IN THE STUDIO, JANET, YOU UPSET ALL stY IDEAS.” SOWHAT ARE YOU De . SUM TRYING TO CREATE A NEW Meredith to Date. Commerce. we may live without BOUT one man in ten really makes things. The other nine live off him. Of the nine, one operates on him, or tells him Dirt Cheap. RIGGS: It seemsasif everything necessary had gone up in price—except human life, = that's cheaper than ever. Distaxce lends enchantment to the Jew. Gries: But that isn't a necessity. comicbooks.com