Life, 1909-07-29 · page 19 of 28
Life — July 29, 1909 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes pretentious attitudes about nudity and social propriety in early 20th-century high society. The essay mocks the hypocrisy of the wealthy elite, who consider nudity acceptable in formal settings (opera boxes, ballrooms) while condemning it elsewhere. The argument is deliberately absurd: nudity is only "nude" if one *owns* clothes but chooses not to wear them—suggesting morality is merely about *performing* respectability through wardrobe choices. The cartoon at top shows two men in a rowboat, captioned "The Enthusiast: UPLIFTING, EH OLD MAN? His Victim: OH, VERY." This appears to satirize self-righteous social reformers who impose their moral judgments on others, treating nudity as something requiring "uplifting" or moral correction. The bottom cartoon, "The Bone of Contention," visually summarizes the essay's central joke: society's obsession with defining and regulating nudity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
—— | : ~ The Nude HE nude is a relative term, and really implies the existence of clothes. Without clothes, there would be no nude. For example, no one would speak of a nude cow, a nude hippopotamus or a nude giraffe, and yet these creatures in- variably go about not even arrayed in the conventional smile that is supposed to be a badge of innocence. Nudity really implies that one has a wardrobe somewhere. A lady sitting in a box at the opera conveys the unmis- takable impression that she docsn’t really have to wear so little. Lying back in some bureau drawer is doubtless a warm, comfortable suit of woolen underwear that she could slip on in case she had to do it The His Victii Siast: UPLIFTING, EM OLD MAN? nz OM, VERY. The art of going nude is, of course, like any other art—it depends upon the judgment used in doing it. No self-re- specting lady moving in the highest cir, cles would come down to breakfast in a French bathing suit. Time and pls count for much in nudity. To be nude morning, noon and night without regard to one’s religion or standing, is fatal to the most exalted position. No one would gain much by walking up and down Broadway nude. But upon arriving in a ballroom it is quite the proper thing to throw off one’s clothes, leaving them with the boy at the door. The line between morality and nudity has never been defined correctly. The best morality, of course, wears no clothes at all. Doubtful morality is usually half naked. This comes from living in a chilly zone. If it were too hot to wear clothes, studies in the nude would be so common that they would no lon; high art. er be THE BONE OF CONTENTION comicbooks.com