Life, 1909-10-28 · page 34 of 36
Life — October 28, 1909 — page 34: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily an **advertisement for Life magazine's art prints**, not political satire. The page promotes purchasing reproductions of artwork to decorate one's home. The central argument is quasi-philosophical: Americans are mentally lazy, leaving pictures hung in the same spots year after year, creating psychological ruts. The solution? Regularly rearrange artwork and purchase Life's affordable prints to refresh one's living space. The opening dog illustration ("I'm having mine now") is a playful visual pun on the phrase "every dog has his day"—anthropomorphizing the dog enjoying its moment while promoting the idea that homeowners should give themselves a similar mental "refresh." The three sample photographs shown—"Their First Breakfast," "Found," and "Arms and the Man"—are examples of the art prints Life sells. This is essentially **early 20th-century home-décor marketing disguised as lifestyle advice**, encouraging readers to purchase prints as a form of mental wellness and interior design refreshment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Get the Life Print Habit, Every Dog Has His Day! And the great question naturally arises, Have Some of the Pictures in Your House Hung Too Long in One Spot? You know it’s an old idea, or rather a notion, not to change things around much. Ridiculous isn’t it, when you come to think of it? But we all do it. We come home to the same arrangement year in and year out. We’re mentally lazy. We don’t realize what it means to But the truth is that each one Wake Up! “I'm having mine now.” Try it and see. You'll be sur- It will give Ph of us owes a duty to himself. And this duty is to keep himself fresh. One of the greatest artists in this country—a_ man who has done more for our interior home decorations than any other American—made a rule to change his pictures around every week or so. It gave him a new start. unconscious mental vibrations s them around, that impulse. THEIR FIRST BREAKFAST. otogravure, 13% x 16 in, go cents, On receipt of twenty-five cents we will send youour new pocket edition of LIFE'S PRINTS, It contains 160 reproductions, im sizes here shown, of these most artistic and Neasure-giving pictures. Address *Life.” 17 W. 31st St, N.Y. City. A New Deal Remember, that all of these things are a part of your furniture, ike you in the same old place day after day they wear a rut in your mind. You'll do better work outside of your home if you rustle things around occasionally inside. To do this, get a few of our prints and try placing They will gi By and by you will want to change them, prised at the result. you new ideas. Take that old etching handed down by your grandfather out of the front hall, and put it in the corner of the living room. Move that landscape from the library into the upstairs hall. Shuffle up the photos on your bureau and try When the same old ¢ you a new sensation. Doit. Obey FOUND Photogravure, 15 x 20 in. $1.00. The larger prints are PHOTO GRAVURES of the highest possi- ble quality and finish. Neither care nor expense has been spared to obtain the very best artistic results, ARMS AND THE MAN, Facsimile in Color, 11x 14 in. $1.00. comicbooks.com