Life — July 14, 1910 — page 20: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This ink illustration satirizes wealthy society hostesses and their decorating tastes. The caption reads: "If hostesses still fill their rooms with these things [it] would be prep[ared]" — though the OCR is incomplete. The cartoon depicts an elaborate, crowded salon filled with taxidermied animal heads mounted on walls and displayed prominently. A woman in the foreground recoils in shock or dismay at this aesthetic choice. Other fashionably-dressed guests populate the ornate room with its decorative furniture and chandelier. The satire targets the Victorian and Edwardian fashion for displaying hunting trophies and taxidermy as status symbols and room décor. The exaggerated, grotesque presentation of these specimens — and the woman's reaction — mocks this pretentious decorating trend as outdated or aesthetically offensive to refined taste.