Life, 1913-04-03 · page 18 of 52
Life — April 3, 1913 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains satirical commentary on early 20th-century American art and politics. The opening poem mocks modernist art movements—Cubism, Futurism, and "Nouveau" styles—suggesting they're incomprehensible nonsense that drives critics to madness. It targets artists like Monet and Cézanne while sarcastically praising artists' pretension ("work with their hands behind them / so that only their soul intrudes"). The "News of the Day" section uses absurdist humor to critique contemporary issues: - **"Innocent"** satirizes newspapers' sensationalism by ironically praising a publisher (seemingly William Randolph Hearst) for publishing *accurate* facts without misleading headlines—presenting honesty as shockingly rare. - **"Children's War"** darkly mocks child labor by imagining factory children violently overthrow owners and seize profits for education. - **"Reform in New York"** attacks financial corruption by suggesting all city revenue now goes directly to J.P. Morgan's banking house—exposing the perceived collusion between Wall Street and city government. The cartoon depicts a well-dressed man with children, likely illustrating class disparities or poverty.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
678 Art (With curtsies to R. K, and the Post- Luneists) W' EN Earth’s last critic has fainted and Cubists are modern no more, When the weirdest colors have faded and Futurist Art is a bore, We shall rest—Ye Gods, we shall need it—"lay low" for a season or two For fear that some more Art Creations shall drive us insane anew. those that are “ Nouveaux” are happy; they sit in a Modernist chair And splash at a muddled canvas with brushes of elephant hair, They find strange models to draw from— Pogany, Staircases, Nudes, They work with their hands behind them so that only their soul intrudes. For But if only Monet shall praise them, if only Manet shall blame, If Cezanne shall be their master, with Duchamp to guard their fame, We shall never know what they are painting, but they will continue to paint, Upon the least provocation, their notion of Things as they Ain't. News of the Day (As It Might, Could, Would or Should Be) NNOCENT.—A young man named Hearst was arraigned in the City Court this morning, charged with tell- ing the truth in a newspaper owned by him. He pleaded not guilty. The charge against him was specific. It represented that on a certain day he had published an accurate statement of fact, and that there was nothing in the headlines accompanying it to mislead the reader into believing it to be any- thing different from what it actually was. “It would be impossible,” said the defendant, earnest); for anything like that to happen; the men I have gathered about me are altogether too capable for that; such a thing never happened before; it isn’t likely that it would happen now, at this late da: After listening to the evidence, the judge dismissed the case and apolo- gized. Cuitpren’s War.—Yesterday four thousand children at work in factories “Gre! in upper New York State formed themselves into battalions and, armed with deadly weapons, attacked and killed all of the factory owners for” whom they had been working. They then appropriated the factories, and it is understood that they will take the profits from running them to send themselves to school until they can grow to a suitable age for work. “We are doing no more than the suffra- gettes of England,” said one little boy proudly, “and in our case we happen to be right.” Rerorm 1x New York.—By a new fiscal arrangement, which went into effect yesterday, all the receipts of the City of New York will be turned into the office of Morgan & Co. without having to go through the tax and mu- nicipal offices. This will save an im- mense amount of clerical labor and result in a saving of millions a year. The new measure was greeted with prolonged applause from all pulpits. MAMIE, I BET HE TIPPED THE W. A COUPLE 0 s an mi \ \ Wiss sy TER ENOUGH To BUY ME AN’ YOU ARE MEALS” Pinrut Cast.—A woman who lives on upper Fifth Avenue was caught nursing her baby yesterday by one of the able detectives of which the city is so justly proud. She will be placed in the House of Detention waiting speedy trial. Ow Exumition.—At the Museum of Art there will be exhibited this after- noon and evening a graduate of a New York Public School who can spell. This is the only case on record. Psy- chologists are completely baffled. Something for Posterity R. JOHN WANAMAKER'S recent suggestion that Uncle Sam should take over the telegraph and telephone lines is perhaps a little too sensible to receive serious consideration at this time. Why not leave the question of telephones and telegraphs to posterity? That would be perfectly safe, for pos- terity will be so busy paying interest and Principle of the debts we are piling up that it will have no time for anything aggressive, progressive or digressive. NN \, SAS comicbooks.com