Life — July 30, 1914 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Close of the Picture Contest" This page documents the winner of Life magazine's "Picture Contest." The winning image, titled "A Joyous Heart Knoweth No Winter," depicts a couple dancing in a snowy street while onlookers watch. The text explains that among 74,657 contest entries, judges selected this title for its conciseness and felicitous expression. The judges, notably, are praised for having "no selfish interest" in their selection process. The page then catalogs alternative titles contestants submitted, many drawing on literary and cultural allusions—Shakespeare references, proverbs, and common expressions about love and weather. This demonstrates how 1910s-era readers engaged with sentimental imagery through familiar quotations and aphorisms, using shared cultural knowledge to interpret domestic scenes of romance and joy.