Life — September 17, 1914 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# War as Viewed by Life This is an advertisement for an art portfolio titled "War as Viewed by Life." The image depicts a skeletal, cloaked figure of Death standing amid a battlefield scattered with corpses and destruction. Ravens circle overhead, while smoke billows in the background—a traditional memento mori visualization of war's devastation. The portfolio reproduces satirical and dramatic war illustrations that appeared in Life magazine over the previous decade. Life Publishing Company sold it for twenty-five cents, positioning anti-war artistic commentary as a commercial product. The timing—noted as "Ready for delivery September 24"—suggests this coincided with World War I's active period, when American publications increasingly depicted war's horrors through allegorical imagery.