Life — March 29, 1917 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This illustration depicts a dog wearing formal evening attire—a top hat and bow tie—with an exaggerated, somewhat grotesque facial expression. The caption reads "AFTER SIX," referring to formal dress code conventions of the era where gentlemen wore tuxedos and top hats after 6 p.m. The cartoon satirizes the absurdity of rigid social conventions by showing a dog attempting to conform to human formal dress standards. The grotesque expression suggests the discomfort or ridiculousness of such strict etiquette rules. The artwork is credited to what appears to be "Will Gruelle" (visible signature). This is typical Life magazine satire targeting American social pretension and arbitrary class conventions of the 1910s era.