Life — March 29, 1917 — page 6: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page is **primarily a Locomobile automobile advertisement**, not a cartoon. The elaborate decorative border features classical and Renaissance design elements—cherubs, ornate hanging vessels, draped garlands—deliberately evoking fine art and high culture. The advertisement's text makes an explicit comparison: just as "Equipage and Furniture were Fine Arts in Ancient Culture," the Locomobile is similarly treated as an artistic achievement deserving serious aesthetic consideration. Artists and craftsmen have designed it "painstakingly, Car by Car." This reflects early 1900s luxury marketing strategy—positioning automobiles as fine craftsmanship rather than mere transportation. The pretentious framing satirizes or genuinely celebrates (unclear which) the elevation of consumer goods to artistic status. The Locomobile Company of America is identified as "Makers of Fine Motor Cars."