Life, 1918-03-21 · page 8 of 56
Life — March 21, 1918 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily an **advertisement for Duratex upholstery material**, not satire or political commentary. The page features a dramatic war painting by André Castaigne (credited as "Knight of the Legion of Honor") depicting soldiers in what appears to be a World War I trench or battlefield scene, with artillery fire visible in the sky. The ad's message uses patriotic appeal: it claims the U.S. War Department approved Duratex for upholstering military aircraft and trucks being sent to France. The tagline promises Duratex is "the finest and most practical upholstery material made." This represents typical **WWI-era advertising strategy**—leveraging government endorsement and military necessity to promote commercial products as patriotic contributions to the war effort.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
No stronger guarantee of its quality could be written than the war depart ment's approval of DURATEX for the upholstery of the air planes and motor tracks Uncle Sam is sending to France to help make the world safe for demo- cracy DURATEX is the finest aah most ee, ed material made