Life, 1922-12-07 · page 24 of 80
Life — December 7, 1922 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous multi-panel comic strip satirizing the stereotypical absent-minded society lady visiting an art museum. The protagonist is comically forgetful and scattered: she checks an umbrella that isn't hers (her husband's, or her niece's—she can't remember), worries about exiting through the wrong door, gets lost finding paintings, and misidentifies artworks with her new acquaintance. The satire gently mocks both the absent-minded lady herself and the pretentious museum experience—vague painting titles like "A Modern Venus" and confusing numbering systems ("29" and "101"). Her casual observations (questioning whether "Saturday Night" depicts drinking men, or mistaking a still-life for lunch time) humorously deflate the solemnity of fine art appreciation. The comic assumes readers share bemused recognition of this social type: the well-meaning but perpetually scattered upper-class woman navigating cultural institutions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
GATEMAN You'll have to go back and check that umbrella, Madam. ABSENT-MINDED Lapy It’s not wet, I only brought it because my niece was so sure it would rain, she would have come with me but her little boy has chicken pox, I didn’t think it looked like it, but she said she was certain, it looked so black, and now the sun is out, she’s so positive— (The Attendant at the check- ing window takes her umbrella and hands her a check.) . ABSENT-MINDED Lapy I think I had better put it in my glove, I have so many little things in my bag I should never find it —What shall I do if I go ot by another door? ATTENDANT You'll have to come out this way, Madam, to get your um- orella. ABSENT-MINDED Lapy It isn’t my umbrella, it’s my niece’s, not my niece, my husband’s, I've lost three this year, so I've given up having one—(She goes through the turnstile.) I want to see the Blue Boy first, which way do I go? LIFE .- In the Art Museum Adventures of an Absent-Minded Lady as She Starts to Go Through the Turnstile “You'll have to go back and check that umbrella, Madam.” picture galleries and. not having a catalogue, she becomes friendly with another old lady who has one.) Lapy With a CatTaLocuE There is a picture I rather wanted to see, but I can’t find it—a friend told me to be sure and see it— It’s called “Saturday Night,” it might be those men drinking— ABSENT-MINDED Lapy Oh, I hope not. Lapy WitH a CaTALoGuE Well, they number things so queerly, now there are “Cows Resting in the Shade” and “Nuns Combing Their Hair,” one’s 29 and the other 101. ABSENT-MINDED Lapy Let me see, “Saturday Night.” There's a girl taking a bath. Lapy Wit a CATALOGUE No, she’s “A Modern Venus.” ABSENT-MINDED Lapy Well, I don’t see what it can be unless it is workmen or some- one in a bath— (She strolls on into the next room. As she steps back to look at a picture she sees a small brass plate on the floor with a number on it. She picks it up and examines it.) Why, this must have come off some picture—23—Let me see, per- haps I can find the one it belongs on— (She gocs from one room to an- other and at last finds a picture without a GATEMAN You'll have to go quite a ways to see that, Madam, the Boy’s gone West, it’s in Cali- fornia, it never was here. ABSENT-MINDED Lapy Why, my niece saw it here the other day, I’m sure—Well, I ex- pect to go to California some day, I want to see those big trees— My son is out there, he wrote me all about one tree he saw, he writes very good let- ters, this one was 300 feet in diameter. (She goes up to the “Let me see, ‘Saturday Night.’ There’s a girl taking a bath.” number and places the brass plate in the cor- ner of the frame.) I’m glad I found it. (She comes to a still- life painting of cake and fruit, which re- minds her that it must be nearly lunch time. When she reaches the entrance she finds that it is raining and she remembers the um- brella. She goes to the checking place.) ABSENT-MINDED Lapy Will you give me my umbrella, please, or rather my niece’s, it has an ivory handle or (Continued on page 68) comicbooks.com