Life — July 5, 1923 — page 23: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page of sketches by O. F. Howard depicts social scenes at what appears to be an indoor entertainment venue called the Winter Garden. The six vignettes show various leisure activities: couples dancing and socializing, a group of women in elaborate hats gathered together, and interactions between men and women in fashionable dress. The satire likely mocks the artificiality of "summer" recreations happening indoors during winter—a commentary on upper-class urban entertainment and the pretensions of indoor social venues that attempted to recreate outdoor pleasures. The exaggerated attention to women's fashion (particularly the large, ornate hats) suggests humor about conspicuous consumption and the social rituals of the era's leisure class.