Life, 1924-01-03 · page 2 of 36
Life — January 3, 1924 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **Lincoln automobile advertisement**, not a political cartoon. The page uses an architectural comparison as its marketing strategy rather than satire. The ad compares the Lincoln car to the **Arc de Triomphe in Paris**—an iconic architectural masterpiece begun by Napoleon in 1806. The text argues that just as architects blend beauty with function in great buildings, Lincoln automobiles blend aesthetic design with practical automotive utility. There is **no political satire or caricature** present. The "Masterpieces" heading and architectural imagery serve as an extended metaphor to position the Lincoln as a luxury product combining engineering excellence with artistic design—a common advertising approach in early automotive marketing during the 1920s.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
a x MASTERPIECES { | — by | cen Striving to satisfy completely some deep- > felt need of his fellow men, the architect has occasionally wedded beauty of line so intimately to useful function that his work { stands a masterpiece of the builder’s art. These architectural achievements find their automotive counterpart in the Lincoln. In a comprehensive and fundamental way, this { is a useful car. It dispatches every function f of the automobile with a brilliance gratify- ing to the most exacting motorist. i And its beauty is so notable that it becomes, | in reality, a factor in utility. The insepa- rable blending of the two makes the Lincoln \ an authentic masterpiece. | head of th on in 180 j LINCOLN MOTOR COMPANY | LINCOLN comicbooks.com