Life, 1928-05-03 · page 14 of 46
Life — May 3, 1928 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical article by Fr. Boohlah mocking modernist art movements' influence on home decoration. The author ridicules the trend of assembling scrap metal (tin, shears, bronze trowels) into abstract "art" using geometric shapes—particularly triangles—inspired by modernism. The central joke: avant-garde artists are encouraging ordinary people to turn household garbage into pseudo-artistic sculptures using crude techniques (soldering, chewing gum, macaron). The accompanying diagrams with "soup" labels and geometric patterns humorously parody modernist abstraction as meaningless decoration. The smaller illustrations show absurd domestic "art projects" (fashioning objects from shrubbery, treating a horse as sculpture), further mocking how modernist pretension transforms worthless materials into supposedly valuable objets d'art. The satire targets both modernism's obscurity and middle-class aspirational decoration.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
\VV Modernistic Influence on Domestic Junk Deep Thoughts on the Possible Effect of the Classic Triangle in the Home By FR. BOOHLAH AVE you about sixty pounds of H bright scrap tin in your home? Or an armload of old sheep- shears? Or bronze trowels? We have thought of just the dearest thing to do with them, substantially as follows: We provide ourselves with, say, a bale of shears and assemble them in interpretation of, say, a jackrabbit chasing the theory of relativity around a mulberry bush. (See illustration Q.) The jointings may be accomplished by soldering, but in inaccessible spots putty or veteran chewing gum can be pushed into the work with a length of macaroni. We suggest macaroni as it gives the advantage of permitting one to blow through it, thus adding to one’s control in what may well prove to be a delicate situation. Personally blown putty or spearmint does give such work an air. If wrapped joints are pre- ferred, wire or chain is better than string as the sharp metal edges are not kind to string. Our illustration gives an excellent idea of the general nature of the finished ouvrage, with detailed sketches accounting for some of the trickier stunts in the process. Should additional information be desired, it might be obtained from the Stock Breeders’ Gazette, but we doubt it. The structural work accounted for, it remains to plate the gadget. One method which has not been tricd (we believe) but which could lead to an interesting experience, is as follows: Paint the whole job grass green; or make it out of bronze trowels instead and wait for the trowels to grow a patina, the luscious green of which should mislead any sufficiently hungry horse. Feed the job to the horse, taking care not to disturb the delicate original balance of the composition. Now let the horse swallow twelve gal- lons of electro-plating bath water and then drive him around the block for ten hours at a gentle jog, by which time the objet d’art will be well plated or the horse will—internally. Careful investigation will determine which has With Apologies to Arts Decoration happened. Prop the jaws apart, insert hand carefully into horse’s hold and explore for art work. If same has been digested, pull horse gently but firmly inside out, taking care not to crack in- terior plating, which will, of course, be exterior plating when you have finished pulling. Mount plated horse in har mony with furnishing of room it is to occupy, and serve cold. Accompany me curse you Said he. comicbooks.com