Life — June 21, 1929 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Life Magazine Cartoon Analysis This cartoon satirizes the artistic profession, specifically the practice of artists using live models. The scene shows an artist (lower left, wearing a hat) sketching or painting a young woman posed on a stool in what appears to be a studio setting, surrounded by artistic equipment and sketches. The caption's joke is that the artist tells the woman he cannot use her as a model today, but will take her name and address—implying he's interested in her romantically rather than professionally. This is satirical commentary on the stereotype of male artists attempting to seduce women under the pretense of needing models, or using modeling as a pretext for romantic advances. The cartoon mocks both artistic pretension and opportunistic behavior toward women.