The Wasp — 1889 — page 266: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon depicts a Scottish bagpiper as "the principal figure at the centennial ball." The figure wears traditional Scottish dress and plays bagpipes while surrounded by children and signage advertising a "New York Museum" exhibition featuring "Blue Blood," "Cold Coin," "Greenbacks," and "Other Revolutionary Antiquities." The satire appears to mock what the cartoonist saw as pretentious American celebration of the centennial (likely referring to the 1889 Paris Exposition). By presenting Scottish bagpipes as the centerpiece and labeling American wealth and status as mere museum "antiquities," the cartoon ridicules American social pretension and suggests that European (particularly Scottish-British) culture dominates American society's self-conception.