Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Vice Admiral

Okay, Uncle Sam smiled once in while — here as one of the two faces of the gummint viewing the nation's vices of the time. This is an excellent illustration of that time, looking very much like a 'modern' editorial illustration.
Robert Lawson — from an article entitled 'The Return of Sin?' — 1933
from the New York Herald Tribune Magazine

2 comments:

Daniel [oeconomist.com] said...

For the sake of discussion, I draw attention to how the two profiles differ.

Of course, the right one is shaded and more nearly monochromatic. But note also that the nose is much sharper; that it has a mole or wart on the paraphiltrum; that the skin is more creased, lined, and taut (but with a noticeable absence of crows-feet, as if this face never smiled); that the bread shaggier and less kempt; and that either the brows are bushier or more hair has crept out form under the hat.

Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Note, too, Daniel, that the smiling half isn't really smiling in pleasure, but more with the demeanor of avarice.