The safety-valve
1909
Meet 'Brother Straitlace,' a prudish furnace burning 'The Simple Life' — but his repressed desires are literally blowing his top! Steam escapes through a 'Trip to New York' valve, forming dreamy bubbles of city skyscrapers, glamorous dancers, fancy dinner parties, and joyrides in the rain. Nankivell perfectly captured the Edwardian tension between rural moral purity and urban temptation. Puck magazine was America's premier humor publication, famous for these lavish color lithograph covers that poked fun at society's hypocrisies. The joke? No matter how hard you try to live simply, your inner party animal always finds a way out!
- Technique
- color lithograph