"Why were you so cross to your husband at breakfast?..."
Date1892
Artist
Albert Beck Wenzell
(American illustrator, 1864–1917)
Illustration CitationLife, October 6, 1892
MediumInk and gouache on illustration board
Dimensionssheet: 27 15/16 × 22 1/16 in. (71 × 56 cm)
Credit LineAcquisition Fund, 1981
Object number1981-38
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextAlbert Beck Wenzell captured the manners and fashions of a prosperous era in the United States, when society was dominated by robber barons and their often equally ambitious wives and families. A Detroit native trained in European art academies, Albert Wenzell found success as a regular contributor to Life magazine, then a humorous publication. The beautifully-rendered women in his elaborately staged settings gave rise to the expression "Wenzell Girls." The conversation between these two aristocratic-looking women conveys their superficiality. The exchange reveals that one would rather keep her cook than her husband.
Thomas Starling Sullivant
1910
