He; ‘I propose dinner.’ She; ‘Materialist’ 1916

Ralph Barton's illustration portrays a stylized Jazz Age couple with a sophisticated palette of blues, yellows and oranges. The drawing looks like it was made with very fine pen lines, overlaid with blocks of flat color, not unlike the kind of images you see in magazines from that time. Barton uses a limited number of colours, but applies them with great precision to evoke a specific mood, the knowing cynicism that was so popular in the 1920's. The sharp angles and elongated figures contribute to the satirical tone. Take a look at the woman's legs, and especially her feet, notice how Barton renders them using very few lines, yet they somehow appear both elegant and comical. The drawing as a whole is like a series of notes, a commentary on modern relationships. You can see the influence of artists like Aubrey Beardsley, but Barton has a distinct American sensibility. His work reminds us that art is always in conversation with itself, reinterpreting and reinventing the past.