The Daily Valdemar No. 26: April 7

Valdemar Andersen, original drawing for Politiken. It was printed on August 2, 1911.
Private collection.

Today's moment of calm is a voluminous soirée.

The audience of an event was often as great a motif as anything taking place onstage. Special occasions would attract a number of celebrities wishing to be seen and for the cartoonist there would be plenty to report. In the present case Queen Louise is seen center stage in the first row with Crown Princess Alexandrine to her right. They have been presented with bouquets, which is always a cue to determine their identity.

The soirée was organized by the Society for the Protection of Animals with guests from abroad and is so obviously a formal occasion. Everyone was in their best finery, which at the time meant the huge hats of fashion crowned by a small mountain of feathers. Ostrich feathers were a farming industry and are seen on the two hats to the far left, while others may have carried a whole bird atop their head. The industry was to be questioned in the years to come and the storyline for the daily of this presumably animal friendly congress was the surprise of seeing the international guests so copiously plumed.

Valdemar has placed our viewpoint from beyond the huge hats, as it would have been nigh impossible to look beyond the sea of hats. They create a swirling and cascading noise of heads and hats in the lower half of the picture plane. The monolithic architecture with notes from Antiquity is no competition for the sea of fashion below.