Description
Oscar Schmerling's 1916 illustration "High Prices in Tiflis" is a sharp satire on the soaring prices in the city and the financial "skinning" of consumers by merchants. The drawing depicts a group of women leaving a shop holding various purchases and boxes. Even though the women are wearing luxurious hats and some are in fur coats, it is striking that they are partially undressed - some are left without skirts in just their underwear, while others walk barefoot. The main idea of this absurd and ironic scene is revealed in the text below, which states that while merchants sell good things to their female clients, they strip everything off their bodies in return, almost leaving their skin behind in the shop due to the high costs. Through this visual metaphor, Schmerling accurately captures the reality of Tiflis commerce, where buying new clothes or other items was so expensive that it stripped consumers of their last pennies, leaving them literally and figuratively naked in the street.
