92. Today in 1920s Turkey: 7 June 1923 (Cartoonist Portraits and Profiles: Introduction)
Comments:
Today in 1920s Turkey has covered the inventive and entertaining works of numerous Turkish cartoonists of the era. Many of them can been identified from the signatures they leave on their works. Moreover, many of these artists went on to become major contributors to 20th-century modern Turkish visual culture: some became art teachers and illustrators and others remained lifelong veterans of the trade. Many of these artists laid the foundations of their oeuvres in the pages of popular satirical journals such as Akbaba and other publications from the 1920s.
This caricature, which was published today in 1923 in Akbaba conveniently features all seven of the magazine’s illustrators. The fact that Akbaba was able to employ or patronize so many artists should stand as an indicator of how seriously this particular magazine took its commitment to art and visual appeal. The text above the cartoon reads “Akbaba’s Illustrators/Artists” (Akbaba’nın Ressamları). Below each portrait is the artist’s name. Reading from right to left, as an Ottoman reader would, we have: Ramiz Bey, İ. Hakkı Bey, Ratip Tahir Bey, Hüsammetin Haşim Bey, Sadi Nuri Bey, Muhittin Bey, and Hasan Rasim Bey.
The next seven posts of Today in 1920s Turkey (numbers 93–99) will consist of overviews of each one of the artists featured in this cartoon.
Until next time…
Originally published at https://steemit.com on June 7, 2017.
