99. Today in 1920s Turkey. Cartoonist Portraits and Profiles: Hasan Rasim Bey
Born in Manisa in 1903, Hasan Rasim Bey was involved in the publishing industry for much of his life. He was a regular contributor to the biweekly journal, Akbaba in 1923. He was not a very prolific cartoonist as his main focus was writing and journalism but his cartoons can be found in Aydede and Akbaba between late 1922 and early 1924. His earliest works were published in the journal Dergah, while in the 1930, 40s, and 50s he moved on to work at the daily newspapers Haber and En Son Dakika. He died in Vienna in 1967 and is buried in Istanbul.
The above portrait of Hasan Rasim Bey is part of a larger group caricature depicting all of Akbaba’s illustrators from 1923. This group portrait was introduced a few posts ago as a launching point for an eight-part series dedicated to the lives and works of the seven cartoonists from this picture (see #92. Cartoonist Portraits and Profiles: Introduction).” Since then each Today in 1920s Turkey post has focused on one of the artists, examples of their works, and information about their lives. Before arriving at Hasan Rasim Bey, the final artist in the series, we considered the following artists (below, right to left): Ramiz Bey, İsmail Hakkı Bey, Ratip Tahir Bey, Hüsamettin Haşim Bey, Suat Nuri Bey, and Muhittin Bey.
Cartoonists like İsmail Hakkı, Hüsamettin Haşim, Suat Nuri, and Muhittin have faded into relative obscurity for now. But Ramiz and Ratip Tahir survived the 1920s to have successful careers in art, publishing, and beyond. The present artist, Hasan Rasim Bey’s fate more closely resembles that of Ramiz and Ratip Tahir’s in that we know much more about his life and accomplishments.
Hasan Rasim “Us” Bey is one of three brothers who all found success in the field of publishing. The famous “Us” brothers all took the same last name in 1934 in accordance with the Surname Law. Hasan Rasim Us’s noteworthy brothers are M. Asım Us and Hakkı Tarık Us, both of whom were journalists and writers.
Hakkı Tarık Us is a person especially near and dear to the Today in 1920s Turkey project as Turkey’s most complete extent collection of periodicals was assembled and donated to the Beyazıt State Library by Hakkı Tarık Us himself. The collection has been digitized and made available online as part of a joint project between Tokyo University and Beyazıt Library. Many of the Today in 1920s Turkey posts have been made possible due to this wonderful digitization effort and free-access system and therefore feature reproductions of cartoons from journals personally collected by Hakkı Tarık Us, brother of our subject artist, Hasan Rasim Bey.
Hasan Rasim Bey was better known for his writing, but as the above caricature suggests, he also dabbled in the visual arts in his 20s, early on in his career. For an example of one of his cartoons we needn’t look further than the same issue of Akbaba as the artist group portrait. Here it is:
Türkçe
— Kocamın mebusluk beyannamesini yazdım, bitirdim. Altına onun ismi yerine kendi resmimi koysam, kazanacağından yüzde yüz eminim!English
— I wrote and finished my husband’s election speech (for parliamentary elections). If I substitute his name at the bottom with my picture I am one hundred percent sure that he will win!
This cartoon, which is signed in its upper right corner, features a woman seated behind a desk in an office. She is portrayed taking pause as she thinks seriously about something that is presumably of great importance. Her writing hand is lifted to her chin and her eyes are averted from the work directly in front of her. Although the artist has presented us with a picture of true mental contemplation, the text negates this image by revealing the woman’s thoughts. The woman, the wife of a parliamentary hopeful, is hatching a plan to increase her husband’s likelihood of winning his election. This plot involves removing her husband’s name and replacing it with a picture of her beautiful face.
While the plan itself is cheeky and amusing for a host of reasons, the root of its humor can be traced primarily to the discrepancy between the image and the text. Through the happy marriage of both elements, we are taken on a journey. The image conveys a serious mood and environment. The woman looks thoughtful, she is clearly writing something important, and she is surrounded by all of the trappings of a modern bureaucratic workspace, a la 1920s, equipped with an electric lamp, telephone, clock, writing implements, and other office supplies. Yet when our eyes drop to read the text we are presented with an unexpected twist that unfolds gradually, like a two-punch combo: first we are informed that the wife wrote the husband’s speech and then the futility of the entire process is underscored with her (or the cartoonist’s) belief that a pretty picture is still more effective in an election than empty promises. In this way, the cartoon’s text and image work together to reveal how misleading appearances and words can be in the political process.
Other sources consulted:
Originally published at https://steemit.com on August 2, 2017.
