141. Today in 1920s Turkey: 3 March 1926 (Along Comes Spring!)
Comments:
Today’s cartoon celebrates the arrival of warmer, sunnier weather in the wake of a long, cold, and miserable winter. The image consists of an illustration of a young, carefree woman skipping through a lush landscape. The woman’s body and flowing dress are largely white and superimposed on a black background which represents the foliage of a tree. An ornamental cherry blossom branch runs diagonally behind the woman and mirrors her swinging arms. A pair of kissing doves perched on the branch signify the cartoon’s “romantic” mood.
Indeed the frolicking woman is not only a visual harbinger of a new season but she represents one of the many eligible bachelorettes who will become visible outside in public with the coming of warmer weather. Catering to a largely male audience, Papağan often included risque illustrations of women, especially on its front cover, which serves, to some extent, the purpose of selling the product, i.e. copies of the magazine. These images are often low in narrative value but high in aesthetic appeal. And such is the case with the current image which is quite beautiful but neither clever nor informative, unless, that is, the warmer weather is news to some people... Its text is short and simple:
Türkçe:
— Bahar geliyor!English:
— Spring is coming!
The artist of the illustration did, in fact, sign his work although the signature is unfamiliar to me. Another example of an overtly “seasonal” greeting is discussed in post #109 (Autumn au Naturel). It perhaps goes without saying that the content of periodicals often reflects the weather of their season. For instance, protagonists in cartoons will appear bundled up in the winter and scantily clad in the summer. Stories about rain abound in the Spring and the heat is the subject or backdrop of many anecdotes in the Summer.
Originally published at https://steemit.com on March 4, 2018.
