Armenian News Network / Groong
Poster Soliciting Funds to Support Armenians using Armenian
survivors of the genocide as Illustrative Models
Armenian News Network / Groong
April 25, 2021
Special to
Groong by Eugene L. Taylor and Abraham D. Krikorian
Long Island, NY
Our last posting emphasized
that a non-Armenian was used as a ‘model’ in W.T. Benda’s “Give or We Perish”
poster. Many would argue that it would seem appropriate that occasionally at
least, a ‘real’ or ‘authentic’ or those authenticated as Armenians be featured
in the artwork of Posters seeking donations mainly on behalf of Armenian
victims.
The example of the Keghi Mother
and her children
is a good example. The W.T. Benda “Give or We Perish” poster, although artistically
elegant, might seem more than a bit detached from reality to many of us who
know quite a few details about what went on during the Genocide. We would argue that one might, in fact, be more accurately
connected with reality if indeed one is trying to get the point across that if one does not “Give” “We [“certainly”] Perish.”
The look in the young woman’s eyes is
certainly one expressing real fear, even terror, rather than one of impending
death if help is not forthcoming. (See Fig. 1).
Fig. 1.
Close-up
of the young woman in the W.T. Benda poster making the plea “Give or We Perish.”
Some might argue that the expressive eyes are paramount in
the plea.
Yet
another of the significant fund-raising period posters in the Library of
Congress Prints and Photographs collection is captioned “Lest They Perish” …” See Fig. 2. for an attractively framed copy
in our personal collection.
Fig. 2.
This
poster was produced using an actual photograph (or two) by a Paterson, New Jersey graphic artist and magazine and book
illustrator William Berdan King (1880-1927). (One of
the best obituaries including a photograph of him is in the Paterson Press Guardian, Sept. 6, 1927
pg. 1 col. 2.) King usually simply signed his work W.B. King and that has
apparently been the basis of more than a little confusion when more recent
attempts have been hurriedly or carelessly made to identify him as the
artist. He has even been very incorrectly identified by someone who ought to
know better, as William Gunning King, the British artist who did so far as we
can learn no graphic or illustrative work. In any case, William B[erdan]. King is responsible for this fine piece of work put
out by the American Committee for Relief in the
Near East.
Fig. 3.
Details offered by the Library of Congress Prints and
Photographs catalog for this poster follow.
●
Title: Lest they perish Campaign
for $30,000,000 - American Committee for Relief in the Near
East--Armenia-Greece-Syria-Persia / / W.B. King; Conwell Graphic Companies,
N.Y.
●
Creator(s): King, W. B., artist
●
Date
Created/Published: [1917-1919]
●
Medium: 1 print
: color lithograph ; sheet 47 x 32 cm (poster format)
●
Summary: Poster showing a woman
carrying a baby on her back among destroyed buildings.
●
Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-50553
(digital file from original print) LC-USZC4-10121 (color film copy
transparency)
●
Rights Advisory: No known restrictions
on publication. For information see "World War I Posters"(http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/243_wwipos.html)
●
Call Number: POS - US .K548, no. 2 (B size) [P&P]
●
Repository: Library of Congress
Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
●
Notes:
o Title from item.
o One Madison Ave., New
York, Cleveland H. Dodge, Treasurer.
o Exhibited:
"Echoes of the Great War : American Experiences
of WW I" in the Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C., Nov. 2017 - June 2018.
●
Subjects:
o Near East Relief
(Organization)--1910-1920.
o World War,
1914-1918--Economic & industrial aspects--United States.
o World War,
1914-1918--Women.
●
Format:
o Lithographs--Color--1910-1920.
o War
posters--American--1910-1920.
●
Collections:
o Posters: World War I Posters
The significant feature of this poster
(Fig.3) for us is that we can show that W.B. King used a photograph of an
Armenian woman and her baby as the basis of his poster.
The image on the poster has
ended up being described in many places and many contexts, but we venture to
say, not one of them quite hits the exact mark. No matter. This is yet another
example of an image transitioning from rather specific to an image or portrayal
with deserved generic status.
The reason we mentioned
that King might have used a photograph or
two as the source of the central theme for his poster follows. One picture, correct
in its full aspect and profile (Fig. 4a) was published as a ‘cutout’ (Fig 4b),
which appeared in the March 1921 issue of the New Near East, (vol. 6, no, 6 pg.5).
Fig. 4a.
Fig. 4b.
Sad
Armenian mother.” Reproduced from New
Near East, March 1921 vol. 6, no. 6 pg. 5.)
Any
observer will agree that it is a very faithful prototype for the woman and her
baby in the poster.
The full caption adds
another dimension to the image, and an important one at that. “This sad Armenian mother, her baby the progeny of an enemy race,
is depending on us, as are others.”
We are not, of course, absolutely certain that the baby was fathered by
a Muslim. Until recently not that much has been written or discussed about the violation of
Armenian women during the period of the genocide, or about any ‘mixed’ progeny
that might have ensued. We included several frames that can be seen
approximately 16 minutes into our YouTube video
entitled History
of the Armenian Orphan Rug at the White House 1925 posted by Taylor and
Krikorian on YouTube December 21, 2014. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkQQEFsXDRg.
An early Glass lantern slide production
used by Near East Relief may be found below (Fig. 5). It is numbered but not
dated. We do not know of or have a key that gives any greater detail.
Fig. 5.
It was the late Karekin Dickran from Aarhus, Denmark,
originally from Beirut, who sent us a photograph years ago of a glass lantern
slide. It is not among those slides selected for inclusion in the
Armenian/Danish of Maria Jacobsen’s Diary (published by Antelias, at the Catholicosate, 1979, Oragrutiun Kharberd.) The slide photo clearly
derives from a photograph of the model that W.B. King more than likely used. It
was at that time being used by the Near East Relief as part of its publicity
series. Unfortunately, the glass lantern slide is undated although it is
captioned and numbered. (We have as yet been unable to find a key to the many
glass slides that were generated and distributed by the Near East Relief in its
fund-raising activities, but we admit that we have not made a major effort. A
point worth keeping in mind is that the American Committee for Relief in the
Near East was the issuing agency for our W.B. King poster. The Near East Relief
(NER), which was the
successor organization of the ACRNE, issued the
New Near East magazine. It would seem
that the photograph(s) was considerably earlier than 1921.
The matter of mixed
ethnicity children as a result of rape is complicated and a very incompletely
studied subject so we will not go into details. The photo below is the only one
that we are aware of that approaches the subject in a concrete way.
Fig. 6.
A still photograph of nurse
Miss Florence Stively and some of her charges. Mrs.
Frances C. MacDaniels, who served the ACRNE in Harput with her husband, has included comments on the back
of the photograph. Her daughter, who lives in Austin, Texas, pulled the
photograph for her own family archives before donating the bulk of her parents’
materials from that period in Turkey to their Alma mater, Oberlin College in
Oberlin, Ohio.
The next group of
photographs from the Library of Congress collection provides the very basis of
this paper. It clearly
shows that the Mother and child of the King poster were ‘models’ for the
poster. The photograph is in the Red Cross
Collection and has helped considerably in enabling us to resolve at least a few
aspects of the W.B. King Poster. The Library of Congress Prints and
Photographs catalog link for Fig. 7a below is: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017670312/.
Fig. 7a.
Photo of a group of people at a camp outside Jerusalem.
The group is identified as comprised of Armenians and
Syrians awaiting “disinfection.”
Fig. 7b.
Another more completely commented on caption for the
photograph.
The full entry reads:
Title: Armenian & Syrian refugees waiting at Red Cross camp outside
Jerusalem to be "disinfected."
●
Date Created/Published:
[between 1917 and
1919]
●
Medium: 1 negative
: glass ; 5 x 7 in.
●
Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-anrc-04368
(digital file from original)
●
Rights Advisory: No known restrictions
on publication. For information, see "American National Red Cross photograph
collection,"(http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/717_anrc.html)
●
Call Number: LC-A6195- 7247
[P&P]
●
Repository: Library of Congress
Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
●
Notes:
o Title and notes from
Red Cross caption card.
o Photographer name or
source of original from caption card or negative sleeve: H.E. 50875.
o Group title:
Palestine.
o Date based on date of
negatives in same range.
o Gift; American
National Red Cross 1944 and 1952.
o General information
about the American National Red Cross photograph collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.anrc
o Temp note: Batch 10
●
Subjects:
●
Format:
●
Part of: American National Red Cross photograph collection (Library of
Congress)
Figs. 8 and 9 show a close-up of the Mother
and child in the photo.
Fig. 8.
Fig. 9.
It is significant that the date of the image given by the Library
of Congress was established using dates of various negatives in the same photo
range. We believe that it fits in well with what we know. We would feel
confident if we placed early 1919 as the very latest date. By that time, we
would suggest that the mother has already been reduced to a ‘generic’ symbolic
figure for motherhood that anyone can identify with. It pulls at the heart.
Fig. 10.
Scan of a commemorative stamp issued on the 100th Anniversary
of the Onset of the Armenian Genocide. This stamp was officially released 6 May
2015. It was designed by Juan Pablo Gechidjian, Vahagn Mkrtchyan, Hayk Demoyan,
and was printed in Castor, France by offset. The original is 26 X 40
millimeters. The Imperial barracks in Alexandropol
(today Gyumri), used as a huge orphanage for Armenian orphans after the
Genocide is shown in the background. The “America
we thank you” is comprised of the actual orphans organized into letters in
English for a stunning group photograph by Near East Relief for Publicity.
We are pleased to have been able to expand our
knowledge on the King poster.
We add this knowledge on the King poster to the
existing store of research on hitherto poorly known posters. For example, one
of particular interest involves an Armenian lad. That paper is entitled “A Rare
Poster of an Armenian Boy Used in Fund Raising for the Near East Relief” by
A.D. Krikorian and Eugene L. Taylor, September 15, 2017 See Groong at https://groong.org/orig/ak-20170915.html.
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