“Satire After the Young Turk Revolution” highlights some of the most poignant political cartoons from the first two months’ of the bilingual Ottoman Turkish-French weekly Kalem magazine’s run.

This was a particularly tumultuous time in the history of the late Ottoman Empire as it grew closer to its transition into the Turkish Republic. The cartoon images have been selected for this exhibit because of their accessible meaning, illustration of the top issues of the time period, and aesthetic value. Kalem magazine was chosen for this exhibit because it represents UT Libraries’ rare Ottoman collections that are ripe for digitization to increase access for the public.

This exhibit will be of interest to those fascinated by pre-WWI Europe, the Ottoman Empire, satirical and political cartoons, and French publications in the Middle East. It will be of particular interest to researchers and students of the Middle East, early 20th century Europe, and popular art and literature across cultures.

The print magazine is available at the Perry-Castañeda Library at UT Austin and through the Center for Research Libraries. An incomplete digital copy (issues 2 - 40) can be found through the HathiTrust Library. It is hoped that a full-color and complete digital copy of Kalem magazine will be available as an initiative of the Middle East Materials Project of the Center for Research Libraries.

Citation: Correa, Dale, curator. (2019). Satire After the Young Turk Revolution: Cartoons from Kalem Magazine, 1908. https://exhibits.lib.utexas.edu/spotlight/kalemcartoons/