Booklet of Cartoons published by the Turkish Information Office, 1958. Box 214. Series 3: Administration: Correspondence: T General. James Johnson Sweeney records. A0001. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, New York
Finding 50: Booklet of Cartoons from the Turkish Information Office
February 18, 2011
In 1958, the Turkish Information Office published a booklet of cartoons entitled This We Believe in Turkey, a copy of which was sent to James Johnson Sweeney. The booklet humorously explores various topics in an attempt at a “fresh approach to international understanding.” The cartoons, divided into sections both timeless (“Of Daily Life”) and timely (“Of Communism and the Iron Curtain”), provide commentary on politics, the space race, and human habits. Despite the inclusion of divisive political topics among lighter fare, the introduction to the booklet states that the aim is not to instruct, inform or propagandize, but “to establish the universality of the Laugh.” Additional correspondence from 1959 between the Director of the Turkish Information Office, Nuri Eren, and Sweeney is found among Sweeney’s records and references a possible Turkish exhibition in the United States. However, the lack of further correspondence or planning materials suggests that the exhibition was never pursued by the Guggenheim Museum beyond the initial discussion between Eren and Sweeney.
–Shirin Khaki, Archives Assistant