The Staging of Age. Images of Children on Bulgarian and Western European Postcards in the Early 20th Century
The Staging of Age. Images of Children on Bulgarian and Western European Postcards in the Early 20th Century

Summary/Abstract: Photos and postcards of the early 20th century reveal the staging of age as an interesting and unexplored problem. These postcards represent children in idealized and staged family relations that do not correspond to their age. The images show a synthesized representation of the adult experience and draw society’s attention to certain themes and values. Images of children on Bulgarian and Western-European postcards (mainly from private digital collections) have been selected for this study, and postcards with images of children that represent the relations of adults are analysed. Examples include family traditions or celebrations, such as children’s weddings, Christmas, and the celebration of April 1st. Some popular images and roles of the children from postcards of the International Red Cross, which is generally accepted as a guide for proper grown-up behaviour, will also be analysed. The images reveal not only the social status of the photographed characters, but also their staged age, staged urban society, and staged occupation. The main subject analysed in this type of postcards is the child’s wedding, which is presented in an urban environment. The postcards’ publishers were devoted mainly to staging and idealizing the children’s world as children were a more numerous and more interesting group in society in terms of the staged and presented century. The field of research of illustrated postcards as popular art has been situated amidst different disciplines: art theory, ethnology, anthropology of image, visual culture, und communication.

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