Visual Images of Natural Cataclysms in Bulgarian and German 19th and 20th Century Collections of Postcards (Photographs, Cartoons, Press Illustrations)
Visual Images of Natural Cataclysms in Bulgarian and German 19th and 20th Century Collections of Postcards (Photographs, Cartoons, Press Illustrations)

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with a range of problems unknown in Bulgarian art theory and ethnology and fills in a substantial void in the sphere of popular visual culture. The main object of attention of this study will be visual materials of natural catastrophes (earthquakes, floods) recreated in illustrated postcards and photographs from the late 19th and the first half of 20th century available in (private and state) collections. This presupposes an interdisciplinary approach and determines the need of resorting to a range of methods applied in the fields of ethnology, anthropology, and art history. A main emphasis has been laid on the functioning of the image of the disaster in a different cultural, historical and political environment. The interpretation and assessment of the illustrated postcards from the end of the 19th and the early 20th centuries as a reflection of culture are in their initial stage not only in Bulgaria but also across the world. The postcards document the social experience of generations in various spheres of everyday life which appear trivial also in extraordinary situations and natural cataclysms.

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