At first glance, the two covers designed by Eric Thake for the Australian literary journal Meanjin might look like typical 'happy blackfella' kitsch of the 1950s. However, a modern viewer must recall that in 1950, the use of Aboriginal motifs and imagery was the sign of an aggressively Australian movement in literature and criticism, of which Meanjin was one of the principal vehicles. ('Meanjin' is an indigenous name for the Brisbane area, where the magazine was founded in 1940).
In Thake's covers, there is an element of subversive humour missing from many of the other Aboriginal-themed covers that graced Meanjin. The magazine's title hangs obliquely, and ominously close to the witchetty grub about to be gleefully devoured by the young Aborigine. In need of a model for the foreshortened view of the teeth, Thake turned to his daughter Jennifer.
Meanjin No. 2, 1950
Meanjin No. 4, 1950 |
