Each of us must remember this “Crying Child” painting – aka “Ciko” – from somewhere. His rather innocent look and tears made us adopt him as one of us and hang him everywhere.
So, what kind of story does Çiko actually have, contrary to the misconceptions?
This painting, which has sold millions worldwide, was very popular when it first became popular.
However, he later fell victim to the cunning of the British press and was branded “cursed”. This painting, which started to circulate in every corner of the world since the 1950s, has been made in many different versions by its painter. In fact, the child in the original of this painting was auburn and hazel-eyed, but with the other works of the artist, the blond and blue-eyed shapes were also widely spread.
In fact, this famous child’s age has been increased in some paintings and reduced in others. In a few, she changed her gender to become a girl. The only thing that did not change was the innocent glances and tears that shattered one’s heart.
Let’s come to the “so-called” curse of the painting.
Actually, it all started with a fire in England. According to a report published by the British newspaper “The Sun” (which is not at all reliable), a firefighter claimed that all the belongings in the fired houses were ashes, but these posters were not damaged at all.
Subsequently, none of the firefighters of that period brought this crying child picture into their homes. So everyone who read the news and had this poster hanging in their house panicked. The fact of the matter was that these fires were caused by keeping electric stoves close to a curtain or bed and leaving the stoves on.
At that time, about 50,000 copies of this poster were sold in the poor neighborhoods of England. What a coincidence that the fires usually broke out in these neighborhoods or there was a selective perception.
Things got even more serious, and at the newspaper’s call, more than two thousand people sent the posters from their homes back to the newspaper they had bought. For fear of bringing bad luck, the posters were destroyed by mass burning.
Afterwards, thousands of people called the newspaper and told what happened to them because of this poster. According to the claims of people; The sounds of crying came from the picture at night, the tears turned the color of blood, the picture began to shake and tremble unexpectedly.
Although the fire officials later announced that all these fires were caused by negligence, this unfounded news of the British newspaper had already been adopted by the society.
This painting of a crying child, which we are accustomed to seeing everywhere, actually belongs to the Italian painter Bruno Amadio. Known to make a living by selling paintings to tourists during his healthy years, Bruno also signed 26 more paintings.
The artist, better known as Giovanni Bragolin, depicted crying children, who are known as gypsy children according to some in his works. When Bruno was writing this painting, he had no doubt thought that it would come to this place.
Bonus: For us, this painting is none other than Burhan Altıntop’s lovely Çiko on the European Side.
Of course, it was also identified with a magazine that didn’t need a name.
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