In the 7th May 1904 issue of the French caricature magazine “L‘Assiette au Beurre”, the originally Czech artist Frantisek Kupka drew a caricature titled “Dieu Turc” (“Turk God”) depicting “Allah” in the skies, a Muslim Turk standing on a pile of decapitated heads with a bloody sword in his hand apparently having massacred Christians.

According to Frantisek Kupka, this Muslim Turk fighter figure was a representative of a connection between “Allah” and “Heaven” in the skies and symbolised the “Red Sultan” Abdulhamid II, the representative of the “God Turk” regime on earth. 

According to the caricaturist; Sultan Abdulhamid II organised the Armenian genocide and tried to bring all the Muslims of the world under Ottoman rule by following a “united Islam” politics whilst acting against Christians in a mission based on the Quran’s deathly orders.

Who was Frantisek Kupka?

He was also known as “Frank Kupka” or “François Kupka”. He is French artist originally from the Czech Republic and a leader in the technique of abstract art. He was born on 23rd September 1871 in Opocno, Bohemia and died on 24th June 1957 in Puteaux, France.

After his initial studies in Prague and Vienna, he went on to study at the School of Fine Arts in Paris. He settled there in 1895. During the First World War, Kupka joined the army and designed propaganda posters. After the 1930s he turned his attention to geometric art.