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Displaying Bosnia: Imperialism, Orientalism, and Exhibitionary Cultures in Vienna and Beyond: 1878–1914

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2015

Diana Reynolds-Cordileone
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Austrian History Yearbook , Volume 46 , April 2015 , pp. 29 - 50
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Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 2015 

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References

1 For the purposes of clarity and space in this essay, I shall use the term “Bosnia” to refer to the occupied provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the term “Austria” to refer to the Dual Monarchy and the Austro-Hungarian administrators of the Regional Government (Zemaljska vlada, Landesregierung) of Bosnia after 1882. I also wish to thank Robert J. Donia and the anonymous reader for the AHY for their helpful comments.

2 “Bosniche Hausirer in Wien,” Bosniche Post IV, Nr. 12 (13 Feb. 1889): 2–3.

3 See: Habsburg Postcolonial, ed. Feichtinger, Johannes, Prutsch, Ursula, and Csáky, Moritz (Innsbruck, 2003)Google Scholar; and Wechselwirkungen: The Political, Social, and Cultural Impact of the Austro-Hungarian Occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, ed. Ruthner, Clemens, Detrez, Raymond, Reber, Usha, and Reynolds, Diana (New York: Peter Lang 2014).Google Scholar

4 For the variety of colonial, imperial, and Orientalist discourses about Bosnia, see: Robert J. Donia, “The Proximate Colony” in Wechselwirkungen, ed. Ruthner, et al.; Hartmuth, Maximilian, “Insufficiently Oriental? An Early Episode in the Study and Preservation of the Ottoman Architectural Heritage in the Balkans,” in Monuments, Patrons, Contexts: Papers on Ottoman Europe Presented to Machiel Kiel (Nederlands Instituut voor Het Nabije Oosten, 2010), 171–85Google Scholar; and André Gingrich, “Frontier Orientalism,“ in http://campcatatonia.org/article/1555/frontier-orientalism (2006).

5 von Doderer, Heimito, Die Strudelhofstiege (Munich, 1966)Google Scholar, 235. Author's translation.

6 Bennett, Tony, The Birth of the Museum: History, Theory, Politics (London, 1995).Google Scholar

7 The Austrian Museum for Art and Industry was an early site for proclaiming a multinational Austrian idea as early as the 1870s. See: von Eitelberger, Rudolf, “Die Kunstbestrebungen Österreichs” (1871) in Gesammelte Schriften vol Bd. 2 (Vienna, 1879).Google Scholar

8 Bosniche Post (30 Jan. 1889): 1. “Das bisschen Hercegovina sei noch immer mehr werth, als ganz Ostafrika.”

9 Luksić, Abel, Bosnien und die Hercegovina Lexikon (Prague, 1878)Google Scholar, 1.

10 Moser, Henri, Bosnie-Herzegovine: Une oeuvre de colonisation pacifique dans les Balkans (Paris, 1896).Google Scholar

11 Moser was renowned for his exploration of Central Asia and his vast collection of Islamic weaponry, most of which was bequeathed upon his death to the Historical Museum in Berne.

12 See: Robert J. Donia, “The Proximate Colony” in Wechselwirkungen, n.p.

13 Maximilian Hartmuth (“Insufficiently Oriental?”) addresses some of the Regional Administration's less-than-successful attempts to “improve” some old Ottoman buildings, while also noting that Austrians were among their earliest protectors and advocates as well.

14 Heuberger, Valeria, “Politische Institutionen und Verwaltung in Bosnien und der Hercegovina 1878–1918” in Die Habsburger Monarchie 1848–1918, Vol. VII (Vienna, 2000).Google Scholar

15 Hartmuth, “Insufficiently Oriental?”, discusses the Austrian addition of neo-Moorish elements to some existing mosques as improvements after the Occupation in 1878. For neo-Moorish architecture at the Vienna World's Fair of 1873, see: Çelik, Zeynep, Displaying the Orient: Architecture of Islam at Nineteenth-Century World's Fairs (Berkeley, 1992)Google Scholar. The Theological Faculty of Sarajevo (Šerijatska sudačka škola) was completed in 1889.

16 Bosnische Post 48 (17 June 1888): 2.

17 Alois Studnička, Kállay's Czech Guard in Bosnia: Recollections, Unpublished manuscript, Archives of the Museum of Czech Literature, Prague, Estate of František Karel Studnička, trans. by Daniel Morgan. My thanks to Luda Hubova for her help in obtaining this manuscript.

18 “Bosniche Hausirer in Wien,” Bosniche Post IV, Nr. 12 (13 Feb. 1889): 2–3.

19 André Gingrich, “Frontier Orientalism,” http://campcatatonia.org/article/1555/frontier-orientalism (2006).

20 Deusch, Engelbert, “Andrassy und die Okkupation Bosniens und der Hercegovina,” in Oesterreichische Osthefte 12 (1970): 18–36.Google Scholar

21 For the fierce warrior tradition in the Balkans, see also: Ursula Reber, “Habsburgische Begegnungen mit nomadischen Kriegerstämmen: Montenegro als strategischer Schauplatz,” in Kakanien Revisited, http://www.kakanien.ac.at/beitr/fallstudie/UReber4

22 Schachinger, Werner, Die Bosniaken kommen: Elitetruppe in der k.u.k. Armee, 1879–1918 (Graz, 1989).Google Scholar

23 Sheets, Heather, Martial Races: The Military, Race and Masculinity in British Imperial Culture, 1857–1914 (Manchester, 2011).Google Scholar

24 Kraljačić, Tomislav, Kalajev režim u Bosni I Hercegovini 1882–1903 [Kállay's Regime in Bosnia and Hercegovina 1882–1903] (Sarajevo, 1987), 13–38.Google Scholar

25 “Round the Near East,” [Interview with Benjamin von Kállay] in The Daily Chronicle, 3 Oct. 1895.

26 Archiv Bosne i Hercegovine (hereafter Archiv BiH), Sarajevo, ZMF-prz., B.H. 91/1887; Kučna Radinost, No. 43/14/7. Benjamin von Kállay, ”Zur Frage des kunstgewerblichen Reforms im Occupations Gebiet,” Vienna, 10 Feb. 1887.

27 Donia, Robert J., Islam under the Double Eagle: The Muslims of Bosnia and Hercegovina 1871–1914 (New York, 1981)Google Scholar, 11.

28 For a detailed history of the origins of the Museum, see the exhibition catalog: Kunst und Industrie, ed. Noever, Peter (Vienna, 2000).Google Scholar

29 For a discussion of the Museum's policy for the rural crafts, see: Riegl, Alois, Volkskunst, Hausfleiß und Hausindustrie (Berlin, 1893).Google Scholar

30 Bericht über die Verwaltung von Bosnien und der Hercegovina 1906 (Vienna, 1906).Google Scholar

31 “Bericht über eine Reise nach Bosnien,” Khartoum, 11 Sept. 1905. Archiv BiH, ZVS 1905, Box 123 No. 115-29/05, 6.

32 Bosniche Post IV, Nr. 12 (13 Feb. 1889): 23.

33 Bektić was given a contract to teach in a government atelier in 1888. Archiv BiH, Allgemeine Landesregierung, 1888, Box 8/ K 58, 42–370, 137.

34 Studnićka, Alois, Zbirka Pregledalica za prostoruko crtanje II: Intarzije [Images for Freehand Drawing II: Decorative Wood Inlays] (Sarajevo: Zem Vlada, 1898).Google Scholar

35 For an excellent description of the formation of the Provincial Museum, see: Hartmuth, Maximilian, “The Habsburg Landesmuseum in Sarajevo in Its Ideological and Architectural Contexts: A Reinterpretation,” Centropa XII 2 (2012), 194–205 Google Scholar, and Donia, Robert J., Sarajevo, A Biography (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press), 2006, 88–91 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. A contemporary account can be found in Constantin Hörmann, “Zur Geschichte des Bosnisch-Hercegovinischen Landesmuseums,” in Wissenschaftliche Mittheilungen aus Bosnien 1 (1893): 1–25 Google Scholar. See also: Wenzel, Marian, Bosanski stil na stećcima i metalu [Bosnian Style on Tombstones and Metal] (Sarajevo, 1999), 21–30 and 171–80.Google Scholar

36 Archiv BiH, ZVS, 1905, Box 123, No. 115—29/05; “Bericht über eine Reise nach Bosnien,” Khartoum, 11 Sept. 1905, 8.

37 Doderer, Die Strudelhofstiege, 94.

38 Evans, Arthur, Through Bosnia and Herzegovina on Foot during the Insurrection, August and September 1875 (New York, 1971), 274–75.Google Scholar

39 Arhiv BiH, ZVS 1905 Box 123, No. 115 29/05. Anonymous, “Bericht über eine Reise nach Bosnien” Khartoum, 11 Sept. 1905, 5. “... [in former times] … die Manner bewaffneten sich mit samarcierten Schwerten, Dochlen … Pistolen und Musketen. Hunderte von geschichter Arbeiter fanden dadurch Arbeit und Lebensunterhalt.”

40 M. Bartels, “Hausgewerblichen Gegenstände aus Bosnien,” Verhandlung der Berliner Anthropologischen Gesellschaft. Sitzung von 20 Feb. 1897, 98–99. “Die Kunstreichen Waffen dürfen nur noch von wenigen, bevorzugten Männern getragen werden. Benutzen dürfen sie dieselben aber nicht, und so ist es wohl natürlich, das man sich sehr bald nicht mehr die Mühe unterziehen wird, sie anzufertigen.”

41 My thanks to Dr. Christian Ortner of the Military Museum (Heeresgeschichtliches Museum), Vienna, for this insight.

42 Because of the destruction of the Haas archive in Vienna, little information can be gathered about its activities in Sarajevo.

43 For a discussion of industrialization in Bosnia, see: Sugar, Peter F., Industrialization of Bosnia and Hercegovina 1878–1918 (Seattle, 1963).Google Scholar

44 Bosnische Post IV, Nr. 98 (11 Dec. 1889): 54–55.

45 Rampley, Matthew, “Peasants in Vienna: Ethnographic Display and the 1873 World's Fair,” in Austrian History Yearbook 42 (April 2011) 110–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

46 Bosnische Post IV, Nr. 98 (11 Dec. 1889): 54–55. For Josef von Storck, the Museum's Kunstgewerbeschule, and Storck's involvement in Bosnian crafts, see: Ulrike Scholda, Theorie und Praxis im Wiener Kunsstgewerbe des Historismus am Beispiel von Josef Ritter von Storck 1830–1902 (PhD diss., Salzburg, 1991), 54–55.

47 The Lay Collection of Southern Slavic textiles entered the museum in the early 1870s. Allgemeine Kunst-Chronik 13 (1889): 233–35.

48 Ibid. See also, Bosnische Post IV, Nr. 98 (11 Dec. 1889): 54–55, and Scholda, 55.

49 Allgemeine Kunst-Chronik 13 (1889): 233. This article, entitled “New-Austria's Arts and Crafts,” details the activities of the craft schools and the Regional Museum in Sarajevo.

50 Ibid., 235.

51 The Bureau moved to larger spaces three times between 1881 and 1905.

52 Archiv BH, ZVS VI; Prz,B.H. 1892 4-41/92, Kunstgewerbe und Gewerberförderungsamt (1892) 44-1/KG. Carpet design #2, weighing 24.5 kg, measuring 4.80m × 4.80m was delivered to Vienna “for the office of Herr Ministerialrath Schmulmayer.” Most of the other carpets in this shipment were intended for sale. The cost to produce each carpet is carefully noted in each shipment.

53 Archiv BiH, ZVS, Zemaljski musej, 1890, No. 41/ 77/ 17 41-77, 3–5. 1890 god. The document gives precise instructions for the manufacturer and physical description of figurines, hairdos, and instructions for posing figures with appropriate accessories, such as pipes, knives, or spinning tools.

54 Archiv BiH, ZVS, Zemaljski musej, 1890. Figurines. 41/70. 10 Nov. 1890. List of costumes for Vienna Costume Exhibit; 37 Costumes, 10 Nov. 1890 telegram from Vienna.

55 Das Kunstgewerbe in Bosnien und der Hercegovina auf der deutschen Fächer-Ausstellung in Karlsruhe 1891 (Vienna, 1891).Google Scholar

56 Neue Freie Presse, 22 Jan. 1892, 6.

57 Ibid.

58 Bosniche Post 10 (1893) Nr. 7 (25 Jan. 1893): 4; Neue Freie Presse, 22 Jan. 1893, 7. See also: Theatermuseum, Vienna (Österreichisches Theatermuseum), “Eine Hochzeit in Bosnien,” C. Th. 733.042, n.p.; Franz Xaver Gaul (1837–1906) supervised furnishings at the Royal Opera 1879–1900; Joseph Bayer (1852–1913), “after 1883 Kapellmeister of the Royal Opera Kapellmeister, after 1885 Ballettkapellmeister.” Stage design by Antonio Brioschi (1885–1920). See: Hadamowsky, Franz, Die Wiener Hoftheater Teil II (Vienna, 1975)Google Scholar, 205. My thanks to Dr. Elisabeth Grossegger (Vienna) for this information.

59 Chakrabarty, Dipesh, Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference (Princeton, 2000)Google Scholar, 10. Bhabha, Homi, “DissemiNation” in The Location of Culture (London, 1994)Google Scholar, 153.

60 “Volkskunde: Vergleichende europäsiche Ethnographie” in Ur-Ethnographie. Auf der Suche nach dem Elementaren in der Kultur. Die Sammlung Eugenie Goldstern, ed. Grieshofer, Franz, 14, Kataloge des Österreichischen Museums für Volkskunde, Vol. 85 (Vienna, 2004).Google Scholar

61 The Daily Chronicle, London, 3 Oct. 1985.

62 Bosnische Post (3 January 1900): 3.

63 Bosnische Post (10 Dec. 1889): 1.

64 Istorijski arhiv Sarajevo (Historical Archive of Sarajevo), Family and individual collection, Jelica Belović-Bernadzikowski (1875–1909), personal memoirs to 1909.

65 Alois Studnička, Kállay's Czech Guard in Bosnia: Recollections.

66 A. Vetter, Bericht über eine Studienreise nach Bosnien und der Herzegowina (September–October 1910). Unpublished manuscript, Austrian Museum of Ethnography (Öesterreichisches Museum für Volkskunde), Vienna, 34. Vetter was Director of the Imperial-Royal Office for the Promotion of Trades.

67 Vetter, Bericht, 33–34.

68 Ibid., 42–43.

69 Ibid. The National Museum of Bosnia and Hercegovina recently staged an exhibition of Bosnian carpets with illustrations of the patterns: Carpets in Bosnia and Hercegovina: The Collection of the National Museum of B-H (Sarajevo, 2006).Google Scholar