Display case 2

In search of ‘primitive dress’

Viktor Geramb took the model for the clothing of the Slavic Man and Slavic Woman from the 10th to the 19th centuries from a Romantic depiction by Karl Russ (1810), a court painter to Archduke Johann. In this picture the couple is depicted barefoot and in white clothes fastened with a simple leather belt.

Saving traditional folk culture or ethnic stereotyping?

Is the portrayal of the Slavic Women/Man a longing for the ‘original and natural’ and the ‘primitive’ or a revitalisation thereof—a longing also anchored in folk studies at the beginning of the 20th century? Or was the museum reinforcing the cultural stereotyping of people from southeast Europe, as was already common in the 19th century? After all, early folk studies and ethnology did engage in the nationalisation, ethnicisation and biologisation of peoples. The classification and representation of ‘others’ in distinction to ‘one's own people’ found visible expression in, among other things, Tracht understood as national costume. Yet colourful Tracht also emerged in the southeast European parts of the Habsburg Monarchy in the context of nationalist efforts, and Viktor Geramb himself had always described ‘Slavic Tracht’ as colourful. In the showcase, however, the proximity of the differently dressed figures conveys a disparity of lifestyles and cultural development. The figures embodying Slavic Man/Slavic Woman  were assigned a place near the bottom of the developmental scale on account of their alleged centuries-long bare-footedness and undyed clothing.

In search of ‘primitive dress’

Viktor Geramb took the model for the clothing of the Slavic Man and Slavic Woman from the 10th to the 19th centuries from a Romantic depiction by Karl Russ (1810), a court painter to Archduke Johann. In this picture the couple is depicted barefoot and in white clothes fastened with a simple leather belt. In the picture the woman carries the jug on her head. The jug in the display case—an example of Schwarzhafner pottery—was purchased in 1935 at a market in ‘Oberradkersburg’ (today Gornja Radgona, Slovenia) and was a gift to the museum.

Saving traditional folk culture or ethnic stereotyping?

Is the portrayal of the Slavic Women/Man a longing for the ‘original and natural’ and the ‘primitive’ or a revitalisation thereof—a longing also anchored in folk studies at the beginning of the 20th century? Or was the museum reinforcing the cultural stereotyping of people from southeast Europe, as was already common in the 19th century? After all, early folk studies and ethnology did engage in the nationalisation, ethnicisation and biologisation of peoples. The classification and representation of ‘others’ in distinction to ‘one's own people’ found visible expression in, among other things, Tracht understood as national costume. Yet colourful Tracht also emerged in the southeast European parts of the Habsburg Monarchy in the context of nationalist efforts, and Viktor Geramb himself had always described ‘Slavic Tracht’ as colourful. In the showcase, however, the proximity of the differently dressed figures conveys a disparity of lifestyles and cultural development. The figures embodying Slavic Man/Slavic Woman  were assigned a place near the bottom of the developmental scale on account of their alleged centuries-long bare-footedness and undyed clothing.

A strikingly crafted woven fabric

For both the clothing and the head of the East Teuton, Viktor Geramb had used representations on Roman monuments as well as original finds from the moors in northern Germany and Denmark as models. The four-shaft pattern was most likely woven by Marietta Maieritsch, who was also responsible for the poncho-like outer layer. Compared to the figures standing nearby, the clothing of the East Teuton appears sophisticated. According to the Book of Styrian Tracht, the Teutons were responsible not least for independently improving the production and processing of loden.

Intentionally or unintentionally: a contribution to ‘völkisch folk studies’

The establishment of the Trachtensaal coincided with the period of both völkisch and Nazi Germanic studies in academia and political education. In folk studies, with its ‘preservation of the purity of folk ways of life’—a view shared and propagated by Viktor Geramb—essential elements of a völkisch ideology were already in place before Nazism. In the 1930s, a ‘völkisch folk studies’ attempted to prove the continuity of ‘Germanic civilisation’ from antiquity to the present day. In doing so, it assigned Nordic culture the highest rank among the cultures of the peoples. In this way, even those folklorists who distanced themselves from Nazism on account of their Christian beliefs and adherence to Church teachings contributed to the ideologisation of a myth of the German people.

Outdoor clothing made of natural materials

This linden bast cape was donated to the museum in the summer of 1932 by Karl Stöffelmaier, head teacher in St. Lorenzen near Eibiswald. According to records, it was still in use around 1900 in Hadernigg (district of Deutschlandsberg). The felt disc hat was acquired for the museum in 1913 and, according to the inventory, comes from the Stubalp region. As a model on which to base the outfit of the South Styrian Shepherd, the Tracht researcher Viktor Geramb also used coloured illustrations, which are now in the collection of the museum.

Hat and capes of this kind protected from too much sun and rain, wind and weather. According to Geramb,  there are descriptions of them dating back to the shepherds and boatmen in ancient Greece. For folklore museums, such rain capes have always been a sought-after item for the collection. They pointed to pre-modern economic practices and could be made of grass, reeds, straw or other natural materials–depending on the local raw materials to hand.

Barefoot through the Alps?

The figure of the South Styrian Shepherd stands out not only because of its unusual cape. As with the Slavic Woman and Slavic Man, Viktor Geramb had also intended to use undyed linen clothing and no shoes for this figure, which is noted in the card index as ‘Alpine Slav’. This representation of ‘primitive man’ in the museum simultaneously involves the practice of demarcating the ‘self’ from the cultural ‘other’. With the term ‘Alpine Slavs’, Geramb was also referring to the ancestors of the Slovenes and thus to the centuries-long bilingual history of Styria, as well as to the Slovenian region of Štajerska—part of the Duchy of Styria from the Middle Ages.

Socially better off

The clothing for this figurine was reconstructed based on an illustration of the Aquarius sign in a St. Lambrecht Breviary from the late 12th century. This had been copied for Viktor Geramb by the painter and graphic artist Fritz Silberbauer. The blue tunic with lined belt, the soft leather leggings and shoes are clearly visible in the picture. Geramb described the garment as being dyed with indigo—an indication of the social status of the man depicted here. The dye obtained from the indigo plant was rare until the 12th century and only reached Europe from India in small quantities.

Change of figure

At one point, the figure of the Man around 1180 wore different clothes and thus also told a different story: In the 1980s, the museum's then expert, Maria Lackner-Kundegraber, transformed the mediaeval man into a miner in formal white miner's Tracht from Upper Styria, thereby locating him in the local region. The miner's costume became a uniform in the second half of the 18th century and, at times, specific regulations made wearing it compulsory. The uniform was a gift and was given to the Folk Life Museum by August Zahlbruckner, director of the Austrian Alpine Mountain Society from 1924 to 1934 and a July putschist.

The sign of the virgin as a model

The reconstruction of the woollen dress and other clothing worn by the Woman around 1180 was based on pictorial sources from the late 12th century, as was the case for the Man around 1180. Fritz Silberbauer had copied a pictorial representation of the zodiac sign Virgo for Viktor Geramb from an illumination in a book at the St. Lambrecht Monastery. The folklorist took the headdress from the depiction of a saint who was also depicted in a St. Lambrecht Breviary.

Updated

Like the Man around 1180, this figure was given new clothing when the Trachtensaal was reopened in 1985. The mediaeval woman was transformed into a Dirndl Wearer with Updated Tracht, with a Sulmtal dirndl and high-necked blouse from the Steirisches Heimatwerk.