HOW WAS THE NATIONAL STYLE MANIFESTED IN THE MAKING OF FURNITURE?
The practices of different Central European and indeed Western European
nations have shown that the concept of vernacular or folk art was
hard to define in a simple tale since in the 19th century there were various
political objects and ideals of national revivals (Rogelj Škafar 2011: 49).
Political leaders recognised certain elements of rural or peasant culture
that later on became national symbols. Very much responsible for the
design and implementation of the concept of national/vernacular culture
were museums, art schools, various associations and journals that
covered all cultural contents. This gave rise to a long-lasting process of
the collection of the component parts of rural or peasant culture, with
a process in which it was aestheticised and became an aesthetic quality
(Köestiln, 1999). A rural culture presented in this way became idealised
and simplified and cut off from its real social context of a living quotidian.
In many European states the process of modernisation and the development
of the urban middle class in the 19th century prompted the discovery
of national/vernacular culture. “The middle class discovered peasant
culture and then came the process by which rural culture was infiltrated
into the urban, and some segments of peasant culture once again became
elements of elite culture” (Rogelj Škafar 2011: 50).
Vernacular culture became
an important element in the shaping of the national identity. The
process of the nationalisation of peasant culture started in the middle of
the 19th century, with the collection and aestheticisation of this culture,
and at the end of the 19th century the nationalisation of these aestheticised
elements got under way.
A confirmation of this process can be seen
in the national and international and world exhibitions. The exhibitions
were meant to show the economic progress of each nation who showed
their historical roots and the diversities of the national culture. Displayed
for this purpose were vernacular attire and various kinds of fabric, richly
decorated and ornamented, as well as peasant furniture or other objects
that represented national or folk art.
Chair - drawings of August Posilović, 1904. taken by Nina Koydl, EMZ 49975/2
