Bourgeois Art Commissions in Carniola and Styria in the 19th and the First Half of the 20th Century

The basic research project focuses on the art commissions of the bourgeoisie in the two central Slovenian provinces of Styria and Carniola in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century – i.e., in the time when the bourgeoisie was most involved in commissioning artworks. Due to the significant extent of the topic, we have selected several case studies while striving to ensure equal representation of both historical provinces, commissions from the time of the Habsburg Monarchy as well as the First Yugoslavia, various art genres (architecture, sculpture, painting, applied arts), as well as public and private commissions. One of the emphases of the project also focuses on the national aspect, which is why the researched art commissioners will include members of the Slovenian as well as the German-speaking community. In the context of the project, the following topics will be researched: the development of the bourgeoisie as an art commissioner in Ljubljana using the example of Villa Ebenspanger; the question of how the uppermost stratum of the Maribor bourgeoisie at the end of the 19th century furnished public facilities (Town Hall, Savings Bank) and private residences; the architectural activities of the so-called Germans in the Lower Styrian and Carniolan cities; the mechanisms and practices involved in the commissioning of bourgeois portraits and their iconography in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century; the unrealised patriotic projects of the architect Jože Plečnik from the 1920s and 1930s in Ljubljana; the decorative art (architectural sculpture and mural paintings) of Ljubljana’s modernist public and private architecture from the period before World War II; art and cultural exhibitions at Ljubljana Grand Fair, one of the central economic and cultural events of the interwar period; and the art patronage of the selected Lower Styrian families in the 1920s and 1930s with a special emphasis on the national aspects and the activities of the diplomat and politician Dr Ivan Švegel as a patron and collector. In terms of methodology, the project that includes researchers at all stages of their careers will be based on studying and critically evaluating the scientific and expert literature as well as analysing the primary archival sources in the Slovenian and foreign archives. Through fieldwork, the historical research will be supplemented with a stylistic and iconographical analysis. The comparison with the contemporaneous artistic developments and art commissions in the territory of the Habsburg Monarchy or its successors will represent an important part of the present research, allowing for a comprehensive insight into the cultural trends of the time. Much attention will also be paid to the placement of the artworks and art commissioners’ activities under consideration into the broader cultural context of the relevant period. The outcomes of the research carried out in the context of the project (the planned results of the basic project) will be published in the form of original scientific articles or reviews, while the expert and the interested general public will be able to learn about these realisations from presentations at conferences and workshops, public lectures, as well as through the ongoing inclusion of project findings into the pedagogical process at the Department of Art History at the Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor. Using digital humanities, an exhibition about the selected bourgeois villas in Slovenia and their commissioners will be organised with the aim of garnering the interest of the broader public.