Display case 6

The artist as hunter

This figure is a self-portrait of the sculptor Alexander Silveri. Viktor Geramb portrayed him as an Upper Styrian Hunter in the same display case as the Peasant Girl from Hitzendorf, which shares the facial features of Silveri's wife Hiltraud.

The clothing of the Upper Styrian Hunter was described as being his Sonntagsstaat ‘Sunday best’. Such clothing was usually worn for special occasions, such as a prize shoot, and not for hunting. The term Staat usually means ‘state or country’ but here it is derived from the Low German staatsch, meaning ‘splendid’ and ‘respectable’.

The clothing of the Upper Styrian Hunter is ostensibly based on the ink drawings by the artist Josef Breitner (left) and by Konrad Mautner (right)—both show Anton Schwaiger, a hunter and farmer from the Schladming area. As with some of the other figures, it is not known who wore the clothes on the Upper Styrian Hunter. Viktor Geramb put them together from donations and purchases. The jacket had entered the Joanneum’s collection in 1872 as a gift from a Baroness Thinnfeld. The hat is said to have come from Tyrol and was given to the museum by the Meran family in 1931. The rifle, known as a Kugelstutzen, was a gift from a respected businessman, Mr Kammerhofer from Turnau in August 1938. More precise information about the provenance of this object is not yet known. The shirt was sewn by Melitta Maieritsch by order of Viktor Geramb.

During the recontextualisation of the Trachtensaal in 2022, this figure was stripped to reveal the artistic work and the construction of the mannequins. Until then, the figure had been most notable for its long coat. Long coats were frequently attested by Geramb for Styria in the 18th and early 19th centuries. They were worn by older, married, also wealthier men. The long coat and the other garments had been owned by a doctor from Vordernberg, Valentin Caspaar, and were still being worn by him in around 1840. His grandson donated them to the Folk Life Museum in 1914. According to Viktor Geramb, the clothing was typical for Upper Styrian ‘iron masters’ and ‘hammer masters’.

When manual hammers were replaced by water-powered hammers at the end of the 16th century, the iron processing industry became ever more important in Styria. This brought the owners—known as ‘hammer masters’ and ‘hammer mistresses’—economic wealth and in most cases high social standing. In addition to the right to use water to drive the hammers, they often also owned forests for charcoal production.

A mannequin of Hiltraud Silveri

The facial features of the Peasant Girl from Hitzendorf were modelled by Alexander Silveri on his wife Hiltraud Silveri, née Fabiani. The two met in the Bund Neuland, a Catholic association founded in 1921 and which the young Silveri joined in the late 1920s. During his career, Silveri produced several works based on his wife Hiltraud. 

Composite clothing

For the clothing of the women from the Hitzendorf area (district of Graz-Umgebung), Viktor Geramb’s Book of Styrian Tracht cited a description given by district commissioner Franz Beidler in 1811, who described it as ‘very simple’. Geramb also used a watercolour by Karl Ruß from 1810 as a model for dressing this figure. In fact, he put together the clothing from various regions of Styria: the shawl comes from Wildon (district of Leibnitz) and the bodice from Rothsohl in Upper Styria. The shoes were made by Franz Drobil from Vienna, a shoemaker to middle-class ladies . They were not the shoes of a Peasant Girl, but rather those of Johanna Forcher-Ainbach, née Huber, a ‘hammer mistress’. She wore these shoes for her wedding on 18 June 1834 to Nikolaus Forcher, a ‘hammer master’ from Judenburg. The striking headgear consists of the ‘Hitzendorf bonnet’ and the ‘Sulm hat’—both forms were common in what is now eastern, western and southern Styria.

A watercolour by Karl Ruß from 1813 may have served as a model for the East Styrian Hunter. Most of the clothing items were either selected by Viktor Geramb from the collection's holdings or purchased. According to the inventory, the lederhosen were purchased in February 1938 for 40 shillings from the Graz second-hand dealer Maria Pirtz and, according to her, came from Upper Styria. Geramb paid special attention to the hat in the original description: ‘Note the wide-brimmed hat, which looked splendid with the long hair.’ However, the mannequin was too tall for the display case, which is why the hat had to be displayed next to the figure until the early 2000s.

Discoloured green

The colour of the top garment was originally a light green but light damage from the first decades it was on display has turned the colour to turquoise. The prevalence of hunters among the occupations in the Trachtensaal is hardly surprising, given that Geramb considered their colours (grey and green) to have been part of the ‘Styrian folk dress’ since the 17th century.

The colloquial word Godl means godmother. The Taufgodl carries the child to be baptised at the baptism and witnesses the administering of the sacrament. Her name is also entered in the church register. The figure represents a wealthier woman, as indicated by her spencer made of silk, the ruff, and above all the ‘golden Linz bonnet’. According to Geramb, this was worn in Upper Austria and Styria and especially by the ‘iron nobility’, i.e. the ‘hammer mistresses’ who could afford to buy the expensive bonnets.

The skirt and spencer were donated to the museum in 1920 by Marie Grawatsch, an innkeeper from Pöllau. The christening blanket, a Chrysampfaidlein, is laid of the ‘godchild’—a small doll. The name is derived from chrism, a fragrant anointing oil, and the Bavarian word Pfaid for shirt. The blanket originates from the Puster Valley (South Tyrol), where it was used at baptisms. For boys the little blanket was decorated with pink ribbons, for girls with blue ones. Until the early 20th century, red—and therefore also pink—was considered a vital, strong colour and was associated with strength, life and masculinity. The cushion, also called a Steckkissen, probably came into the Joanneum's collection before 1913 via Gerstner, a children’s clothing shop in Graz.

Hammerfrauen (‘Hammer mistresses’) and Hammerherren (‘Hammer masters’) were originally owners of iron processing companies, known as hammer mills. The name is derived from the water-powered tilt hammer used  in iron processing. The clothing of the Styrian Hammer Mistress was modelled on Anna Ebner, née Plumauer, of the ‘Ebnerhammer’ scythe factory in Möschitzgraben near St. Peter ob Judenburg. In 1823, her husband Josef Ebner took over the former armoury in Möschitzgraben and subsequently produced scythes there. The scythes made ‘Ebnerhammer’, whose products bore a maker’s mark of a ‘sun’, famous throughout Styria.

The wealthy Anna Ebner was also the owner of the elaborately made garments. Viktor Geramb refers specifically to the headwear, the Leobner Bundhaube, a hat that differs from the women’s bonnets usually worn in Styria with its beret-like shape. The fur-trimmed jacket shown in the photograph reveals her status as a very wealthy woman. For a long time, fur trimmings and the voluminous use of fabrics were reserved only for the wealthy in the social hierarchy.

Godparent wanted!

The jacket and gloves are currently in storage in the textile depot of the Folk Life Museum. The jacket’s condition means it cannot be put on display—it is waiting for restoration or for a godparent!