Bohemian Section at the Austrian Exhibition, Earl's Court London 1906/Home-Industries in Bohemia
HOME-INDUSTRIES IN BOHEMIA
LACE, NEEDLE-WORK, EMBROIDERY AND COSTUMES.
In addition to the pictures illustrating interesting landscape views of Bohemia, and of Prague and exhibiting the beauty of its monuments of art, the Bohemian Section of the Austrian Exhibition, contains a department designed for the purpose of making English visitors aquainted with the peculiar merits of the art-work executed by Bohemian peasants, and with their home industries,—so far as they have an artistic value.
Specimens of the products of this home-work, are shown in the rooms VI. and II. while in the INTERIOR OF THE CITY OF PRAGUE, (Room V.) there are displayed beautiful embroideries, parts of National Costumes, etc. memorials of the inventive genius and of the arts which flourished in by-gone days in the homes of the Slavonic country people.
The Bohemian peasantry whose chief occupation until the middle of the nineteenth century, was agriculture, created for themselves on the basis of old traditions, an original style of arranging their homes, and their costumes, having their own poetry, music and dances, customs and ceremonies, all of which may be considered as the artistic side of Bohemian peasant culture and exhibiting in a striking manner the national characteristics in art and manufactures.
The loss of Bohemia’s independance and the determination of the government to germanize her people, were the causes that alienated the great mass of the population from the cultured class which was educated in the higher german schools so as to forget their nationality and sink their individuality, while the country people on the other hand, lived their own old national style of life.
But the peasants in Bohemia were even during those times of serfdom, the owners of the soil they tilled, and they possessed so much innate energy and creative power as to make for themselves sufficiently cultured and artistic surroundings, that they raised themselves above the dreary monotony of daily drudgery and preserved their national character.
The state of civilization here described belongs to the past, the upper classes of the nation are once more now in sympathy with the people and powerfully aid in raising the intellectual standard of the country, and recruiting from the masses the best artists and men of letters. They now regard the traditional art of the peasants with pride as their own inheritance, seeing in it also the many links that bind together the various branches of the great Slavonic race
More than fifty years ago the peasants of Bohemia began to discard their pretty showy costumes, and only in the southern parts, far from the industrial centres and the high roads of commerce, have the forms of the ancient life been preserved. Thus, in the south-west in the Bohemian border district where the people are called „Chodové“ plural of „Chod“, (pronounced Khod i. e. „Walker“)—as they had to patrol the border-land between Bohemia and Bavaria in consideration of certain special privileges granted to them: Here continue to the present day, the old-time customs and to a considerable extent the wearing of national costume. Thanks to the favourable influence of the more educated classes who have succeeded in convincing the people that they would lose much of their individuality by discarding their national costumes, they have been prevailed upon to continue to wear their national attire on holiday occasions, to sing old songs of the country, and to the music of the bagpipe perform the ancient dances as their ancestors did.
From 1880 upwards memorials and relics of national art have been collected with great care, the Ethnographic and Historic Museums in Prague and in almost all of the larger towns in Bohemia, possess great collections of embroideries, suits of national dresses from various parts of Bohemia and Moravia, of home crockery-ware, furniture, and other implements, painted Easter-eggs and toys, manucript prayer-books, adorned with miniatures and drawings, many of them bound in covers of chased metal, etc.
Folk-lore, national art and culture is made object of intense study by a considerable number of literary men, who publish particular journals and beautifully illustrated works. To the foreigner, the art peculiar to the Bohemian people is of undoubted interest on account of its originality and great aesthetic worth.
It would be impossible for the promoters of this Exhibition in London, to make the visitors acquainted with the beautiful national songs, and the dances full of sprightly national grace, neither is it possible to present samples of the old wooden houses of the northern districts with their striking and interesting architecture with decorated gables and handsome balconies,[1]or to show the old cottage room with its dark beamed ceiling and gaily painted furniture, and ask our guests at Earl’s Court to seat themselves on wooden chairs with carved backs at a massive table next to a „press“ where often a family bible and the old chronicles of Bohemia have their place of honour. It is not even possible to show kinds of costume,—different in each district as worn by the country people. The limited space does not permit of more than the display of a selection of interesting garments—sartorial pages of history linking the past with the present, bringing to our minds the time when a persons apparel was also the outward sign of his national character and evidence of his social position and surroundings.
„CHOD“. PEASANT FROM THE ENVIRONS
OF DOMAŽLICE WEST BOHEMIA.
how a special mode of life and the nature of the soil have together evolved the fashion of dress peculiar to this part of the country. During a holiday one can meet somewhere near the Bavarian frontier not far from Domažlice (in German „Tauss“) in a mountainous and not very fertile country, walking in the extensive woods tall, lean old men wearing broad-brimmed black hats and longtailed white coats of home-made cloth. These are types of the old „Chods“; who even now remember well their privileged position which they only lost in the eigtheenth century, to become bondmen like the rest of the agricultural population of Bohemia.[2] The women also appear in a dress of ancient cut and sedate in style, long skirts of red cloth in stiff rich folds, the short bodices embroidered with beads and trimmed with silver galloon, the collars of the chemises are sometimes embroidered in black to demostrate the mourning of the wearer for the popular hero Kozina a staunch defender of their privileges, executed at Domažlice.
From Domažlice, the tourist reaches Plzeň by the express in one hour, but though the distance is short, the contrast in the landscape is very striking. Instead of mountains,—deep forests and green meadows, a plain presents itself with its undulating fields of golden grain, and in contrast great fields showing the dark green leaf of the beetroot, everywhere there is evidence of the fertility of the soil and signs to cheer the heart of the farmers with the prospect of a bounteous harvest.
Here, only a few traces of the original dress of the country survive, but in former times the rich garments of the portly women from the extensive farms, harmonised well with the signs of the land’s fertility and the prosperity of the country generally which made life easy. They are not so tall as their neighbours from Domažlice, but rather stout and not so sunburnt.The peasant women near Plzeň used to wear a dress made under the influence of the town’s fashion of the eighteenth century. The light blue short skirts cover a considerable number of petticoats, and in striking contrast, their stockings are of a bright red hue which in turn show to advantage by ending in a neat low black shoe. A pretty silk apron and gaily embroidered bodice completes the summer costume. The headdress was large in proportion to the considerable width of the petticoats, and consists of a large cap adorned with long horizontal flaps in nice open work, the cap being sometimes tied with a fine white hankerchief beautifully embroidered.[3]
The nearer we approach to Prague and to the north and north west frontier, the signs of the present day increase, busy factories meet the eye, and just as the evidence of modern commercial life grows stronger, so traces of old customs and fashion become few and faint until in the busy towns it is to the Museums we must go to learn the lessons of the past.
The characteristic features of the various national costumes in Bohemia, more especially in the dress of the olden time, is the evident aim at producing a good effect, not by the use of expensive materials, but by the display of rich embroidery. In this respect the dress of the peasant class in Bohemia is akin to Moravia and other Slavonic countries. Wherever embroidery can be applied it is certain to be done, the borders of aprons, the collars and tails of men’s coats, women’s bodices, collars, cuffs, chemises, caps and coifs. The scarf and kerchief for headwear generally show some especially fine examples of the embroidered work. Occasionally the latter is set off with artistically formed bow. Such a linen kerchief is often worth less than 1 s. 6 d., but the embroidery executed in silk with infinite pains in the working art of elaborate designs, enhances its value to ten times this sum. Some caps; not larger than two palms, are absolutely covered with the finest needlework of knotted and flat stitches, forming a graceful pattern of a light grey shade and bordered with broad pillow lace which matches fine old Valenciennes,—now worth more than 8 s. The aprons are often of coarse blue linen which is woven and dyed by the weavers in the hill districts. This material is studded with blossoms embroidered in home-spun yarn and finished with a beautiful border which would be more than a whole week’s task to an experienced worker .
In the different districts these ornamental trimmings vary as to the patterns and combination of colours, and often as to the manner of execution; but all agree in the common source of inspiration, nature! the flowers and graceful foliage of the native soil, the opening buds and lovely blooms are full of suggestion to the embroiderer who requires no printed patterns, and while the marks of inherited tradition always are conspicuous; the designs, as before remarked, are as a rule outcome of the technical side of the work.
It is unnecessary to give further details of these artistic products of the villagers, as it is not possible to show a complete assortment of the hand-work of the country people, the limited space allotted to the Bohemian Section does not permit of showing more than a few specimens of such ornamentally termined apparel as are on view in the room of the City of Prague. There visitors will be attracted by the Bohemian coifs embroidered with gold some of them studded with garnets; such were worn by the wives of wealthy burghers all over Bohemia. The white caps of the peasants women excel in fine open work and in ornaments of knots very elaborately arranged into nice patterns, and the bordering of fine lace is also the work of Bohemian peasant women.
The head kerchiefs differ in the style of ornamentation and colour in each district, some showing embroidered corners of many coloured silks, others snow-white with open-work embroidery contrasting with those worked with tinsel and glass beads, other specimens are almost covered with close embroidery in black, exhibiting an endless va-riety of patterns; but in every case showing a perfect harmony of colour and design.
Still more characteristic and varied and even more interesting,are the embroideries from Moravia and the North Eastern part of Hungary, The Bohemians and the Slovaks of Hungary are ethnographically one nation. It would be out of place to attempt to initiate a stranger unacquainted with our geography, into the characteristics distinguishing the ornaments of needlework and the dress of the several districts, but those who take an interest in the old originals, by an examination of the selected exhibits will be amply rewarded.
Here, the innate liking for decorative display, concentrates its aims principally on the head-gear, hence the endless variety of caps and coifs as well as of scarves and kerchiefs. It will be observed that the chemises of the women, have either broad collars with rich embroidery, or a broad ornament in the middle of the sleeves. The aprons in some districts are blue with a garland of many coloured blossoms as a border. In other parts they wear black with blue embroidery, or in some cases with an insertion of open work and a coloured ornament. Even the men,—especially the youthful swains, indulge in many bright ornaments on their dress, the breast of the shirt, waist-coat and breeches, and even sometimes the mantle thrown in graceful folds round the shoulder are ornamented with a fine display of lacing and embroidery. The same fondness for ornamentation is exhibited even in work in bed curtains of unbleached linen, and the white coverings with yellow embroidery worn by women on the occasion of churching.
In the south of Moravia, everything is decorated with work of floral designs, not only the dress, but the walls of the dwellings, the furniture, mugs, dishes and plates and of course the Easter eggs!
Whoewer regards the exhibited specimens of Bohemian needle-work, involuntarily asks himself, „Who made
these nimble miracles of art and taste?“ Those who wear them, themselves make or made them. When the country people ceased to wear their national dress, some of the workers who formerly had supplied only the requirements of their neighbours, began to work for a larger circle of customers. The people’s art developed into an important home-industry. This was the case of the lace workers, their laces were originally made for local use to adorn caps, coifs, kerchiefs etc. of the village people, but when times changed, pedlars trading amongst the people, carried their work to the distant towns and villages. These 
PEASANT GIRL FROM THE ENVIRONS OF PLZEŇ (PILSEN)
BOHEMIA.
There is a great difference between the lace made in the Bohemian districts and the products of the german parts of the country — as on the north—western boundary of Bohemia, called „Krušné Hory“ (Erzgebirge). The former are either specimens of pillow lace afore mentioned, with the pattern outlined with a kind of cordonnet, or very fine lace resembling Valenciennes, or various guipures reminding one of Russian lace, and much akin to the coloured lace made by the Slovaks in Hungary.
The art of lace-making is the special object of certain industrial schools and the efforts of the treachers have been rewarded with a large measure of success.
In Bohemia and Moravia, earlier perhaps than in any other part of Central Europe, much attention has been bestowed on the apparently vanishing innate inventive powers of the country people. More than twenty five years ago, articles of dress, furniture, pottery etc., were collected into Museums, and a great number of Exhibitions brought to light quantities of interesting objects of textile and ceramic industry, along with various small house-hold untensils from all parts of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovenia inhabited by the Slavonic race. All these proofs of genuine inventive spirit of the people and their peculiar aesthetic taste, had so much artistic value, that there was a general desire to save this art from utter extinction. This was aimed at in two ways. First, by preserving the old customs and taking steps to encourage the genuine inventive spirit in the various districts where the old traditions still survived. This is hardly possible in Bohemia, but more so in Moravia and northern Hungary amongst the Slovaks. There the old art of embroidery still flourishes and is executed in the traditional manner and style. In certain districts, potters are even now able to produce ware in the old original form and style of ornamentation.
A few years ago the society „ZÁDRUHA“ was founded at Prague to encourage home industries by arranging a regular sale of these home made-articles, and so keeping alive the instinctive inventive power of the people and encouraging them in their labours.[4] The society does a great amount of good work in giving the people the necessary instruction how to make the articles suitable for the requirements of the inhabitants of the towns.[5] The society’s efforts have resulted in the largely increased patronage of the village workers. The thoughtful visitor will not fail to compare in the exhibition the new products with the old ones shown in the room of the city of Prague and he will readily recognise the points of resemblance between productions of the past and the present day.
Many things that had a high artistic value and the great charm of antiquity, cannot, alas! be again revived, nevertheless, the examples found in national and municipal collections ought not to be consigned to museums and as it were buried. We are convinced of their worth and all who are interested ought to study their technical peculiarities, the designs and style of ornamentation, and endeavour to extract from the consideration of ancient art an inspiration for new artistic creations.
In some industrial schools, great pains are taken to revive the old characteristic needle-work and to profit from the study of national originals and to show good effects in the modern work due to conscientious study of the national designs. Although these productions may be devoid of the charm of naiveté which comes from the inspiration of the moment, they nevertheless have their peculiar individuality and charm as they are full of peculiar taste and correct expression of the character of the original examples. Embroideries of this kind are to be found in the display of the
YOUNG LADIES’ INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL OF PRAGUE
where needlework is taught in a special class.[4]
In the style of old glass used by the peasants is painted the glass exhibited by Miss Zdenka Braunnerova. This old style glass painted with artistic taste will be of great interest to many of the visitors.[6]
It is not easy for a small nation surrounded by a strong alien civilization, to keep in front with his efforts, and at the same time preserve its own national individuality in manners, customs and so on. Most intelligent visitors to exhibitions, as a rule take a special interest in those things differing from the ordinary cosmopolitan stamps, and which preserve the marks of national peculiarities. Therefore it has been necessary to accentuate in this first Bohemian exhibition in London these signs of our old national art and its reflex in our modern efforts.
- ↑ See some of the photographs in the Bohemian Section.
- ↑ See the great picture by Schlosser in the reception room.
- ↑ See the coif in the show-case in the room No. V.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 See the exhibits in the room II.
- ↑ See the exhibits in the room No. II.
- ↑ See the exhibits of Miss Z. Braunnerova in the room No. III.