Franz Ferdinand`s Voyage Round the World CURATORS Axel

EXHIBITION FACTS AND DATES
TITLE
Franz Is Here!
Franz Ferdinand’s Voyage Round the World
CURATORS
Axel Steinmann and Christian Schicklgruber
VENUE
Weltmuseum Wien, Heldenplatz, Neue Burg
DURATION
April 9 – November 2, 2014
EXHIBITION SPACE
c. 600m²
OBJECTS
c. 900
PROGRAMME
Each month we focus on another stop on Franz Ferdinand’s
itinerary. In addition to curator’s tours, readings and
lectures we offer a number of unusual new productions
www.weltmuseumwien.at
EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
„Franz Is Here! Franz Ferdinands Reise um die Erde“.
Wien, KHM, 2014
DE, 272 pages, € 24,95
EDUCATION
Christine Kaufmann, tel. +43 (0)664 605 14 – 5050
[email protected]
Franz Is Here!
Franz Ferdinand’s Voyage Round the World
April 9 – November 2, 2014
Weltmuseum Wien
On June 28, 2014 the world commemorates the centenary of the assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand, the Austrian heir to the throne, at Sarajevo, which led to the outbreak of the First
World War. Many museums focus on his death and its fatal consequences but in the exhibition
“Franz Is Here!” (this was the headline in an American paper announcing his arrival in the US) the
Weltmuseum Wien is instead taking a look at a seminal episode in his life: impelled by curiosity
and an lively interest in unfamiliar civilizations, Archduke Franz Ferdinand explored strange and
distant countries and continents in the course of his ten-month-long round-the-world trip in
1892/3. He documented this journey not only in his detailed two-volume diary but also by
acquiring countless artefacts. As the man who had the wing of Hofburg Palace that now houses
the Weltmuseum Wien adapted as a private museum for the collection assembled during his
circumnavigation of the globe Franz Ferdinand plays a pivotal role in the history of the
Weltmuseum Wien. The show thus offers new insights into the Archduke’s multi-facetted but
polarizing personality, and showcases a unique but little-known imperial collection.
After the suicide of his liberal cousin, Crown-Prince Rudolf, in 1889 Franz Ferdinand of AustriaEste (1863-1914) was regarded as heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne because his
aged father, Archduke Charles Louis, was only three years younger than his uncle, Emperor Franz
Joseph I.
According to his diary Franz Ferdinand decided to prepare for his future role at the helm of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire by “experiencing first-hand other continents, studying foreign states
and polities, meeting different peoples and individuals, and learning about foreign cultures and
habits” and by “visiting marvellous works of art and nature in strange and foreign places” to savour
“their inexhaustible charms”. It was not easy to persuade Emperor Franz Joseph to give his
permission but on December 15, 1892 Franz Ferdinand, aged 29, embarked on his ten-month-long
round-the-world trip by boarding at Trieste SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth, a protected cruiser and the
most modern ship in the Austro-Hungarian Navy.
Combining sightseeing and hunting excursions was a long-established Habsburg tradition. In
addition, sending a high-ranking family member to foreign courts allowed the Austro-Hungarian
Empire to fly the flag in the Far East. It was not at all unusual for ships of the Austrian Navy to
participate in scientific research. In 1857 Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, later Emperor of Mexico
and Ferdinand’s uncle, had initiated the expedition undertaken by the frigate “Novara”, which had
completed the first Austrian circumnavigation of the globe. From then on collecting natural
history or ethnographic specimens in the course of official or training voyages in transoceanic
waters became a routine event for ships of the Imperial Navy.
Franz Ferdinand‘s carefully organized trip combined official duties, sightseeing and the
opportunity to satisfy his love of hunting and of collecting strange objects and curiosities in exotic
parts of the world. The first leg of his round-the-world trip (December 1892 – August 1893) took
the heir presumptive on official missions to India, Dutch-India (now Indonesia), Australia,
Melanesia, China and Japan. However, for the second leg of his tour (August – October 1893),
which took him to Canada and the United States and back to his “beloved Vienna”, he used the
alias Count Artstetten to travel incognito.
Franz Ferdinand was a passionate collector. In addition to countless hunting trophies and
taxidermies he amassed several natural history collections (c. 18.000 objects in total) and a unique
ethnographic collection of seminal cultural-historical importance (over 14.000 objects).
The future heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne was almost obsessed with collecting, acquiring
everything from cheap tourist trinkets to exquisite works of art:
„It is strange how easily a traveller succumbs to shopping-mania in foreign countries. He feels the
need to buy everything, every small object, regardless of whether it is beautiful or ugly,
sometimes even acquiring tourist bric-a-brac, in order to bring home something that is typical of
this particular place”. He satisfied his desire for new acquisitions and trophies in bazaars as well as
in the shops of local artisans. “Whole cartloads” are loaded onto the Kaiserin Elisabeth. But Franz
Ferdinand also acquired complete collections, among them the one assembled by Gerrit W.W.C.
Baron van Hövel, the explorer of Dutch-India. He was also presented with countless gifts
reflecting his taste by local rulers. In addition, Franz Ferdinand asked the gentlemen of his retinue
to buy objects specified in lists drawn-up by him in advance. He also decided to commission
artefacts he had encountered in museums. His focus was generally on an object’s visual and
decorative qualities. Be they originals, copies or imitations, Franz Ferdinand suffered from
“museomania” and acquired them all for display in a planned museum (”for my museum”).
The year after his return the extensive ethnographic and natural history collection he had
assembled during his round-the-world trip was installed in Upper Belvedere Palace. The „Wiener
Zeitung“ published daily attendance figures, and all entrance fees went to charity. Later the
collection was moved to Modena-Este Palace, where it was displayed together with the Este
Collection Franz Ferdinand had inherited in 1875, forming the period’s largest private museum in
Vienna.
In 1906 Emperor Franz Joseph asked Franz Ferdinand to complete the new wing of Hofburg Palace
in central Vienna; between 1909 and 1912 the acquisitions he had brought back from his roundthe-world trip were displayed in the wing of the Neue Hofburg known as Corps de Logis; today,
these grand rooms house the galleries of the Weltmuseum Wien. After the fall of the AustroHungarian Empire the whole collection amassed by Franz Ferdinand during his round-the-world
trip fell to the Republic of Austria; in 1920 it was incorporated into the Natural History Museum. In
1926 the ethnographic department of the Natural History Museum and Franz Ferdinand’s world-
collection were combined and displayed in the Corps de Logis; in 1928 this evolved into the
Museum für Völkerkunde (Ethnological Museum), which is now the Weltmuseum Wien.
Franz Ferdinand had everything in any way connected with his round-the-world trip preserved
and filed: his world-trip library, maps used during his journey, photographs and souvenir albums,
clippings from Austrian and foreign newspapers, receipts, letters and telegrams. For the
exhibition “Franz Is Here!” the Weltmuseum Wien was able to draw on its rich holdings, among
them taxidermies and hunting trophies, which are augmented by loans from the zoological
department of the Natural History Museum.
The artistic sensibilities of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire were informed by the Italian
Renaissance. In his private museum he was not interested in explaining the foreign civilisations he
had visited. The installation reflected his itinerary but, like the collections assembled by scholars
and princes in the Renaissance, the arrangement of objects was primarily governed by questions
of aesthetics and décor. He did not differentiate between the sublime and the vulgar, between
specimens of natural history and man-made artefacts. The display of huge amounts of
ethnographic and natural history objects together with photographs and hunting trophies
displayed on the walls functions as publicity and self-fashioning; it also allowed Franz Ferdinand
to remember and reminisce about his “trip around the world”.
The installation of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este’s round-the-world collection at the
Weltmuseum Wien reflects this concept of “juxtaposed objects” placed side by side in gigantic
seed boxes, a concept first encountered in the chambers of natural wonders assembled by
Renaissance collectors.
Immediately after his return Franz Ferdinand published the two-volume diary he had kept during
his journey. In a frequently highly-personal style he describes his impressions and experiences, his
encounters with princes, emperors and Maharajas and conjures up exotic landscapes and people,
much of it informed by attitudes that clearly show him to be a man of his time. With the help of
selected quotes from his over-a-thousand-pages-long diary Franz Ferdinand himself – aided by
the actor Cornelius Obonya, who will lend him his voice - will show visitors round the exhibition.
PRESS PHOTOGRAPHS
Press photographs are available in the press section of our website free of
charge, for your topical reporting www.weltmuseumwien.at/de/entdecken/organisation/presse/
View into one of the showcases of the
exhibition
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
View into one of the showcases of the
exhibition
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
»H. I. & R. H. & Suite, with Capt. Pirie A.D.C. Mr. Murray
& Mr. Ivers«. In: »His Imperial and Royal Highness
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este in Ceylon,
January 1893.«
WMW, Photography Collection, Album IX, no. 14.809
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
„His Imperial Highness Archduke Franz Ferdinand with
hunting party“ (in Nepal)
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
„His Imperial Highness the Archduke and His Highness
the Nizam with entourage“ (Nizam is the title of the
sovereigns of Hyderabad).
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este and
Mahbub Ali Khan, the Nizam (Prince) of Hyderabad
Photograph: Lala Deen Dayal
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
»Franz Ferdinand with companions at the Urami
Waterfall (Urami-no-taki), Nikkô«.
Photograph: Eduard Hodek jun., August 1893.
WMW, Fotosammlung, Nr. 15.224.
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Arrival of Franz-Ferdinand of Austria-Este
in Tokyo August 1893
Japan, Meiji Period
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Fan. Mount Fuji with a lake in the foreground
Japan, Meiji Period
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Dance mask, Malangan funerary ceremony
New Ireland (Bismarck-Archipelago, Papua New Guinea)
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Ancestral figure
Leti Islands (South Moluccas, Indonesia)
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Gangamma
India, 12th century
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Ancestral figure
Babar Islands (Southwest Moluccas, Indonesia)
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Bag
Canada, northern Cree/Ojibwe (?)
c. 1890
linen, velvet, glass pearls, silk
h. 25,5 cm, w. 25 cm
WMW, inv.no. 114.890. Phorograph: Reinhard Blumauer
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Mokassins
North America, Cheyenne (?)
c. 1890
leather, glass pearls
L. 25,5 cm
WMW, Inv. Nr. 114.848.
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Animal and vegetable bronze figures
Japan, late 19th century
Bronze, brass, patina
H. 7,5 – 12,5 cm, L. 11,3 – 19 cm, B. 7,7 – 8,7 cm
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Porcelain figures
China
pottery, glazed
H. 69 and 70 cm, w. 24 and 31 cm, T. 20 and 23 cm
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Gagaku mask
Japan, 9th/10th century
Dry lacquer
H. 28 and 32 cm, w. 24 and 28 cm
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Female and male ancestral figures
Nias, Este Collection
Female ancestral figure: wood, h. 28 cm, w. 4 cm
Ancestral figure: wood, h. 52 cm, w. 31 cm
Male ancestral figure: wood, cotton material, h. 39 cm,
w. 19 cm;
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Terracotta figure
terracotta, wood, fabric, h. 49 cm, w. 38 cm, d. 20 cm
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Writing set
Gilt sheet brass, glass,
h. 20 cm, l. 28 cm, w. 34 cm;
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Wooden animals
wood
H. 35 – 40 cm, l. 33 – 38 cm
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
Ewer
Zinc-copper-alloy, silver
H. 43 cm, l. 34 cm
© KHM mit MVK und ÖTM
OPENING HOURS
Weltmuseum Wien
1010 Wien, Heldenplatz
Daily except Tuesdays
10 am – 6 pm
Library
Mondays and Tuesdays 10 am -4 pm
Wednesdays 10 am – 6 pm
Thursdays 10 am – 4 pm
closed on Fridays
ENTRANCE FEES
tickets
concessions
Vienna card
Groups of 20 or over, p.p.
Guided tour, p.p.
Audio Guide (German English)
Children under 19
Annual Ticket
PRESS INFORMATION
Nina Auinger-Sutterlüty, MAS
Head of Communication & Public Relations
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien mit MVK
und ÖTM
1010 Wien, Burgring 5
Tel.: + 43 1 525 24 – 4021
Fax: + 43 1 525 24 – 4098
e-mail: [email protected]
www.weltmuseumwien.at
www.khm.at
€ 8,–
€ 6,–
€ 7,–
€ 6,–
€ 2,–
€ 2,–
Free admission!
€ 34,–