Remembering Edith and Gabrielle: picture postcards of monuments as portable lieux de mémoire

Picture postcards quickly gained popularity in Western Europe around 1900. The photographs on these postcards represent a wide variety of topics. From the start, the monument was one of the most popular themes. In this article we would like to focus on picture postcards of three Brussels monuments erected in the late 1910s and early 1920s to commemorate two Great War heroines, namely the British-born nurse Edith Cavell (1865-1915) and the Belgian spy Gabrielle Petit (1893-1916). After briefly discussing the monuments and picture postcards in their specific commemorative context, we will argue that these picture postcards, thanks to the use of specific photographic strategies, can be read as what the French cultural historian Pierre Nora coined ‘portable realms of memory’

The Kaiser-Panorama and Tourism in Belgium Around 1900.

The Kaiser-Panorama is a cylindrical stereo-viewer offering series of 50 topographic coloured stereo photographs to multiple viewers simultaneously. It was conceived, patented and commercialised in the 1880s by the German August Fuhrmann who subsequently developed it into a longstanding transnational media enterprise. Because of its focus on topographic imagery, the Kaiser-Panorama has often been marketed as a medium for virtual travel. So far, the Kaiser-Panorama has mainly been studied in the German context and little is known about its development in other countries. This article focuses on the presence and meaning of the Kaiser-Panorama in Belgium. It will consider this from two perspectives. First, it maps the introduction and development of the Kaiser-Panorama in Belgium where it emerged at a point in time when urban entertainment transitioned from mobile to fixed exhibition. Second, the heyday of the Kaiser-Panorama in Belgium coincides with the increasing democratisation of travel. The article will demonstrate how, in the Belgian franchise, an enterprise whose core business was the promotion of virtual travel, developed into a medium promoting real travel

Expressing grief and gratitude in an unsettled time : temporary First World War memorials in Belgium

It is commonly known that the First World War led to a flood of war memorials in the late 1910s and early 1920s. Before permanent memorials were constructed, ephemeral monuments and temporary commemorative arrangements such as (flower) shrines and wooden or plaster structures were erected in public spaces. Engelen and Sterckx concentrate on these very first public and material acts of remembrance. In formerly occupied territories, such as Belgium and Northern France, the need to express grief as well as gratitude – which had been suppressed by the occupation regime for over four years – exploded as soon as the armistice was signed. Ideas for monuments surfaced instantly on the national and local levels. Not all of these intentions materialised, and many did so only after a long time because the financial, logistic and administrative structures required to build permanent monuments were often missing. As a consequence, this determination to commemorate resulted in temporary ephemeral memorials. Through the contextualising and analysis of several early examples, the authors demonstrate the agency of civilians in these mostly grassroots initiatives and show that the design of these memorials meandered between existing (national, religious, artistic) traditions and spontaneous ad hoc creativity. Through the ephemeral nature of the memorials, the (literal) fragility of commemoration as well as the importance of the momentum for these practices is laid bare. The moment of their creation is indeed of crucial importance

An ephemeral open-air sculpture museum : ten temporary monuments for the festive re-entry of the Belgian Royal family in Brussels in 1918

This article has a series of ten temporary monuments erected in Brussels in November 1918 as its subject. The series, forming a trajectory throughout the city, included sculptures by Jules Lagae, Charles Samuel, Philippe Wolfers, Jacques Marin, Louis Mascré, Léandre Grandmoulin, Joseph François Van Hamme, George Vande Voorde, Marquis Jean de Pouilly and Guillaume Charlier. Erected barely a fortnight after the Armistice, not only their scale and sculptural endeavour, but also the fact they were the result of an official commission makes this ensemble exceptional. We first assess the genesis, reception and afterlife of these monuments against the background of the immediate post-war era. Next, we argue that the concept of the city as a democratic open-air sculpture museum, already much in vogue in Brussels in the Belle Époque, as well as existing traditions of ephemeral public sculpture both before and during the war, contributed to this unique initiative.status: publishe

Between studio and snapshot: belle epoque picture postcards of urban statues

This article focuses on the photographs of public sculptures used on belle epoque picture postcards of Brussels. The subject is approached from two perspectives. Firstly, we analyse the conventions of in situ photography of public sculpture in light of the genre's reliance on painterly and photographic traditions, as well as its adoption of visual strategies derived from amateur and snapshot photography. Secondly, we explore the role of the photographic mise-en-scene of picture postcards in constructing an ideological as well as visual perspective on public monuments and the cityscape. The in situ photography of urban statues for picture postcards can be regarded as a photographic genre at the intersection of documentary art reproduction practices and amateur photography of the city. Moreover, the picture postcards discussed in this essay confirm and propagate dominant discourses on the monument and the cityscape, even if at the same time such visions were challenged. In the case of Brussels, the postcards demonstrate a preference for a monumental, impressive cityscape, worthy of representing the Belgian nation and capable of legitimising it through views of sculpture as a grand art, serving the worship of grands hommes

Spektakelcultuur in de Lage Landen : naar een geïntegreerde en interdisciplinaire benadering

Inleiding tot themanummerfull text available online: http://www.tmgonline.nl/index.php/tmg/article/view/327/473status: publishe

Herinneringen in steen en op papier: monumenten en prentbriefkaarten voor twee heldinnen van de Eerste Wereldoorlog: Gabrielle Petit en Edith Cavell

In this article we look at Belgian memories of two World War One heroines, namely the British born nurse Edith Cavell (1865-1915) and the Belgian spy Gabrielle Petit (1893-1916). Both women were executed by the Germans (in 1915 and 1916 respectively) for anti-German activities and their deaths gave rise to a lively post-war cult of remembrance. Within this context of a broader cult, we will first look at the history and form of three monuments erected for both women in the immediate post-war period in Brussels (Cavell monument, Peperstraat 1918; Cavell-Depage monument, Edith Cavellstraat 1920; Petit monument, Sint-Jansplein 1923). These monuments stand out as they were actually the first monuments erected for contemporary women as individuals in Belgium. Second we will look at photographic representations of these monuments on picture postcards. These postcards are not solely ‘photographic doubles’ of the monument, they also highlight new layers of meaning and thus contribute to the archive of visual memories of both women

Revival after the Great War : rebuild, remember, repair, reform

The challenges of post-war recovery from social and political reform to architectural design In the months and years immediately following the First World War, the many (European) countries that had formed its battleground were confronted with daunting challenges. These challenges varied according to the countries' earlier role and degree of involvement in the war but were without exception enormous. The contributors to this book analyse how this was not only a matter of rebuilding ravaged cities and destroyed infrastructure, but also of repairing people’s damaged bodies and upended daily lives, and rethinking and reforming societal, economic and political structures. These processes took place against the backdrop of mass mourning and remembrance, political violence and economic crisis. At the same time, the post-war tabula rasa offered many opportunities for innovation in various areas of society, from social and political reform to architectural design. The wide scope of post-war recovery and revival is reflected in the different sections of this book: rebuild, remember, repair, and reform. It offers insights into post-war revival in Western European countries such as Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and Italy, as well as into how their efforts were perceived outside of Europe, for instance in Argentina and the United States. Contributors: Helen Brooks (University of Kent), Dries Claeys (KU Leuven), Marisa De Picker (KU Leuven), Leen Engelen (LUCA/KU Leuven), Rajesh Heynickx (KU Leuven), John Horne (Trinity College Dublin), Maarten Liefooghe (Ghent University), Ana Paula Pires (Universidade Nova de Lisboa), Richard Plunz (Columbia University), Tammy Proctor (Utah State University), Pierre Purseigle (University of Warwick), Carolina Garcia Sanz (Universidad de Sevilla), Jan Schmidt (KU Leuven), Yves Segers (KU Leuven), Marjan Sterckx (Ghent University), Maria Inés Tato (Universidad de Buenos Aires), Pieter Uyttenhove (Ghent University), Joris Vandendriessche (KU Leuven), Luc Verpoest (KU Leuven), Pieter Verstraete (KU Leuven), Volker Welter (University of California), Kaat Wils (KU Leuven

Multivariate landscape analysis of honey bee winter mortality in Wallonia, Belgium

The European honey bee species (Apis mellifera L.) is under increasing pressure from anthropogenic and other stressors. Winter mortality of entire colonies is generally attributed to biological, environmental, and management conditions. The rates of winter mortality can vary extremely from place to place. A landscape approach is used here to examine the dependency between spatially distributed winter mortality rates, environmental and biological conditions, and apiary management. The analysis was applied to data for the region of Wallonia in Belgium with winter mortality rates obtained from the European project EPILOBEE. Potential explanatory variables were spatially allocated based on GIS analysis, and subjected to binomial linear regression to identify the most predominant variables related to bee winter mortality. The results point to infestation with Varroa, the number of frost days, the potential flying hours, the connectivity of the natural landscape, and the use of plant protection products as most dominant causes for the region of Wallonia. The outcomes of this study will help focus beekeeping and environmental management to improve bee health and the effectiveness of apiary practices. The approach surpasses application to the problem of bee mortality and could be used to compare and rank the causes of other environmental problems by their significance, particularly when these are interdependent and spatially differentiated