The Nations Go Their Own Way

The Position and Creativity of Artists in Carniola between Censorship and Propaganda during the First World War

Abstract

The article discusses the conditions for art production at the time of war absolutism in Carniola from the point of view of censorship and propaganda. In Carniola, the generation of the Slovene moderna and the impressionists had only begun to establish the conditions for an institutional development of Slovene art and, consequently, for successful propaganda. This is the reason why numerous artists found in war propaganda not only possibilities for survival, but they also recognised in the increased circulation and meaning of visual messages an opportunity to establish personal and national ideals. Despite prevalent Austrian and German models, they found ways to encourage Slovene national awareness through the art tradition of national landscape, folk art, and Slovene poetry.