Page - 59 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/02

Unruly Images | 59www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/2, 55–86 More than 30 years later, the same picture was reprinted in a different context: a collection of engravings which appeared in 1883 under the title Bilder-Tafeln zur Länder- und Volker-Kunde (literally, “Image Panels on Geog- raphy and Ethnology”), published by the Calwer Missionsverlag, which was run by eminent members of the Pietist mission of Württemberg, includ- ing Hermann Gundert (1814–1893).10 The picture of the twins (fig. 2) was no longer illustrating a story or encouraging readers to sponsor missions. Rather, it had been selected for its artistic quality and suggestive character, as an edifying example of missionary activity in India. It was one of the 1,690 engravings depicting the entire world republished in this book without any text beyond short captions next to the pictures. If we browse through the volume’s pages, many questions arise, specific as well as general: what was the intent behind this project? Where did the images come from and why were they republished in this volume? Does the visual discourse of this volume systematically adopt an “orientalist” per- spective that rehearses and propagates stereotypical conceptions about for- eign cultures and religions? The Making of a Visual World Geography Audience In the short preface to the Bilder-Tafeln, possibly written by Gundert himself, the work’s intended purpose is clearly stated: In the present work, we publish a series of the most interesting pictures from our collection [Illustrationsschatz]. In so doing, we would like to present, alongside detailed works about individual countries, a modest work made up of images, which only quickly gazes at Europe, and deals with the land and people of the four other parts of the world in manifold ways. […] We hope that those panels will contribute to increasing the knowledge and the en- gagement with the weal and woe of those distant countries in Christendom.11 10 Gundert was the successor of Christian Gottlob Barth (1799–1862), a well-known Pietist of Württemberg. 11 Anonymous 1883a, [iii] (this and all other translations are mine).