Page - 377 - in Rudolf Eitelberger von Edelberg - Netzwerker der Kunstwelt

Across the Leitha 377 it was a celebration of the achievements of Austrian art and design and, in particular, of the ability of Austria to have overcome narrow-minded nationalism. He noted : Die Zeiten sind vorüber, wo gebildete Völker und gebildete Menschen glauben können, sich von ihren Nachbarmenschen und Nachbarvölkern abschliessen zu können. Am allerwenigs- ten ist dies auf dem Gebiete der Kunst und Kunst-Industrie, am wenigsten in Oesterreich möglich. Der Künstler gehört heute der Welt ebensogut an, wie seiner Nation, und der In- dustrielle muss immer den Weltmarkt und die Anforderungen des gebildeten Geschmackes der Welt vor Augen haben. Das Rufen nach Prohibitivmassregeln, nach Ausschliessung der Ausländer, erinnert an die Zeiten, wo man statt zur Selbsthilfe zu greifen, nach Polizei und Censur gerufen hat.39 These are laudable sentiments, perhaps, and they represented the typical beliefs of mid-century Liberalism : a belief in global free trade and an antipathy to protectionism, coupled with a faith in the civilising force of Bildung. Such views were reflected in the Museum of Art and Industry, with its emphasis on collecting the best art and design from across the world, as a means of improving Austria’s economic competitiveness. His assertion was an indication, too, of the extent to which Liberals had achieved an accom- modation with Habsburg dynasty for, although with differing motivations, liberal intel- lectuals and industrialists were committed to a unified state and had a shared opposition to nationalism.40 Hence, while his lecture praised what Austrian art and design had achieved under Franz Joseph, Eitelberger also distanced himself from any suggestion that this was a nationalistic claim, for, he noted : Jeder gebildete Mensch will geistig auf eigenen Füssen stehen, jede gebildete Nation betra- chtet die geistige und national-ökonomische Selbstständigkeit als eine Grundbedingung ihrer 39 Ibid, p.  177. “The times are past when cultivated peoples and individual persons could believe they could shut themselves off from their neighbours and neighbouring peoples. This is least of all possi- ble in the area of art and art industry. Today the artist belongs to the world just as much as to his na- tion, and the industrialist must always have in view the global market and the demands of educated taste of the world. The call for measures of prohibition, for the exclusion of foreigners, is reminiscent of the times when, instead of helping ourselves, we called for the police and for the censor.” 40 On this issue see E. Hanisch/P. Urbanitsch, ›Der Atem der Freiheit : Der Liberalismus‹, in : Die Habsburgermonarchie 1848–1918 : VIII.1 Politische Öffentlichkeit und Zivilgesellschaft (ed. H. Rumpler/P. Urbanitsch), Vienna 2006, pp.  34–62.