Adriana Lecuona, Author at The Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies

The Enduring Promise of Multinationalism: Hans Kohn’s Habsburg Legacies

By Adi Gordon

These are interesting times to reflect on nationalism. After more than half a century in which nationalism was considerably tamed by the memory of World War Two, by intergovernmental organizations, and through various aspects of globalization, the current decade has witnessed a clear rise of nationalism in the United States and abroad. Part of the new nationalist tide is the prevalent sense of its inevitability. It seems de rigueur nowadays to ridicule as naïve the anticipation of (even hope for) gradual transition into a post national future, in which nationalities are secondary to other allegiances. Nations, it is claimed, have always existed, and nationalism (and even ethno-nationalism) is simply part of human nature. But is it so?

The Enduring Promise of Multinationalism: Hans Kohn’s Habsburg Legacies2022-08-25T14:52:20+00:00

Hölzlhuber’s America: An Austrian Artist’s Depiction of Antebellum Travel in Wisconsin and Beyond, 1856-1860

By Janine Yorimoto Boldt and Kristina E. Poznan

When Franz Hölzlhuber arrived in the United States from Austria in 1856, the United States was in deep debate over the future of slavery in its western territories and actively engaged in Native removal. During Hölzlhuber’s four years in America, war was raging in “Bleeding” Kansas, John Brown led a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, and the Pony Express connected Missouri and Sacramento, California. Hölzlhuber’s path crisscrossed with many of these developments, which he recorded in sketches at the time, subsequently painted, and commented on over two decades later when exhibiting his American art back in Austria.

Hölzlhuber’s America: An Austrian Artist’s Depiction of Antebellum Travel in Wisconsin and Beyond, 1856-18602022-08-25T14:57:57+00:00

“This is Jimmy Berg from New York:” Dreams, Expectations, and Reality

"This is Jimmy Berg from New York:" Dreams, Expectations and Reality

By Julia-Katharina Neier

Jimmy Berg was born in 1909 in Kolomea as Symson Weinberg. He was a musician, composer, lyricist and journalist. In 1938 he had to flee from Austria because of his Jewish origins and his work in the communism-related cabaret theatre group ABC. Thanks to an affidavit of the industrialist Otto Eisenschimmel Berg was able to enter the US via Southampton on the S.S. Manhattan on November 24,1938.

“This is Jimmy Berg from New York:” Dreams, Expectations, and Reality2022-08-25T15:01:43+00:00

Rosa Wien: Gay Rights, Schlager and Self-Exile: 1918-1938

By Casey J. Hayes

So…What comes to mind when you hear the word “Cabaret”? Perhaps…Liza Minelli? Yet, however historically accurate this depiction of the 1920s Weimar Berlin cabaret scene may be (I doubt they had Liza or Bob Fosse) it was a more reserved cabaret culture that developed within the Austrian capitol; more quick conversation, jokes, political statements, and sentimental chansons; less drag queens and spectacle. It would have, I believe, looked much more accessible to the conservative Viennese and less like the pages from a Christopher Isherwood novel. Yet, there are many historical yet little-known events that played out at the intersection of the struggle for civil rights for western society’s gay communities, the National Socialist’s persecution of homosexuals, and the fate of some of Europe’s greatest performing artists self-exiled in Vienna. The wildly hedonistic world of German-speaking Cabaret would be the backdrop for a collision which resulted in the ultimate elimination of the art of the “Kleinkunstbuhne” throughout Central Europe.

Rosa Wien: Gay Rights, Schlager and Self-Exile: 1918-19382022-08-25T15:01:48+00:00

Drawn to America: Julius Klinger’s Poster Art

Drawn to America: Julius Klinger's Poster Art

By Karen Etingin

Viennese-born Julius Klinger (1876-1942) innovated advertising posters, book and magazine illustrations, mass promotional campaigns, and brand development, and he had a single-minded approach to an International Graphic Language. He became well known in his Austrian homeland as well as in Germany by the outbreak of WWI via an artistic reputation built on the strength and range of his designs, which were characterized by graphic simplicity, eponymous typefaces and irony. An advocate of “Americanismus,” and the progressive attitudes towards modern business and media coming from across the Atlantic, Klinger understood the power of modern trademarks and logos and their ability to give identity to major businesses and manufacturers.

Drawn to America: Julius Klinger’s Poster Art2022-08-25T15:01:53+00:00

Designing His Life: Victor Papanek — with Alison J. Clarke

Designing His Life: Victor Papanek

with Alison J. Clarke

Alison J. Clarke's new book, "Victor Papanek: Designer for the Real World," is the biography of the Austrian-American trailblazer in social design. In the late 1960s, Victor Papanek began writing his seminal "Design for the Real World" which argued for socially and ecologically sustainable design long before the ensuing movements years later. Published in 1971, the impact and relevance of his book persists globally.

As a teenager, Victor Papanek fled Nazi-occupied Austria with his mother to land in New York. Before he even began his studies at Cooper Union, Papanek's experiences in Vienna had shaped his socially-responsible outlook. In this podcast, Dr. Clarke explains why, to understand Papanek and his work, she had to examine his life as an Austrian-émigré.

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Designing His Life: Victor Papanek — with Alison J. Clarke2022-08-25T15:02:04+00:00

Designing His Life: Victor Papanek — with Alison J. Clarke

Dr. Alison J. Clarke discusses her new book, "Victor Papanek: Designer for the Real World," a biography of social design's Austrian-American trailblazer. V Victor Papanek wrote "Design for the Real World," a book that augured the ascent of socially and ecologically sustainable design movements many years later. Published in 1971, the impact and relevance of his book persists globally.

LISTEN

Designing His Life: Victor Papanek — with Alison J. Clarke2021-11-22T16:49:31+00:00

Vienna in Hollywood – CfP

Vienna in Hollywood

Call for Proposals

Organized by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the USC Libraries, USC’s Max Kade Institute for Austrian, German, and Swiss Studies, and the Austrian Consulate General in Los Angeles, which initiated this project, “Vienna in Hollywood” will explore and highlight the impact of Austrians on the Hollywood film industry from the 1920s through the present. The symposium is part of an event series of the same name dedicated to Austrian and particularly Austrian-Jewish heritage in California, organized by the Austrian Consulate General in Los Angeles. The symposium will take place at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and at the University of Southern California in December 2021.

Vienna in Hollywood – CfP2022-08-25T15:02:08+00:00

Botstiber IAS CEU Fellowship

The Botstiber Junior Fellowship in Transatlantic Austrian and Central European Relationships 2022/2023

Applications Open Until July 5, 2021

The Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies (BIAAS) and the Institute for Advanced Study at Central European University in Budapest (IAS CEU) are pleased to invite applications for the fellowship in Transatlantic Austrian and Central European Relations for junior researchers for the academic year 2022/23.

Botstiber IAS CEU Fellowship2022-08-25T15:02:15+00:00

Americans in Vienna, 1945-1955

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

The Center for Austrian and German Studies at Ben Gurion University of the Negev (CAGS) and the Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies invite you to their online conference! The papers by historians from Austria, Israel and the United States will focus on the varied presence of Americans in Vienna during the first decade after the Second World War. The conference keynote, titled "Americans in Vienna, 1945-1955," will be given by Prof. Guenter Bischof (The University of New Orleans).

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Americans in Vienna, 1945-19552022-08-25T15:02:22+00:00

About Adriana Lecuona

The Enduring Promise of Multinationalism: Hans Kohn’s Habsburg Legacies

Hölzlhuber’s America: An Austrian Artist’s Depiction of Antebellum Travel in Wisconsin and Beyond, 1856-1860

"This is Jimmy Berg from New York:" Dreams, Expectations and Reality

Rosa Wien: Gay Rights, Schlager and Self-Exile: 1918-1938

Drawn to America: Julius Klinger's Poster Art

Designing His Life: Victor Papanek

Vienna in Hollywood

The Botstiber Junior Fellowship in Transatlantic Austrian and Central European Relationships 2022/2023

Americans in Vienna, 1945-1955