Untitled 

Bernhard Hasler made this image in ink and watercolour, likely sometime in the early twentieth century. Its ideas and concepts connect to a wider cultural interest in musical composition, performance, and the public role of the arts in civic life. The image creates meaning through its many visual codes. It suggests a stage setting for an operatic performance, or perhaps a ballet. The word “Ouverture” written at the top implies an anticipation of things to come. Hasler made this work in Austria, a country famed for its musical culture, and this scene comments on the social structure of its own time, in which art and music were highly prized. The presence of an open musical score, complete with musicians, implies a conservative, even a nostalgic, attitude. Historical interpretation of art is contingent on an understanding of social and institutional contexts. To understand this image better we might research the musical institutions of early twentieth-century Austria, or examine the archives of musical scores.