Literary (Gine)geography. Erna Pinner y Erica Tietze-Conrat's Travels to Spain (1926)

Abstract

In 1926, the German artist Erna Pinner and the Austrian art historian Erica Tietze-Conrat visited Spain and documented their experiences in two travel accounts. These narratives offer a dual perspective, that of the women and that of the artists, shaping a renewed version of the artistic travel narrative. Both women travelers embody, each in her own way, the archetype of the neue Frau characteristic of the interwar period, and both share a determination to challenge the gender conventions of their time. However, the behavioral strategies outlined in their narratives not only reflect the contemporary aesthetics, but also a cultural differentiation that can be interpreted as «civilizing». Spain is perceived as exotic and oriental, a vision that is conditioned by Eurocentric assumptions. Based on a paradigm with still imperialist overtones, and with a marked nationalist sentiment, both texts suggest the superiority of their own countries, implicitly and explicitly contrasting the diversity and modernity of northern Europe with a reductionist vision of the southern imaginary.