Marie Haushofer presented roles that women had played in different eras and centuries. At the same time, she also traced the path of women in their cultural-historical development – from servitude and lack of culture, interrupted by a brief flash of female domination in the kingdom of the Amazons […] Read more below

Evas Töchter. Münchner Schriftstellerinnen und die moderne Frauenbewegung 1894-1933

Eve’s daughters. Munich women writers and the modern women’s movement 1894-1933

Around 1900 profound changes took place in all areas of life. There is a new beginning everywhere, in the circles of art, literature, music and architecture. The naturalists are the first to search for new possibilities of representation. They are followed by other groups and currents: impressionism, art nouveau, neo-classical, neo-romantic and symbolism. Even if this epoch does not form a unit, one guiding principle runs through all styles: the awareness of a profound turning point in time.

It is generally known that before the turn of the century Munich became one of the most important cultural and artistic sites in Europe. What is less well known is that Munich has also become a center of the bourgeois women’s movement in Bavaria since the end of the 19th century. At this time, a lively scene of the women’s movement formed in the residence city, which subsequently gained great influence on the bourgeoisie throughout Bavaria.

Since 1894, Munich has been shaped by the modern women’s movement, which advocates the right to education and employment for women. At that time, the city was decisively shaped by women such as Anita Augspurg, Sophia Goudstikker, Ika Freudenberg, Emma Merk, Marie and Martha Haushofer, Carry Brachvogel, Helene Böhlau, Gabriele Reuter, Helene Raff, Emmy von Egidy, Maria Janitschek and many other women’s rights activists and writers and artists, all of whom are members of the Association for Women’s Interests, which is largely responsible for the spread of the modern women’s movement in Bavaria. At that time, they all set out in search of a new self-image for women, questioned the traditional role models in the bourgeoisie and attempted to redefine gender roles.

In this context, on October 1899 the First Bavarian Women’s day was celebrated. The crowning glory of the First General Bavarian Women’s Day in 1899 was a festive evening that took place on October 21, 1899 in the large hall of the then well-known Catholic Casino at Barer Straße 7.

The first part of the festive evening was the performance of an impressive festival play: Cultural images from women’s lives. Twelve group representations [„Zwölf Culturbilder aus dem Leben der Frau“]. The piece was written by the painter a poet Marie Haushofer (1871-1940) especially for this occasion. Sophia Goudstikker directed it and she also played a part. The majority of the roles were played by many other protagonists of the Munich women’s movement. A few days later, Sophia Goudstikker photographed the twelve group portraits in the Elvira photo studio (Atelier Elvira). She glued the photographs into a leather album entitled Marie Haushofer’s festival for the first general Bavarian women’s day in Munich. October 18-21, 1899 [Marie Haushofers Festspiel zum Ersten allgemeinen Bayrischen Frauentag in München, 18. – 21. Oktober 1899]. Those are the 13 surviving scene photos (group portraits) that documented the event; today they are part of the Munich City Archive (Stadtarchiv München).

In her festival play, Marie Haushofer presented roles that women had played in different eras and centuries. At the same time, she also traced the path of women in their cultural-historical development – from servitude and lack of culture, interrupted by a brief flash of female domination in the kingdom of the Amazons, to burgeoning knowledge, to work, freedom and finally the union of women who from then on did their work – but also have to assert powerfully achieved new social status through unity. The present represents the last group in which “modern women” appear in “modern professions”: telephone operators, bookkeepers, scholars, painters, etc. They are accompanied by the allegorical figures of Faith, Love, Hope (*) and the Spirit of Work (**) that liberates all women / working women. Finally, the female audience is called upon to work and to actively shape together the present role of women.

[(*) see photo on bottom of this post (last photo) / (**) last-but-one photo]

Further productions took place in Nuremberg in 1900 and on November 28 and 30, 1902 at the Bayreuth Opera.

But the festive evening of Bavarian Women’s Day did not end with the performance of the festival play. In the second part of the evening, “poems of modern women poets” were presented. There were works by Ada Negri, Lou Andreas-Salomé, Alberta von Puttkammer, Anna Ritter, Ricarda Huch and Maria Janitschek. The short prose text Nordic Birch by the Art Nouveau artist and writer Emmy von Egidy was also read.

[adapted text quoted (an translated) from : Evas Töchter : Frauenmut und Frauengeist : Literatur Portal Bayern]