Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820 – 1950

After returning from his first African trip to Prague in October 1879, the traveller Emil Holub began to prepare an exhibition to present the results of his stay in southern Africa. Holub originally wanted to organize it in the building of the Měšťanská beseda (Citizen Club). Since he could not rent its halls for a long enough period, he finally decided to use the glass garden pavilion on Střelecký ostrov in Prague.

The installation had three parts: anatomical, containing animal skeletons; natural-historical, with a variety of mammal and bird skins, reptile, beetle, and other natural history specimens; and ethnographic, showcasing a rich variety of objects as in Holub’s earlier shows. Holub also displayed his own rifle, hat, and various pieces of equipment, in keeping with his emphasis on self-presentation.

The press reviews suggest that thanks to the large number of items on display, the exhibition was perceived as spectacular and unique not only in the Czech milieu but even in the whole of Europe [Anonymous author 1879]. Some reviewers described it as overcrowded with objects, which was meant in a positive sense. The reviews generally listed almost all the types of exhibited objects. Some of them attracted more attention than others and received more space, such as certain specimens of imported plants (Encephalartos villosus), and the rock engravings of the San people, then known as the Bushmen. The latter were highly valuable works presented in Europe for the first time. The reviewer of Národní listy described them as “intriguing engravings” of animals and human figures made with sharp instruments. For this reviewer, they were proof that Africans did not lack a sense of beauty, although, in his eyes, these works were hardly comparable to European art [Anonymous author 1879].

A peculiar presence at the exhibition was an orphaned Tswana girl named Bella, with whom Holub appeared at the exhibition several times. He brought her with him from Africa to be his servant and at the same time, he gave her an education. Her presence caused a sensation in Prague and Holub took advantage of it. By bringing Bella to the exhibition and his lectures, he came close to the colonial practice of showing living human beings as exhibits, which is considered highly problematic today. At Holub’s request, the Prague studio of Heinrich Eckert & Julius Müller produced photographic portraits of Bella in the form of cabinet cards, which the visitors could purchase at the exhibition.

The installation was simple. Holub placed the objects in glass countertop display cases that lined all four walls of the exhibition hall. In the centre of the exhibition were four groups of other countertop and cubic display cases with ethnographic and natural objects and two pyramid-shaped display cases with weapons. The centre of the front wall was dominated by a hanging zebra skin, surrounded by skins and horns of other African mammals arranged in a decorative pattern. Most critics, and presumably the public, appreciated the aesthetically pleasing installation of corals, marine fungi, and animals, conceived as a scenic diorama in a glass case.

The success of the exhibition and its financial profit motivated Holub to organize repetitions in other European cities. He chose Vienna as the first and, since his plans did not work out, the last stop. The exhibition was held in the Pavillon des Amateurs, built for the 1873 World Exhibition in the Vienna Prater. Holub was given five halls – the entire half of the Pavilion. The show was open from May 2 to October 15, 1880. Holub arranged the exhibits into five groups. The first consisted of birds and vertebrates; the second of ethnographic objects; the third of reptiles, marine animals, and fossils; the fourth of plants; and the last of mammals, anatomical specimens, and miscellaneous items. The catalogue, published retrospectively in 1882, shows that the exhibition presented over 12,500 objects. This was more than in Prague because the rooms in the Prater Pavilion were much larger. Individual objects were given more space, and the whole exhibition had a more airy and grandiose appearance. Holub was aware of this – in his opinion, the Vienna exhibition was much more successful and, in fact, incomparable to its Prague premiere.

Tomáš Winter

Works Cited

Anonymous author 1879: Anonymous author, Africká výstava p. dra. Holuba, Národní listy 1879, no. 280, 23. 11.,clipping in: Scrap book no. 3: Afrika III (Dr. Emil Holub), p. 63, collection Scrap-books, Archive of the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures in Prague.

Further Reading

Martin Šámal, Bečuánka Bella v Praze a ve Vídni: osud africké dívky přivezené dr. Emilem Holubem do Evropy v roce 1879, Genealogické a heraldické listy XXXIII, 2013, no. 3, pp. 15–23

Martin Šámal, Emil Holub: cestovatel, etnograf, sběratel, Praha 2013, pp. 217–233 

Tomáš Winter, Jihoafrické výstavy, in: idem (ed.), Emil Holub, Praha 2023, pp. 117–123 

Anonymous author, Holub-Ausstellung, Bohemia 1879, no. 328, 28. 11., clipping in: Scrap book no. 3: Afrika III (Dr. Emil Holub), p. 79, collection Scrap-books, Archive of the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures in Prague

Anonymous author, Africká výstava dra. Em. Holuba, České noviny 1879, no. 303, 20. 12., clipping in: Scrap book no. 3: Afrika III (Dr. Emil Holub), p. 106, collection Scrap-books, Archive of the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures in Prague

Anonymous author, Africká výstava dra Holuba, Národní listy 1879, no. 303, 20. 12., clipping in: Scrap book no. 3: Afrika III (Dr. Emil Holub), p. 106, collection Scrap-books, Archive of the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures in Prague

Anonymous author, Dr. Holub´s afrikanische Ausstellung, Politik 1880, no. 11, 11. 1., clipping in: Scrap book no. 3: Afrika III (Dr. Emil Holub), p. 134, collection Scrap-books, Archive of the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures in Prague

Anonymous author, Výstava afrických vzácností, Pokrok 1880, no. 11, 11. 1., clipping in: Scrap book no. 3: Afrika III (Dr. Emil Holub), p. 134, collection Scrap-books, Archive of the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures in Prague 

g., Ausstellung Dr. Holub´s, Politik 1879, no. 327, 26. 11., clipping in: Scrap book no. 3: Afrika III (Dr. Emil Holub), p. 73, collection Scrap-books, Archive of the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures in Prague

t., Holub-Ausstellung, Bohemia 1879, no. 324, 24. 11., clipping in: Scrap book no. 3: Afrika III (Dr. Emil Holub), p. 66, collection Scrap-books, Archive of the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures in Prague