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Social Differentiation and Construction of Elites in Belgrade Studio Photography leading to a romanticized view of tradition. Rural life became representative of this nostalgia. But it was not only the longing for times past: the Serbian countryside was transfigured as the symbol of Serbian nationhood. Intellectuals such as the geographer Jovan Cvijié or the ethnographers Jovan Erdeljanovié and Tihomir Djordjevié came to believe and spread the thought that the Serbs had endured foreign domination without losing their identity, their language, or religion in the countryside. As a sign of belonging and also of patriotism, Serbian upper classes started taking pictures of themselves dressed in idealized traditional rural clothes. As far as I can identify, the self-portraiture of the bourgeoisie in rural clothes started later than the wearing of the “invented urban dress.” Similar to the “traditional rural dress,” the “invented urban dress” was not worn on a daily basis but rather on special occasions in order to demonstrate cultural and national sentiments and a belonging to an imagined “Serbian nation”—rather than to only a segment of it, for example, the educated or the bourgeois group (see Miskovi¢ 2008: 262). Illustration 57 is a studio portrait of Pantelija Z. Jurisi¢ taken before his enrollment in the military academy in the year 1896-1897. He is dressed in a traditional Vojvodina folk costume, consisting of a white shirt and wide pants, both made of linen, and a dark vest over it. Over the pants, Pantelija is wearing a pleated, white skirt made of linen. Those items of clothing were worn on special occasions and during summer until the outbreak of World War I. On his head Pantelija is wearing a felt hat, also typical of the Vojvodina costume. Pantelija Z. Jurisi¢ was a descendent of the Jurisié family, originally from the Ma¢va district, bordering Vojvodina in northwest Serbia. Among his relatives were many state officials, merchants, representatives of the intelligentsia, and military personnel. After completing his studies at the military academy, Pantelija himself became general of the Royal Army, while his brother became a physician. In 1908, Pantelija married Ana Jovanovic, who belonged to Serbia’s political elite. Her father was the attorney Mihailo P. Jovanovié, who served as minister of justice from 1903 to 1905 and as judge and head of the Court of Cassation from 1908 on. He also served as Yugoslav assistant judge at the Permanent Court of International Justice in The Hague between 1922 and 1930. Illustration 56 is a studio portrait of Sofija Nenadovié taken in 1906. She is dressed in traditional female Serbian folk attire, wearing an embroidered jelek (west) over an embroidered shirt and a pregaca, a traditional embroidered apron with geometric ornamentation. This sort of folk attire was typically worn in the Danube and Save river basin areas of Serbia around Belgrade. ‘The shirt is tightened with a belt decorated with pafte, richly ornamented metal plates attached to the belt with hooks for fastening. She has flowers woven into her hair. She is wearing leather boots instead of the traditional peasant leather sandals called opanci. The backdrop is painted giving the illusion of a lake scene. Sofija Nenadovié was probably the greatgranddaughter of Jakov Nenadovié (1765-1836), who was the first Serbian minister of the interior. Jakov Nenadovié, along with his nephew Mateja Nenadovic, played 149
