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Ana Djordjevié
Kosovo).”” From my perspective, however, these latter theater photographs represent
something different, because in them the Self-Other constructions are completely
blurred. They are examples of how the Other was perceived rather than how the self
was perceived as the Other. What I want to focus on in the last part of this article
are the “ordinary” pictures I mentioned in the beginning.
The Multinational Business Elites”
During my research, I found many fewer photographs of business elites presenting
themselves in “traditional clothes.” Their photographs mostly portray luxury and
wealth. Women are wearing expensive-looking dresses and lots of jewelry, while
men are usually portrayed in tailor-made suits or uniforms. Studio portraits of
the family Horstig-Pavlovié illustrate very well this belonging to the upper classes.
Also they illustrate the entanglement of the families in different spheres of power.
Mihailo Pavlovié (1840-1915), who was better known as “Cir Mijajlo” (Master,
or patron, Mijajlo), was one of the several millionaires of Belgrade in his time. He
made a fortune trading in textiles and was also actively involved in politics. He was
governor of the National Bank of Serbia and also representative for foreign capital
at Austro-Hungary’s Landerbank subsidiary “Srpska kreditna banka“ (see Miskovi¢
2008: 313). His daughter Zora became the wife of Kosta Horstig, who was a descen¬
dant of an Old Prussian family. The Horstig family was allegedly involved in the
founding of the freemasonry in Serbia. Through intermarriage they expanded their
political and economic influence and became associated with the descendants of
Misa Anastasijevi¢ (“Captain Misa”), who was the second richest man in Serbia (af¬
ter Prince Milos I) in the nineteenth century. It seems that these business elites did
not portray themselves employing national narratives and ideologies, being visible
in photographs of the “intelligentsia” and the politically powerful. Was this because
their place in society was already secured and they did not have to show off their
belonging to the nation, since they had other means of showing their allegiance?
Last but not least, I want to touch upon the issue of female representation in
photographs. By her contemporaries, Zora Horstig was called “Pretty Ms. Horstig,”
and looking at her lavishly staged portraits it is understandable why. With her splen¬
did wedding dress in illustration 55, her visual presentation seems in no way inferior
from 1166 to 1196 and heir to the Vukanovié dynasty. He was the founding father of the Nemanji¢
dynasty under which medieval Serbia prospered most.
22 Milos Obilié (the Battle of Kosovo) is a tragedy written by Jovan Subotié (1817-1886). It is based
on the historical figure of the medieval Serbian knight Miloë Obilié, who was in the service of Prince
Lazar Nemanjié. Obilié prominently features as the legendary assassin of the Ottoman sultan Murad I.
23° I have adopted the classifications “business elites” and “political elites” from Natasa Miskoviés
Basare and Boulevards (2008). It is very difficult to maintain this classification, because members of the
political elites and of the business elites often intermingled and each group also had a powerful influ¬
ence on the other. Also I would add another category, equally fluid: the “knowledge elites.”