Hier ist es schön!

“Hier ist es schön” is the title of the exhibition catalogue on postcards from the stadtmuseumgraz’s collection, taken from the title of an essay on postcards by Robert Musil in his work entitled Nachlaß zu Lebzeiten [Posthumous Papers of a Living Author]. As Musil writes in his essay, “picture postcards look the same all over the world, with their touched-up colours, their production techniques and the choice of image perspective”. These small-format pictures, larger than life itself, have had a major influence on travel and the way in which cities were perceived in the late 19th century, and more particularly in the 20th century. Hier ist es schön shows the views of Graz that were in circulation at the time, in part shaping collective perceptions to this day, as well as the stories told on the back on the postcards. And how time and time again the subtext of both image and message convey one thing, namely: how nice it is here, in Graz.