Daria Kuharić: CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY: OLD SLAVONIAN OAK TREES
Scientific paper
Daria Kuharić, Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59014/VBEI4004
Keywords:
cultural geography, glass plate negatives, literature, Slavonian oak tree forests
Abstract
The paper provides a scientific insight into the history of human interaction with
the environment. It focuses on the history of the Slavonian (oak) tree forests and
lumbering that inspired the artists and their images. On the one hand, there is the
well-known pre-war Vinkovci photographer, Franjo Körner (1901-1945), whose valuable
collection of 97 glass plate negatives was accidentally discovered in 2020. Unlike
Körner, another artist from Vinkovci used words to express his passion and love for
the Slavonian (oak) tree forests. Being a professional forester, Ivan Kozarac wrote
numerous poems, short stories and novels inspired by the Slavonian landscape. From
the perspective of new cultural geography i.e. literature geography, the landscape is
not simply a material artifact that reflects the culture in straightforward ways but is
laden with symbolic meaning that needs to be decoded concerning the social and
historical context.
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