ABSTRACT
Focusing on the commercialisation of modernism beyond the metropolis, this chapter argues that tourism offered artists a new conceptual framework to address the contradictions that defined Austrian modernity and to bridge fine art and popular culture. In various fields of art and design, references to rural culture became a fixture of Austria's presentation at home and abroad, supported through official channels yet also developing independently through the involvement of various artists and designers. The chapter traces how images of Austria as a modern holiday country were constructed by specific regional histories and became increasingly gendered to build different imaginary landscapes for male and female audiences. It shows that popular illustration and the graphic arts fashioned multiple versions of rural modernism that set tourism at their centre and connected to a rediscovery of rural artist colonies, sports, and travelling, altogether forging an enticing vision of the countryside as a paradise of leisure.
