La renovación escolar del Ayuntamiento de Barcelona y su difusión fotográfica (1908-1936)

Abstract

Barcelona City Council’s actions in the framework of Catalonia’s educational renewal movement of the early decades of the twentieth century were very significant. They involved a series of measures to improve education, hygiene, and childcare provision, and to create schools and introduce innovative educational methods. All of these activities were promoted in a series of publications in which photography played a vital role. The aim of this article is to analyse the iconic and visual discourse that Barcelona City Council tried to disseminate regarding its schools policy and educational renewal plans using photography. In essence, we intend to examine how, through its visual message, it attempted to implant in the public imagination the main ideas behind its educational renewal project, ideas that coincided with the scientific pedagogy of those years. The historical method was used to carry out this study, working with photography as a witness. The aim is to demonstrate how preventative hygiene, physical exercise, active learning processes, the importance of the natural environment, the need for modern buildings and well-lit and ventilated schools, and attention to diversity comprised core values in the dissemination of the discourse that is the subject matter of this research.