Photos on Strings? A Fotografia na Literatura de Viagens Sobre Portugal (1900-1960)

Abstract

Pictures on strings or wires are reminiscent of the drying process of proofs after the developing bath. Literatura de cordel, as so called in Portuguese because it featured small books hanging from strings (cordéis), was also one of the first processes to vulgarise writing and the image. Before photography, the image was already circulating, whether through sculptures, paintings or engravings, but its invention allowed for a faster and more comprehensive dissemination of the repre- sentation of things in a network (or, if you like, through strings), of those things that make up the vocabulary of so-called Visual Culture. Photographs that dialogue with other photographs, with texts, with their reproductions and copies and with photographic and filmic images are part of a contemporary language. With this in mind, we propose looking at a series of works of travel literature whose authors travelled to Portugal in the 20th century and who, in addition to the text, presented, represented and conveyed the country through photographs. Questioning the authorial as- pects of their production, the reasons (propagandistic, commercial, literary?) for their choice in each work and relating them be- tween works, we present some reflections and hypotheses to understand the use of photo- graphy in travel literature: whether it complements the text, or is a separate narrative. To do this, we used a sample of 10 works and 350 printed images between 1909 and 1960