The First Images of Korea in Spanish Media: von Hesse-Wartegg and Sanín Cano

Abstract

The image of Korea among Hispanic speakers has seen enormous changes during the 20th and 21st centuries. This article looks at the first photographically illustrated reports from Korea published during the first decade of the 20th century in the magazine Hojas Selectas, Revista para todos (Madrid–Barcelona) in 1902 and 1910. It was a publication that also was disseminated throughout Latin America. In particular, we compare photographs of Korea taken by Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg, an Austrian traveler, with a set of anonymous images included in an essay by the Colombian diplomat Bartolomé Sanín Cano. These illustrated reports came right at the time of changes that the Joseon dynasty underwent in an effort to avoid Japanese colonization, along with a growing interest in getting to know the “other.” Hence the different perspectives adopted by an Austrian author and a Colombian one, and their possible impact on Spanish-speaking audiences, are explored here.