Industry, Photography, Representations: Portugal, 1897-1914

Abstract

In late nineteenth century and in the first two decades of the twentieth century, Portugal witnessed a modest industrial growth. This industrialisation process was recorded by thousands of photographs, many of which were published in the illustrated press. In this article, I analyse how Portuguese industry was represented by photography and how that representation was disseminated nationwide through the publication of photographs in the two most important illustrated magazines of that period: O Occidente and Illustração Portugueza. I rely on a methodology combining semiotics with discourse analysis in journalism. I show that both magazines built an industrial landscape of modernity and progress, which did not coincide with the real condition of Portuguese industry. I add to the discussion advocating photography as an historical source, arguing that it is much more than a mere illustrative support, but a reliable primary source, with a high potential for history in general, and for the fields of business and industrial history in particular, in the sense that photography can provide fresh narratives around technological change.