Rise and crisis of the “european dream”: A brief history in photo books

Authors

  • Javier Ortiz-Echagüe Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, España Spain
  • Araceli Rodríguez Mateos Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, España Spain

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24310/Fotocinema.2020.vi21.9998

Keywords:

History of Photography, Photojournalism, Photobooks, Europe, Memoria

Abstract

Photobooks are fundamental for the dissemination of photography and their study in recent times has led to a recovery of the “other history” of the medium. This article esxlores with five publications by, respectively, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paul Graham, Carlos Spottorno, Roger Grasas and Federico Clavarino. Their common thread is the idea of ??Europe. Analyzing the work of these authors allows us to observe how the same theme has been treated, beginning from the Second Post-War years up to more recent works released after the 2008 crisis. They present us with fundamental questions about the configuration of a European identity that is not exempt from conflicts: the inheritance of a cumbersome past, the north-south and/or east-west divides, cultural clichés, the way in which the exercise of power affects citizens. The article identifies the conceptual approaches of each photobook, as well as the thematic and aesthetic elements that define them, in close connection with their respective historical and creative contexts.

 

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Author Biographies

Javier Ortiz-Echagüe, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, España

Ph.D. on Communication Sciences (University Complutense of Madrid). He is senior lecturer on History of Art at Department of Education Sciences, Language, Culture and Arts, Historical-Legal and Humanistic Sciences, and Modern Languages. Faculty of Social and Legal Sciences. University Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid, Spain).

His fields of expertise are History of Photography and Contemporary Photography. Visiting Lecturer at New York University (2007 y 2012), and at Université de Marseille (2005), he has been curator of several exhibitions. Editor of the anthology of texts by the artist José Val del Omar, Escritos de técnica, poética y mística (Museo Reina Sofía, 2010), he has coordinated of Fotos & libros. España 1905-1977 (Museo Reina Sofía, 2014)

Araceli Rodríguez Mateos, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, España

Ph.D. on Communication Sciences (University Complutense of Madrid). She is senior lecturer on Theory and Aesthetics of Arts, Department of Education Sciences, Language, Culture and Arts, Historical-Legal and Humanistic Sciences, and Modern Languages. Faculty of Social and Legal Sciences. University Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid, Spain).

Her fields of expertise are Photography and Documentary cinema. Nowadays she leads the Research Project “The Crisis of the European Dream: Home, Identity and Exodus on Audiovisual Arts”. Visiting Lecturer at University of Lancashire (United Kingdom), at University of California Los Angeles (USA). She has published four monographs and several articles on contemporary cinema and photography.

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Published

2020-07-24

How to Cite

Ortiz-Echagüe, J., & Rodríguez Mateos, A. (2020). Rise and crisis of the “european dream”: A brief history in photo books. Fotocinema. Revista científica De Cine Y fotografía, (21), 29–57. https://doi.org/10.24310/Fotocinema.2020.vi21.9998