Publication: El imaginario visual de la nación española a través de las grandes exposiciones universales del siglo XIX: "postales", fotografías, reconstrucciones
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2016-06-21
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Universidad Complutense de Madrid
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Abstract
La investigación se centra en el proceso de construcción de la identidad española en las grandes exposiciones universales del siglo XIX (Londres, 1851, 1862), París (1855, 1867, 1878, 1889, 1900), Viena (1873), Filadelfia (1876) y Chicago (1893) analizando el modo en que estos concursos internacionales contribuyeron tanto a la percepción de un orden mundial jerarquizado según criterios políticos, económicos, sociales, religiosos y culturales; como a la proyección de la imagen exterior de España. En este sentido, la investigación no ha subestimado –si bien a menor escala– el impacto de la Exposición Universal de Barcelona de 1888, al ofrecer el contrapunto de una imagen nacional de prestigio industrial frente a la generalizada idea romántica del país que habitualmente se forjó en el resto de exposiciones. Estas ferias internacionales promovieron importantes hábitos sociales que contribuyeron a conformar las representaciones cognitivas de todos los colectivos y naciones del planeta. Uno de los más destacados fue el incipiente desarrollo de los medios de comunicación, las artes gráficas y la escenografía, sin olvidar el de las tradicionales muestras de Bellas Artes y la mercadotecnia turística. Sea como fuere, desde 1851, las exposiciones universales se presentan como prolíficos generadores de imágenes listas para un consumo visual no exento de connotación ideológica. Consecuentemente, la cultura visual en la tradición expositiva demuestra ser un interesante campo de investigación, en el que se hace necesario profundizar para poder esclarecer los vínculos recíprocos que se establecen entre la codificación de imaginarios y la construcción de identidades. Tomando en consideración lo expuesto, la investigación ha atendido a la relación establecida entre la cultura visual española y la formación de una identidad nacional que se emplaza en la encrucijada entre Oriente y Occidente, analizando su componente exótico, las implicaciones de la oposición dialéctica entre centro y periferia, así como la pretensión legitimadora de convertir a España en nexo de unión entre Europa y América. Con respecto a la metodología, esta tesis doctoral se apoya fundamentalmente en el análisis de la documentación de época conservada en archivos de prestigio internacional, reuniendo textos e imágenes originales a los que se suma tanto el estudio de la literatura coetánea como de la teoría crítica actual desarrollada durante los casi cuarenta últimos años. Los resultados confirman que la delegación española expuso esencialmente productos naturales, careciendo de una destacada representación manufacturera. El retraso económico, pero también la falta de una cultura empresarial expositiva, fueron causa de este pobre resultado que, asociado a la imagen exótica que los viajeros occidentales habían configurado desde tiempo atrás, proyectó la imagen de un pueblo anclado en un mundo pretérito. Esta fue precisamente la visión que los artistas extranjeros recrearon en sus obras, confirmando que imaginario visual y condicionamiento cultural influyen en la cristalización plástica y constante reinvención de los estereotipos culturales. Sin embargo, muchos españoles también fijaron esta imagen romántica: la de una nación sometida alternativamente a la idea dicotómica de un país luminoso, radiante y alegre y la de un territorio sombrío, absolutista y fanático; en definitiva, la de un pueblo apasionado varado en un pasado poético donde ninguna evidencia de modernidad tecnológica o contaminación cultural podían darse. Incluso, los espectáculos y actuaciones que especuladores foráneos y locales promovieron, se sirvieron de esta imagen exótica en pro del rédito económico. Así, la cultura visual viene a confirmar la constante interpretación reduccionista y simplista de la realidad heterogénea y plural del estado español...
This research focuses on the process of construction of Spanish identity at the 19th great Universal Exhibitions (London, 1851, 1862), Paris (1855, 1867, 1878, 1889, 1900), Vienna (1873), Philadelphia (1876) and Chicago (1893) analyzing the way in which these international contests contributed both to the perception of a hierarchical international order based on stereotyped political, economic, social, religious and cultural criteria; and, particularly, to the projection of the image of Spain in the eyes of the world at large. In this connection, the research has not dismissed the impact –on a more limited scale– of the Barcelona Universal Exhibition of 1888 as a counterpoint of national industrial power to the generalized romantic idea of the country that the other exhibitions usually generated. As events of the past, World’s Fairs promoted important social uses which highly contributed to shape cognitive representations of every collective or nation on the planet. Foremost among these is the incipient development of mass media, graphic arts and techniques for displaying exhibits, without forgetting traditional Fine Arts exhibitions and touristic merchandising. Whatever the case, since 1851, Universal Exhibitions appear to be prolific sources of images, ready for visual consumption as well as ideological learning. Consequently, visual culture in the Universal Exhibition tradition proves to be an interesting field of research, on which it is necessary to go in depth in order to clarify reciprocal links between the coding of imageries and the construction of identities. Taking into account what has been just set out; the research has concentrated on the relationship between Spanish visual culture and the formation of a national identity at the crossroads where the boundaries of the Orient and the West seem to fade, discussing exoticism, opposing the terms of center and periphery, and examining the linking of Europe with America through Spain. Concerning methodology, this doctoral dissertation mostly relies on archival research, gathering original documents and images of the time. All the visual and literary items as well as their subsequent implications are complemented by contemporary critical theory in the field and by the literature of the period. The research evidence suggests that the Spanish delegation was essentially based on agricultural and mineral exhibitors, remarkably lacking in manufactured goods. Economic backwardness but also the lack of an entrepreneurship culture was usually the main cause of this poor outcome that –associated with the country’s exotic image that occidental travelers had long made up–, projected the image of a people living in the past. That was precisely the image that foreign artists mainly recreated through their works of art proving that visual imagery and cultural conditioning determine the plastic crystallization and constant reinvention of cultural stereotypes through Art. Nonetheless, many of the Spanish artists also contributed to fix this romantic image, providing the West with what was expected of them: a nation that persistently revolved around the dichotomy of a radiant, brilliant and joyful country and a lugubrious, absolutist and fanatic realm; definitively, a passionate people stuck in a poetic past where no signs of technological modernity or cultural contamination could be found. Even the shows and performances that both foreign and local entrepreneurs displayed brought about the exotic image of Spain in pursuing an economic return. Thus, visual culture throughout the century confirms this (mis)conception of heterogeneous and plural Spain...
This research focuses on the process of construction of Spanish identity at the 19th great Universal Exhibitions (London, 1851, 1862), Paris (1855, 1867, 1878, 1889, 1900), Vienna (1873), Philadelphia (1876) and Chicago (1893) analyzing the way in which these international contests contributed both to the perception of a hierarchical international order based on stereotyped political, economic, social, religious and cultural criteria; and, particularly, to the projection of the image of Spain in the eyes of the world at large. In this connection, the research has not dismissed the impact –on a more limited scale– of the Barcelona Universal Exhibition of 1888 as a counterpoint of national industrial power to the generalized romantic idea of the country that the other exhibitions usually generated. As events of the past, World’s Fairs promoted important social uses which highly contributed to shape cognitive representations of every collective or nation on the planet. Foremost among these is the incipient development of mass media, graphic arts and techniques for displaying exhibits, without forgetting traditional Fine Arts exhibitions and touristic merchandising. Whatever the case, since 1851, Universal Exhibitions appear to be prolific sources of images, ready for visual consumption as well as ideological learning. Consequently, visual culture in the Universal Exhibition tradition proves to be an interesting field of research, on which it is necessary to go in depth in order to clarify reciprocal links between the coding of imageries and the construction of identities. Taking into account what has been just set out; the research has concentrated on the relationship between Spanish visual culture and the formation of a national identity at the crossroads where the boundaries of the Orient and the West seem to fade, discussing exoticism, opposing the terms of center and periphery, and examining the linking of Europe with America through Spain. Concerning methodology, this doctoral dissertation mostly relies on archival research, gathering original documents and images of the time. All the visual and literary items as well as their subsequent implications are complemented by contemporary critical theory in the field and by the literature of the period. The research evidence suggests that the Spanish delegation was essentially based on agricultural and mineral exhibitors, remarkably lacking in manufactured goods. Economic backwardness but also the lack of an entrepreneurship culture was usually the main cause of this poor outcome that –associated with the country’s exotic image that occidental travelers had long made up–, projected the image of a people living in the past. That was precisely the image that foreign artists mainly recreated through their works of art proving that visual imagery and cultural conditioning determine the plastic crystallization and constant reinvention of cultural stereotypes through Art. Nonetheless, many of the Spanish artists also contributed to fix this romantic image, providing the West with what was expected of them: a nation that persistently revolved around the dichotomy of a radiant, brilliant and joyful country and a lugubrious, absolutist and fanatic realm; definitively, a passionate people stuck in a poetic past where no signs of technological modernity or cultural contamination could be found. Even the shows and performances that both foreign and local entrepreneurs displayed brought about the exotic image of Spain in pursuing an economic return. Thus, visual culture throughout the century confirms this (mis)conception of heterogeneous and plural Spain...
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Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Geografía e Historia, Departamento de Historia del Arte III (Contemporáneo), leída el 19-01-2016