Rare and extremely interesting: the historical narrative of the exhibition “Documentary Genealogies” of the Reina Sofia Museum, dedicated to the history of documentary photography (documentary photography), begins in 1848. These are the first images that capture the revolution, foreshadowing photographs for historians of world-historical events that were to determine the development of the 20th century.

Modern historiography calls this particular period – the middle of the 19th century in Europe – the “Spring of Nations”, thus describing the moment when the proletariat acquires class consciousness and the working class begins the political struggle. In January 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels issued the Communist Manifesto, and a month later the uprisings began in Paris.

The exhibition features more than 500 works, including all genres of photography, such as albums, publications and daguerreotypes, related to historical themes such as the proletariat, urban reforms of the time, popular uprisings or social protest projects that arose during this period. covered by the exhibition, that is, from 1848 to 1917. The tour consists of seven sections, following in chronological order. These images, many of which come from important museums and international institutions, are unwavering witnesses to the past for researchers of the time. On the other hand, this particular material constitutes, for photography theorists, a different narrative of the evolution of media, providing evidence for the “prehistory” of documentary filmmaking, an alternative narrative of the emergence and evolution of the genre in the history of art. photo.

Beginning in the 1850s, photographic campaigns aimed at documenting each country’s national monuments, such as the French Heliographic Mission, were instrumental in the rise of the “photography empire”. The heliographic mission is an example of how the recording and image of national historical monuments contributed to the formation of the ideology of the nation state and the growth of nationalism in Europe. After France, several European countries launched similar campaigns, led by Charles Clifford in Spain.

The second catalyst for the formation of the “empire of photography” was the reorganization of historical urban centers in accordance with the logic and requirements of industrialization. The expansions and reforms that took place around 1860 in cities such as Paris, Vienna, Barcelona and Madrid led to photographic campaigns of both the old parts and the medieval walls of the destroyed cities, as well as the new ones. avenues and urban infrastructure. Most revealing of this process was Charles Malvig’s documentation of Haussmann’s reconstruction of Paris, which also included images of workers and construction workers. In contrast to these photographs of great urban reconstructions, we find the first images of the urban proletariat. In 1880s New York, journalist Jacob Reese photographed the squalid living conditions of the working class on the Lower East Side.