The notions of humanism in documental photography between the 1930s and the 1950s

• Grant number: 14/14565-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: March 01, 2015
• End date: February 28, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Photography
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Helouise Lima Costa
• Grantee: Erika Cazzonatto Zerwes
• Host Institution: Museu de Arte Contemporânea (MAC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In documental photography history critics tend to consider two fundamental moments as milestones for the so called humanist photography: its first appearance, in the 1930s left French illustrated press, and its moment of greater visibility during The Family of Man exhibition, held at the Museum of Modern Art of New York (MoMA), in 1955. This exhibition, conceived and organized by Edward Steichen, was a turning point because it took humanist photography from the illustrated press pages to the legitimating walls of the art museum. However, in both cases, the notions of humanism are different. This project proposes the identification and analysis of the different notions of humanism involved, based on the Spanish Civil War images by the Hungarian photographer Kati Horna and on the conception of The Family of Man exhibition. This project fits into the above mentioned supervisor's, Profa. Dra. Helouise Costa, research scope, as it investigates the institutionalization of a modern photography segment and is capable to establish links with the MAC USP collection, specially with the works presented in the Fotógrafos da Vida Moderna exhibition, which she curated in 2008. (AU)