Foto Bianchi: a prática fotográfica e a educação pelo olhar (Ponta Grossa/PR, 1913-1943)

Abstract

The present thesis focuses on a set of photographs produced by the Foto Bianchi studio between 1913 and 1943, aiming to identify the relationship between education and photographic representations. Located in Ponta Grossa, Paraná, this photographic studio operated from 1910 to 2002 and was responsible for numerous photographs that documented the society and customs of Ponta Grossa over nine decades. The research problem addressed whether the photographs produced by the studio have the potential to reveal aspects of education during the period, considering the perspective that documentary photography is a social practice and its representations can both constrain and legitimize behavioral patterns and cultural norms. Therefore, the photographic representations produced by Luiz and Rauly Bianchi between 1913 and 1943 were analyzed under the premise of education through the gaze. That is, we understand that photographs, in their aesthetic, cultural, and consumer good dimensions, contribute to shaping the viewer of these images. We argue that the portraits produced by Foto Bianchi were visual artifacts of Ponta Grossa's culture that fulfilled material and symbolic functions while supporting the perpetuation of discourses and customs of the time. The sources consulted were made available by the Casa da Memória Paraná, both physically, through access to the institution's archives, and digitally, via the Museu Cenas website, where part of the digitized collection is available. This research is situated within the field of the History of Education and employed five central concepts: representations, practices, capitals, trajectories, and cultures. Regarding the theoretical framework supporting our research, we highlight the discussions by Roger Chartier (2002) to address representations as symbolic forms of communication reflecting what society seeks to perpetuate; Michel de Certeau (1998) to understand everyday practices as modes of action and interaction between individuals and society; Pierre Bourdieu (1979) to comprehend the symbolic, cultural, and economic capitals that enable the analysis of the formation and trajectories of the photographers who produced the portraits studied; and the discussions by Michel de Certeau (2001) and Stuart Hall (2016) to delineate our understanding of culture as a heterogeneous space composed of social practices that carry meanings for individuals. Concerning the methodology for source analysis, we relied on revised Iconography/Iconology (Kossoy, 2012, 2014) to analyze visual sources and documentary analysis for examining complementary sources. Consequently, the thesis was structured into four chapters: in the first chapter, we characterized the field of photography during the studied period. To this end, we reconstructed aspects of photographic practices in Brazil, Paraná, and Ponta Grossa, aiming to situate Luiz and Rauly Bianchi within the field of photography. In the second chapter, we outlined aspects of the establishment of Foto Bianchi in Ponta Grossa, emphasizing the trajectories of Luiz and Rauly Bianchi. In chapters three and four, we analyzed the photographs produced by Luiz and Rauly Bianchi in search of evidence of education during the period. In conclusion, we found that the photographs produced by Foto Bianchi reveal a process of visual education shaped by the social, political, and educational dynamics present in Ponta Grossa throughout the 20th century. Our analysis identified the valorization of the bourgeois lifestyle, the practice of familism, the use of surnames as markers of social distinction, the centrality of family authority – especially paternal authority – the disciplining and rationalization of domestic and urban spaces, the hierarchical organization and marginalization of individuals and social groups, as well as the presence of eugenic and hygienist discourses within public education. These elements were central to the construction of ways of seeing and representing social relations.