When analyzing and interpreting a photographic image, we must take into account the photographer's perspective and intention when taking the photo, as well as the location, period and context of production. In Brazil, most photography studios were set up by European immigrants, especially when the technique was first used. Brazilians also dedicated themselves to the technique, both independently and in society, as street vendors and in studios.
In Celso Maria de Mello Pupo's documentary collection, we find photographs from various photographers and photography studios, both local and nationally renowned. To demonstrate all this diversity, we will present some examples below:
AFFONSO PICARELLI
He worked in São Paulo and Rio Claro in the first decade of the 20th century.
ANTÔNIO FORSTER
He worked in Campinas as Martins da Cunha's successor, at the address where Nickelsen & Ferreira had been headquartered in the first decade of the 20th century.
CARNEIRO & GASPAR
Studio of the partnership of Joaquim Feliciano Alves Carneiro and Gaspar Antônio da Silva Guimarães, started in 1865 with a studio in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, operating until 1875.
CHRISTIANO JR. PHOTOGRAPHO
José Christiano de Freitas Henriques Junior, a Portuguese man, worked in Maceió in the early 1860s, moving to Rio de Janeiro. In 1864 he joined forces with Fernando Antônio de Miranda, and the business was called Photographia do Commercio until 1864. Christiano Jr. worked alone until he joined forces with Bernardo José Pacheco. After a fire in the studio in 1875, they began working in the studio of José Ferreira Guimarães.
CYPRIANO & SILVEIRA
Cypriano & Silveira - Diogo Luiz Cypriano was a painter and portraitist. He joined forces with Smith in 1857 and with Pedro Satyro de Souza da Silveira in 1870. Pedro da Silveira began his career with Cypriano and succeeded the establishment in 1877.
CHUTE & BROOKS PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO
L. Wallace Chute and Thomas Brooks formed a partnership in Rio Grande do Sul, passing through Pelotas and Porto Alegre. It is said that they also worked in Montevideo and Buenos Aires.
JEAN GEORGES RENOULEAU
Born in France, he worked in Montevideo, Pelotas, Porto Alegre and Rio de Janeiro. In 1875 he managed the Dath & C. Photographic Office in São Paulo. He joined forces with Hoffmann in 1884. In 1897, he announced his Provisional Office in Santos. Renouleau is said to have held the first film screening in São Paulo in 1896. His studio burned down in December 1895.
GIOVANNI SARRACINO
Italian, he established his studio in São Paulo in 1901. He received several awards for his photographs and illustrated José Mortari's book “From Santos to a Farm”, to promote the state of São Paulo abroad.
GUILHERME BOLCKAU PHOT.
Owner of Photographia Alleman, located in Rio de Janeiro, his photographs were exhibited at the Brazilian History Exhibition in 1881.
HENRIQUE ROSÉN & CO.
Swedish, he began his career in Santos and later moved to Campinas, where he was one of the pioneering establishments, under the name Photographia Campinense. He collaborated with Fernando Piereck, a painter, to create photopaintings from 1878 onwards.
HERMANN ECKMANN
German, the portrait artist worked in Santos, owner of the establishments Photographia Brazil, Atelier Eckmann and Photographia Eckmann. He was awarded at the National Exhibition of 1908.
J. F. GUIMARÃES & CIA. PHOT.
José Ferreira Guimarães was Portuguese and worked in Rio de Janeiro. In 1866 he received the right to call himself Photographer of the Imperial Hunt. He received several distinctions and medals in exhibitions.
JULIO GIAXA
He worked in São Carlos, Rio Claro, Bauru at the end of the 19th century.
JUSTINIANO JOSÉ DE BARROS
He began his career as a daguerreotypist in Paraná in 1850. He moved to Rio de Janeiro and then to Porto Alegre. He also became known for his photographs of soldiers during the Paraguayan War, exhibited at the Brazilian History Exhibition in 1881.
L. TERRAGNO
Luiz Terragno, Italian, pioneer photographer from Rio Grande do Sul, who worked in Porto Alegre until the mid-1880s. He is known for his series of portraits of characters from the Paraguayan War, presented at the Brazilian History Exhibition in 1881.
NICKELSEN & COMP.
Julius Nieckelsen, a native of Hamburg, began his career as an employee of the Henschel & Benque firm in Rio de Janeiro until 1883. He later joined forces with Henrique Rosen and, subsequently, with Bernardino Francisco Ferreira. They participated in the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1889. They claimed to have branches in Santos, Casa Branca, Rio Claro, Piracicaba, Amparo, Limeira and Mogi Mirim.
PHOTOGRAPHIA ALLEMÃ DE ALBERTO HENSCHEL & CO.
Born in Berlin, he arrived in Brazil with Karl Heinrich Gutzlaff. In Recife, they joined forces with Julio dos Santos Pereira. In October 1866, Alberto Henschel and Karl Heinrich Gutzlaff opened Photographia Germana de Alberto Henschel & Co. in Recife. Henschel brought the painter Karl Ernest Papf from Europe to create the photopaintings. The partners also opened establishments in Salvador, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Throughout the 1870s, Henschel had as a partner Francisco Benque, a portraitist and landscape photographer. Henschel and Benque participated in exhibitions at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in 1872 and 1875, the Vienna World's Fair in 1873, and the Brazilian History Exhibition of 1881. In 1874, they received the title of Photographos da Caza Imperial.
PHOTOGRAPHIA ALLEMÃ DE CARLOS HOENEN & CO.
It began in September 1875, offering life-size and bust portrait services, as well as group photographs. In 1877, it began to employ the services of Piereck to develop photopaintings. It sold its studio to Neuhaus in 1885.
PHOTOGRAPHIA JOÃO POMPE
He became known for his views of the city of Piracicaba and surrounding areas published in the book São Paulo, by Gustav Koenigswald in 1895.
POLUCENO PEREIRA DA SILVA MANOEL
Portrait painter, he worked in the 1850s in Rio de Janeiro.
SOPHIAN NIEBLER
Employee or partner of Photographia Vigier. He established himself in the 1890s in Campinas with his Photographia Germana.
VALÉRIO VIEIRA
He began his career as a photographer in the 1880s, working in cities in the Paraíba Valley and Ouro Preto, later moving to São Paulo. He became known for his photomontages and panoramas.
Read about the Techniques, photographic types and research potential here.
EXHIBITION CREDITS
DIRECTION
Dra. Maria Sílvia Duarte Hadler
ASSOCIATED MANAGEMENT
Prof. Dr. Arnaldo Pinto Júnior
GENERAL COORDINATION
Profa. Dra. Maria Alice Rosa Ribeiro
CURATORY
Ana Cláudia Cermaria
REVISION
João Paulo Berto
REALIZATION
Diffusion Service - Memory Center-Unicamp
This exhibition is part of the project “Campinas, 250 years (1774-2024): history, memory and cultural heritage from the Celso Maria de Mello Pupo Collection”, financed by Promotion Notice nº 01/2023 – Other Cultural Areas - Project Selection Notice to sign a Cultural Execution Term with resources from Complementary Law nº 195/2022 (Paulo Gustavo Law), which has as proponent Prof. Dr. Maria Alice Rosa Ribeiro, collaborating researcher at CMU.
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