The Corcovado mountain before the Christ Redeemer

Better known by the general public for his landscapes, Marc Ferrez was a plural artist. In 1875 he joins the Geological and Geographic Empire Comission, when delves into what would become one of its many specialties: the photographic documentation of the then-new engineering works, such as railways and water supply systems. In 1882 Ferrez starts to document the construction of the Corcovado Railroad.

Main brazilian photographer of the nineteenth century, Marc Ferrez (1843-1923) is the most significant photographer of the period at the Instituto Moreira Salles collection. The landscapes which he photographed, particularly panoramic photos of the city of Rio de Janeiro area, bring in their aesthetic and thematic choices some of the main elements of the iconographic imagery of the city that has been consolidated since then, especially abroad. These photographs were produced with special cameras in large format negatives, practice to which he devoted all his technical inventiveness.

Unlike other photography studios at the time, Ferrez’s inkling for natural landscapes and urban vistas, visible since the beginning of his career, formed his most powerful body of work, composing unique images which would permanently mark 19th century brazilian iconography. Ferrez explored the city’s outer limits, both in the mountains and by the bay, constructing a personal and poetic vision of the urban space with his photos of locales that border the natural and the man-made, magical areas that continue to characterize the great metropolis which Rio de Janeiro transformed into throughout the 20th century.