BACKCLOTH

Introduction to the photographic studio 1880-1960
 
The long period that goes from the advent of the railway to the advent of the Beetle meant an important modernization of Galician society. However a large part of society hardly was affected by these changes. “Pano de fondo” (backcloth) constitutes, broadly speaking, an introduction to the photographic-studio work of this period which includes not only the work of the photographic galleries but also what’s made in the outside with a similar dramatization.
Because of the time and functions assigned to the photographs they get damaged and old, acquiring a new evocation power, since, in short, it is about objects with life of its own. For this reason early period copies from seven photographers as well as four thematic anthologies are shown in glass cases in order to emphasize their nature as objects.
Each photograph is one out of the numerous interpretations allowed by a photographic plate, varying according to a series of aesthetic, technical and functional criteria... the images shown in this exhibition, in its prime, had different technical characteristics and functions. Nowadays with present-day techniques, they abandon the private sphere to go over to the public sphere.