A construção de uma visualidade sobre o maranhão a partir de álbuns de vistas (1899-1913)

Abstract

This thesis deals with the process of constructing a visuality about the state of Maranhão from albums of views elaborated between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. We selected as the focus of our study a series formed by 316 images, from four albums of views, using an application called meta-visuality elaborated based on the methodology proposed by Vania Carvalho and Solange Lima (1997). From the elaboration of a social circuit of the images, the context of their production was highlighted, aiming to demonstrate the senses and meanings present in the photographs, based on the definition of thematic-visual patterns, as well as the analysis of the visual narrative present in the albums. We concluded that the whole of albums produced a visuality about the state of Maranhão, which denotes the progressive and nostalgic thinking of a group of intellectuals, photographers and editors, who wish to remain in a prominent place on the national scene, evoke images of the "progress" and of a fortunate past in order to compose a representation about the State.