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Buenos Aires 1936. Visión fotográfica

  • For the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the foundation of Buenos Aires, photographer Horacio Coppola was commissioned by its municipality to portray the city.
  • Photobook
  • Buenos Aires 1936. Visión fotográfica

    Word Count: 6

  • Buenos Aires 1936: Cuarto centenario de su fundación. Visión fotográfica
  • Horacio Coppola
  • 1936
  • Hardcover book of 230 pages and 207 black and white photographies

  • Av. Corrientes and Av.9 de Julio, Buenos Aires (depicted place).

  • Spanish
  • 32 x 23 cm.

  • Buenos Aires (AR)
  • For the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the foundation of Buenos Aires, photographer Horacio Coppola was commissioned by its municipality to portray the city.

    Word Count: 25

  • On the occasion of the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the foundation of the city of Buenos Aires by Pedro de Mendoza in 1536, the photographer Horacio Coppola was commissioned by the municipality of Buenos Aires to portray the city. The resulting photobook was published in 1936 with a cover by the photographer Grete Stern.
    Two introductory texts by Alberto Prebisch and Ignacio Anzoategui narrate the history of Buenos Aires. Prebisch, born to a German immigrant father, was a renowned Argentinian architect. Among his most outstanding works is the Obelisk of Buenos Aires, an emblem of the city. In his text for the photobook, he expresses himself as an architect, sketching a city marked by the architectural heritage of colonial times, but later nourished by foreign contributions linked to the open nature of a society that was then highly cosmopolitan. Ignacio Anzoategui's text turns out to be an account of the city's history from its foundation in 1536. Let us emphasise how surprising it is to see the work of Coppola and Stern, universal artists who had fled Nazi Germany, published alongside the writings of Anzoategui, known for his anti-Semitism and his activism within Catholic nationalism.
    The heart of the book begins after the two introductory texts and is made up of photographs by Horacio Coppola, for whom the city had been an important subject in his work for years. Map in hand, Coppola traces the route he has chosen to represent the city in the photobook, encompassing both the busy city centre and the outlying districts of the metropolis. Thematic categories can be defined within Coppola's work for this specific commission: views of the city from the air (tracing the map), the presence of water (with the recurring silhouette of the Hotel of Immigrants and the view of the port), social spaces (theatres, cafés, crowded street corners by day), and Buenos Aires at night. Coppola's work reflects the modernity of his photographic technique as well as the role played by his work in the field of photography in Argentina.

    Word Count: 339

  • Horacio Coppola, Buenos Aires 1936: Cuarto centenario de su fundación. Visión fotográfica. Municipalidad de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, 1936.
  • Horacio Coppola, "La Avenida Corrientes, recientemente ensanchada sobre su lado sur. Vista desde la cuadra del 1200 hacia el oeste", in Buenos Aires 1936: Cuarto centenario de su fundación. Visión fotográfica. Municipalidad de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, 1936 (via Wikimedia Commons).
    Horacio Coppola, "Nocturno. Calle Corrientes desde Reconquista hasta Plaza de la República (centro)", in Buenos Aires 1936: Cuarto centenario de su fundación. Visión fotográfica. Municipalidad de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, 1936 (via Wikimedia Commons).
    Horacio Coppola, "Plaza de la República. Fiesta de la Bandera (Centro)", in Buenos Aires 1936: Cuarto centenario de su fundación. Visión fotográfica. Municipalidad de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, 1936.
    Horacio Coppola, "Bar Madrid sobre la Avenida de Mayo", in Buenos Aires 1936: Cuarto centenario de su fundación. Visión fotográfica. Municipalidad de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, 1936 (via Wikimedia Commons).
    Horacio Coppola, "Liquidación en una casa de trajes, Buenos Aires, esquina de Bartolomé Mitre y Maipú en 1936", in Buenos Aires 1936: Cuarto centenario de su fundación. Visión fotográfica. Municipalidad de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, 1936 (via Wikimedia Commons).
  • Fara, Catalina. “La construcción de un imaginario de ciudad moderna a través de un fotolibro: Buenos Aires 1936. Visión fotográfica de Horacio Coppola.” Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture, vol. 2, no. 1, January 2020, pp. 92–100, doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/lavc.2020.210008. Accessed 23 April 2021.

    Príamo, Luis. “Comentario sobre Buenos Aires nocturno.” Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, www.bellasartes.gob.ar/coleccion/obra/9909/. Accessed 4 March 2021.

    Word Count: 64

  • Coppola, Horacio, et al. Buenos Aires 1936: Cuarto centenario de su fundación. Visión fotográfica. Municipalidad de Buenos Aires, 1936.

    Coppola, Horacio. Buenos Aires 1936: Cuarto centenario de su fundación. Visión fotográfica. Municipalidad de Buenos Aires, 1937.

    Word Count: 38

  • My deepest thanks to Catalina Fara for sharing her texts.

    Word Count: 10

  • Laura Karp Lugo
  • Obelisk
  • Av. Corrientes and Calle Paraná, Buenos Aires; Av. Corrientes 1200, Buenos Aires; Bar Madrid, Av. de Mayo 701, Buenos Aires; Calle Bartolomé Mitre y Maipú, Buenos Aires; Edificio COMEGA, Av. Corrientes 222, Buenos Aires.

  • Buenos Aires
  • No
  • Laura Karp Lugo. "Buenos Aires 1936. Visión fotográfica." METROMOD Archive, 2021, https://archive.metromod.net/viewer.p/69/2950/object/5140-11020675, last modified: 09-09-2021.
  • Horacio Coppola
    FilmmakerPhotographer
    Buenos Aires

    Born in Buenos Aires, Horacio Coppola is one of the photographers who represent modern photography in Argentina.

    Word Count: 17

    Grete Stern
    Photographer
    Buenos Aires

    Grete Stern is one of the photographers that represent modern photography in Argentina. Her house in Ramos Mejía was a meeting place for local and foreign artists and intellectuals.

    Word Count: 30

    Obelisco
    MonumentBuilding
    Buenos Aires

    The Obelisk is undoubtedly the most well-known emblem of the city; it was built by architect Alberto Prebisch in 1936 for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Buenos Aires.

    Word Count: 29