Portuguese industry by the gaze of photography in the turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth century

In the period between the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century, three distinct, yet interwoven, historical processes overlapped in Portugal: a modest industrial growth, the dissemination of photography as a common practice, and the publication of photographic images in the illustrated press. This article analyses how an illustrated magazine, O Occidente, represented Portuguese industry through the printing of photographs or drawings of photographs. It follows a methodology that combines semiotics with content analysis in photojournalism to show that Occidente created a representation of the industry as a modern and innovative sector that illustrated progress in Portugal, that did not coincide with its true state. This essay adds to the debate about the importance of photography as an historical source (and not just an illustrative tool) and to business history, namely the representations created and circulated about Portuguese industry.