Ana Magalhães Rodrigues (1869-1937): uma fotógrafa através da sua fotografia

Abstract

The first self-named Portuguese professional photographer, known as Maria Reya Campos, in the southern part of the country. The fact that I identified, in 2019, a Carte de Visite with the name and signature ANNA MAGALHÃES RODRIGUES, opened a new path for the study of the life and work of another photographer working alone in the Portuguese rural interior, in the early years of the 20th century. Producing in a commercial context, we already tryed to reconstruct her work from photographs and illustrated postcards, proposing some interpretations regarding her formation and trade. In this paper we focus on one photograph, produced in 1905, to discuss her role as an eventual photographer-artist. Crossing image analysis methodologies with reflections and interpretations proposed by several authors, we present an integrated analysis of the photograph, based on the composition and the relationship with the author's path, the time and the geography where the photograph was produced.