Paper short abstract:

By looking to a set of displays in world fairs and museum exhibitions, this paper draws a panoramic view of how Spain and the Spanish people were perceived by native and foreign writers and artists at the turn of the century; and the intellectual engagements that took place between them.

Paper long abstract:

Head of an Empire with vast colonial possessions, Spain entered a period of national decadence when her last colonies were lost in 1898; which was mirrored in passionate debates about the fate of country and people, intellectual and moral introspection, and collective soul searching. Yet, paradoxically, all this coexisted with an outburst of creativity in literature and the arts.

By looking at the panoply of images of Spain and the Spanish people projected in some museum exhibitions, as the outcome of scientific and ethnographic expeditions carried out at this time. The inward and outward visions of peoples and cultures as shown in world-international fairs held in Spain (Barcelona 1888 and 1929; Seville 1929 and 1992) and elsewhere in Europe (Paris 1855, 1900 and 1937). Visions of country and people projected in travel literature (written by foreigners or 'natives'), via the plastic arts (for example, the commission to Joaquin Sorolla of a series of paintings Vision of Spain by The Hispanic Society of America; which was followed by the equally ambitious commission, to Ruth Matilda Anderson and other young female photographers, to build a systematic photographic archive of people and customs across the different regions of Spain). I intend to draw a panoramic view of how the country and its diverse regions and peoples were perceived by foreigners and natives alike. Not to merely juxtapose these contrasting visions, but precisely to examine the reciprocal influences, dialogues and engagements that take place between 'native' and 'foreign' scholars, artists and writers.