São Paulo Past and Present: Comparative Albums and Architectural Photography in Brazil

Abstract

A principle feature of São Paulo photography is the predominance of comparative albums that illustrate modern progress by juxtaposing contemporary and past imagery. Within these comparative albums, paired architectural vistas became a primary means of demonstrating São Paulo’s transformation into a modern city, especially as the city became increasingly “verticalized” in the mid-twentieth century. This paper employs the iconographic analysis of photographs in comparative albums and magazine spreads to show how photographic narratives of infrastructural progress helped to propel architectural trends and shift public opinion about the aesthetics and function of the city. In doing so, I demonstrate how architecture and photography operated as symbiotic practices in midcentury urban Brazil.