The "new biography" in Spain between 1920 and 1930 : publishing houses, journalism and portraitures

Abstract

This article studies the phenomenon of the publication of biographies in Spain through publishing houses and the press between 1920 and 1930. To do this, it uses a methodology that combines the history of publishers' catalogs, the analysis of journalistic genres, and the study of the relationship with artistic disciplines such as painting or photography. The main contribution is in approaching the emergence of the biographical in its various manifestations, with a vision of biography that links it with biographical genres in the press and with the tradition of Spanish portraiture. The originality resides in identifying the relationships that the biography genre weaves with its discursive context. Specifically, with journalistic writing, with other portrait genres, as well as with the introduction of photography in graphic magazines and with the pictorial portrait of that time. The results reveal how the new biography was introduced into Spanish culture. It also shows how the journalism of the time adapted the biographical contents and how a transversal relationship was generated with the portraitists of the Generation of '27.

Keywords

• biography
• portrait
• journalism
• profile