Opened on May 30th, the exhibition Image/Technique, inventories of Emilio Biel features nine large-format photographic albums, with images dedicated to the construction of great works of engineering that Biel’s publishing house for the Association of Portuguese civil engineers, currently named Order of the Engineers, held and published. In the second half of the 19th century, photographic reports devoted to the construction of major engineering works were increasing. In Portugal, the most active protagonist of these campaigns was the photographer, editor and German businessman Emilio Biel, responsible for one of the most extensive iconographic surveys of the Portuguese territory during this period. In collaboration with Porto’s Ci.clo Biennale of Photography, the exhibition presents a selection of photographic images taken from the original arrays of Emilio Biel & Ca.’s house, which now belong to the photographer Virgílio Ferreira. The parallel programming includes guided tours and discussions with experts in the history of photography, engineering and geography.
This exhibition, which will be open until 20th July in the exhibition hall at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Porto, and is part of the research project Livros de Fotografia em Portugal (books of photography in Portugal), 1860-1910, held in the Art History Institute at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of Universidade Nova in Lisbon in collaboration with the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto.
