In his second book Images of the Sacred, released in September 2009, the photographer Fernando de Tacca, Ph.D. in anthropology from USP and a lecturer at the Institute of Arts, Unicamp, leaned on two interesting cases involving publications that epoch: the French magazine Paris Match and the Brazilian magazine O Cruzeiro, which brought the works produced by two photographers: the Brazilian Jose Medeiros (1921-1990) and Frenchman Henri-Georges Clouzot (1907-1977). The central point was the journalistic record of Candomblé, presented in two major reports.

Reporting from Paris Match, published in May 1951, with photos of Henri-Georges Clouzot

As an introduction, Candomblé is often mistaken as a religion, but a more prosaic explanation is the place where it carries a higher authority where the liturgy is the "Holy-Father" or "Mother-of-Holy." Of African origin, holds its own hierarchy and not distinct from the orthodox Judeo-Christian culture widespread in Brazil. So long, its propagation is always shrouded in mystery and controversy, discussions or leading tours of different variants, like this interesting study on the subject.

Awarded for various jobs, and also the creator and editor of the Studium, a Brazilian references imagistic thinking, the anthropologist chose confrontation media what happened in 1951 between two major journals, against the backdrop of Candomblé in Salvador. Through this "clash" international versus national versus the seriousness sensationalism, takes us on a tasty history without academicimos, but unless backed by extensive research and serious.

In his narrative, he also brings significant adjuvant: French Roger Bastide (1898-1974), a sociologist who joined the faculty of the newly created USP, in 1938, and author of fundamental works such as The Black Americas: The African civilizations in the New World (Edusp 1974), journalist Pernambuco Odorico Tavares (1912-1980), responsible for, among other things, the first exhibition of modern art in Bahia, Rio filmmaker Alberto Cavalcanti (1897-1982), whose career has developed in Europe and the ethnologist and French photographer Pierre Verger (1902-1996), a leading scholar of African culture.

The story of Cruise, published in 1951, with photos of Jose Medeiros

The reports "Le possédées of Bahia" (The possessed of Bahia), the Paris Match published in May 1951 and "The bloodthirsty brides of the gods," O Cruzeiro, published almost five months later, created controversy among the religious and Brazilian intellectuals. The report printed in The Cruise came to make life difficult for the mother-of-holy laughter Platform, protagonist of the story that tells of the "initiation ritual" in Candomblé. She was ostracized by his peers for being condescending to the report, despite a life devoted to religion.

Tacca retraces the route in search of survivors of the report, explaining what happened to them at the time, interviewing children and friends, returning texts published at the time, and settling a succession of errors, published by many authors since.

From field research with characters found, descendants of others have disappeared and supporting the period that followed, the anthropologist raises iconographic material and unpublished literature, and lead the reader to a true lesson of anthropological research. Tacca also revives, in a didactic way, what was the entertainment magazine of photojournalism in the second half of the 20th century. Material fed to anyone who has historical interest in the subject, and need not be expert in any of the approaches.

Both Medeiros and Clouzot represented publications that kept the proportions were the leaders of his day and brought a certain sensationalism in their content (just read the titles of the two materials). The Paris Match was established in 1949 by Jean Prouvost. The name came from the weekly newspaper Match that belonged to him since 1938. Originally it was dedicated to sports, but was tranformado a magazine of news and entertainment.

During World War II, the newspaper ceased publication, reappearing in 1949 with the name Paris Match. The format was similar to American Life: The combination of a lot of photo and news. The first edition, published on March 25, 1949, brought the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on the cover (two years later he again be the leading English until 1955). By the late '50s, the magazine was very successful, but the emergence of competition from other magazines and television led to a drop in sales. In 1958 took 800,000 copies, reduced to less than 600,000 in 1975.

The Cruise appears as the first national magazine on November 10, 1928, published by Graphic Cruise Company, in Rio de Janeiro. Interestingly, their first issues, quality issues were printed in Argentina. The magazine existed from 1928 until 1978 and was what we call today "magazine varieties." Like most current weekly, a basket that mixed advertising and news stories with interesting matters paid praying sometimes flattered detonated political occasion, depending on your convenience.

As the French, also mimicked the American LIFE. At the beginning had a different layout of the ordinary, in Brazil, with large images and full-page open. His competitors were a Face, The Cicada, For All and Fon-Fon!, Among others. Despite the nationwide circulation, the magazine was well connected to the Rio de Janeiro and took 48,000 copies in 1942, reaching 300,000 in 1949. It was there that, since the age of 14, signed his anthology Millor Fernandes column alias Go Gogo.

The formula of the double "photographer and reporter" made famous by the French Jean Manzon (1915-1990) and Paulo David Nasser (1917-1980) in the mid 40s. Success would be repeated later with the headline. Some say that the expansion of strong groups in April and Bloch as well as the greater range of television, contributed to the end of the magazine. The researcher Nadja Pilgrim in his book The Cruise, the evolution of photojournalism (Dazibao, 1991), raises the issue of the journal losing public paid for abusing substances.

In the 70s, The Cruise takes a breath right in the hands of the journalist Alexandre von Baumgarten, defitivamente until closing at 78. The journalist had alleged involvement in an information organ of the dictatorship and was found dead in Recreio, in Rio de Janeiro in October 1982. Baumgarten had been eliminated by the military, in circumstances far nebulae, involving senior Army. In February 1983 the magazine Veja published the journalist would have left a document in 1981, giving his death as certain and accusing two senior generals linked to the SNI.

The history of Paris Match seems to hold other similarities with the Brazilian publication. In 1976 she recovered when it was bought by publisher Daniel Filipacchi and today belongs to the group Hachette Filipacchi Medias, which in turn belongs to the Lagardère Group, which owns, among other things, aircraft industries that supply the world with military aircraft and missiles. This - not-so-strange combination of information and military power, is actually in the hands of very few around the planet. It is speculated that the labels of most of the world are controlled by only one or two groups.

Jose Medeiros turned his report in Candomblé, published in 1957, which added about 22 pictures. The book was reissued in 2009 by IMS IMS ( read review here ), with more additions. Moreover, the dates between reporting and publication of the book often promote confusion. For example, in the exhibition catalog José Medeiros, 1997, curated by Rubens Fernandes Junior at Itaú Cultural, one of the images are often published after the original report from 1951 appears in a caption dated 1957. The same mistake, according Tacca, is seen in the 50 years anniversary edition of April in 2000 - and what's worse, the book itself José Medeiros - 50 years of photography, editing Funarte, accompanying the 1987 retrospective.

Photo of Joseph Medeiros

Clouzot, when he came to Brazil to make his report, it was a filmmaker known for many films, including one about Pablo Picasso. The Paris Match warns: "For the first time a white person can enter the temple of black gods, where they practice the bloody rites of initiation. It is the first photo reportage of the great director Clouzot. " Published with global priority, the magazine said. For the few images reproduced, we can see similarities between the works. On its face, the fancês loses - after all, Medeiros turns your story into a book, which, incidentally, directs the reader to the ritual procedures and nomenclature of the African liturgy.

Like the French, Medeiros was also near the cinema, which began to devote himself since 1965. He worked as a photographer for major films like Xica da Silva, Carlos Diegues and the deceased, Hirszman de Leon, among others. For him, the story of Paris Match showed no real "Candomble", so he devoted himself to the subject. At that time, the photographers had great autonomy over their agendas. Says anthropologist as a reporter Medeiros had celebrity status anywhere in Brazil.

Fernando de Tacca states that its purpose is to discuss the changing significance of the collected material, deepening the analysis of the narratives in the print media in which they were published. However, images of the Sacred is much more than that. With two great authors and two major magazines, expands the scope of their research horizons far wider than the academic. His interviews, his working script, his notes of travel and their analysis antopológicas - and imagery - adorn, above all, a narrative with a bias of a great story well done, not only clarify the two original reporting, and substantially expand their understanding.

Service
Images of the Sacred - Between Paris Match and The Cruise of Fernando de Tacca. Editora Unicamp / Press Office of the State of Sao Paulo. ISBN 978-85-268-0848-5. The book is on sale on the website of the publisher of Unicamp , for $ 40.

Juan Esteves, photographer, has been writing his articles since 1988 in the Folha de S. Paul. It was Iris Photo Magazine columnist and editor and columnist for the Fotosite. You Better Shoot magazine columnist and contributor to text and images for magazines such as Mitsubishi, Living Alone, Travel and More Cosac Naify. Now, the blog of Paraty in Focus, called Juan, all Fridays, unpublished or published - the last, with reprint and update made ​​especially for this blog.