Inventions of a nation and self-reinventions: Chile by Roberto Montandón (1942-1952)

Abstract

The article examines some aspects of the life and work of Roberto Arturo Montandon Paillard (1909-2003), particularly his activities in Chile, through which he became “Don Roberto Montandón”, a photographer and researcher of cultural heritage. There is a particular interest in understanding how this man born in Switzerland saw and presented the country he adopted for himself, especially in the period before getting the Chilean citizenship (acquired at the end of the 1940s). Texts and images he published in En Viaje (a Chilean magazine) between 1942 and 1951 are analyzed and combined with a brief comment about three books written by Montandón and published between 1950 and 1952. It is proposed that the focused period has three shifts in Montandón’s life: a shift of identity (with respect to his identity as an author and his civil identity); a shift of perspective on the relationship with Chile and its landscapes (from geography to history, from tourism to cultural heritage); a shift of expression (from photographic to written expression). In this period, Montandón promotes an invention of Chile and also a self-invention.

Keywords: Chile, Roberto Montandón, En Viaje magazine, cultural heritage, photography.