Retratadas. Fotografía, género y modernidad en el siglo XIX español — Stéphany Onfray, 2025

A timely and necessary volume, Retratadas dives deep into the visual construction of femininity in 19th-century Spain, focusing on the layered role photography played in shaping gender and modern subjectivity. Written by historian and curator Stéphany Onfray, and published by Cátedra in 2025, the book draws from a rich visual archive of cartes de visite, studio portraits, and early photographic experiments to analyse how women — posed, costumed, anonymised or defiant — emerged within the medium’s formative years. The cover alone sets the tone: a poised woman in full crinoline, one finger to her lips, the other pointing outward — a gesture both playful and coded, like a stage whisper. Onfray’s work is rigorous yet vivid, bridging visual studies, gender theory, and photographic historiography with clarity and conviction. Retratadas does not just catalogue images — it reanimates the cultural scripts behind them, revealing how photography operated as both social control and subtle resistance in a patriarchal 19th-century Spain.

Technical Sheet
Title: Retratadas. Fotografía, género y modernidad en el siglo XIX español
Artist / Author: Stéphany Onfray
Date: 2025
Technique / Printing Method: Offset
Medium / Materials: Softcover
Dimensions (cm): approx. 15 × 20
Language: Spanish
Pages: Not stated
Publisher / Editor: Ediciones Cátedra (Grupo Anaya)
ISBN: 978-84-376-4858-3
Condition: NEW