Tradition and modernity: the iconographic programme of the Lasallian Our Lady of Bonanova School in Barcelona (1900-1956)

Abstract

This article interconnects two elements: the debate about the modernisation of Catholic schools’ teaching, particularly in schools run by religious orders and congregations in Spain during the first thirty years of the twentieth century, and the use they made of the modern technology of that time in the production of images (picture postcards or photographs) destined for promotional and advertising purposes. The research is organised around the detailed study of one particular case —that of the Lasallian Our Lady of Bonanova School, founded in 1889 in Barcelona. The article offers a detailed analysis of the gradual adaptation of their educational offer to the requirements of the wealthy families of Barcelona, and relates this to the iconographic strategy they developed between 1900 and 1956, in order to offer to these families an educational model that was both socially conservative and technologically and commercially modern.