Early Female Daguerreotypists in Spain: Madame Fritz
Presentation Type
Presentation
Start Date
8-3-2025 11:20 AM
Description
Dr. María de los Santos García-Felguera, retired Professor, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain
Early Female Daguerreotypists in Spain: Madame Fritz
Carrying out research about the first women photographers (the daguerreotypists) in Spain is as difficult as in any other country. However, there are also some opportunities and pleasant surprises along the way.
Most of these women we only know through advertisements in the press and learn about only by names: Madame Valpéry, Senges, Sanz, Ayala, and Fritz, for example. In some cases, we are lucky enough to find small mentions in newspapers, usually related to another subject (not photography), as is the case of Madame Senges (also a balloonist), Sanz (a dentist), or Ayala (a seller of cosmetics). At the best of the times, we know about them through official documents (municipal or state papers). But non-permanent residents add to the difficulty of recovering their histories. Often, we know about them, only by chance, thanks to the preservation of some of their work.
In 2021, two portraits made by Madame Fritz came to light in a private collection in Barcelona. Fritz is particularly interesting for our purposes, because she travelled through Spain and Portugal between 1843 and 1846 taking daguerreotype portraits and reproducing works of art.
The documentation preserved in different countries (in Europe and Asia) has allowed us to deepen our research into Fritz’s life from her origins in France as part of a book-making family, her marriage in a printer's family, her move to Switzerland, her divorce and her independent business in Paris, her travels through Spain and Portugal with the daguerreotype camera, and how life took her to Hong-Kong, the Philippines, and back to France. Through the adventures of Madame Fritz, we can see what these women were like: independent, determined, and ready to move from one country to another (before the railways), practising a new profession that they helped to establish - a profession that later forgot their names and their work.
María de los Santos García-Felguera holds a PhD in Art History (Complutense University, Madrid) and has been a Professor of History of Photography and History of Art (Complutense University of Madrid and Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona) until 2014. During these years, she taught many students, and she is pleased to say that some of them are speaking here today.
She has authored several books and articles examining lives and works of 19th-century photographers in Spain, both women and men. Additionally, she has participated as a speaker in numerous conferences and curated exhibitions.
Part of her research focuses on women photographers who worked in Spain, mainly during the 19th century, but also spanning from the first daguerreotypists (in the 1840s) to the photojournalists (as well as nurses, teachers, and others) who came to Spain during the Civil War and took photographs during their stay. Most of the photographers she has studied were previously unknown. Her interest lies in both professional and amateur women, regardless of their origin (Spain or elsewhere), and the reasons that brought them to Spain to work.
Relational Format
Conference proceeding
Recommended Citation
García-Felguera, María de los Santos, "Early Female Daguerreotypists in Spain: Madame Fritz" (2025). Women of Photography: A 24-Hour Conference-a-thon Celebrating International Women’s Day 2025. 33.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/womenofphotography/2025/schedule/33
Early Female Daguerreotypists in Spain: Madame Fritz
Dr. María de los Santos García-Felguera, retired Professor, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain
Early Female Daguerreotypists in Spain: Madame Fritz
Carrying out research about the first women photographers (the daguerreotypists) in Spain is as difficult as in any other country. However, there are also some opportunities and pleasant surprises along the way.
Most of these women we only know through advertisements in the press and learn about only by names: Madame Valpéry, Senges, Sanz, Ayala, and Fritz, for example. In some cases, we are lucky enough to find small mentions in newspapers, usually related to another subject (not photography), as is the case of Madame Senges (also a balloonist), Sanz (a dentist), or Ayala (a seller of cosmetics). At the best of the times, we know about them through official documents (municipal or state papers). But non-permanent residents add to the difficulty of recovering their histories. Often, we know about them, only by chance, thanks to the preservation of some of their work.
In 2021, two portraits made by Madame Fritz came to light in a private collection in Barcelona. Fritz is particularly interesting for our purposes, because she travelled through Spain and Portugal between 1843 and 1846 taking daguerreotype portraits and reproducing works of art.
The documentation preserved in different countries (in Europe and Asia) has allowed us to deepen our research into Fritz’s life from her origins in France as part of a book-making family, her marriage in a printer's family, her move to Switzerland, her divorce and her independent business in Paris, her travels through Spain and Portugal with the daguerreotype camera, and how life took her to Hong-Kong, the Philippines, and back to France. Through the adventures of Madame Fritz, we can see what these women were like: independent, determined, and ready to move from one country to another (before the railways), practising a new profession that they helped to establish - a profession that later forgot their names and their work.
María de los Santos García-Felguera holds a PhD in Art History (Complutense University, Madrid) and has been a Professor of History of Photography and History of Art (Complutense University of Madrid and Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona) until 2014. During these years, she taught many students, and she is pleased to say that some of them are speaking here today.
She has authored several books and articles examining lives and works of 19th-century photographers in Spain, both women and men. Additionally, she has participated as a speaker in numerous conferences and curated exhibitions.
Part of her research focuses on women photographers who worked in Spain, mainly during the 19th century, but also spanning from the first daguerreotypists (in the 1840s) to the photojournalists (as well as nurses, teachers, and others) who came to Spain during the Civil War and took photographs during their stay. Most of the photographers she has studied were previously unknown. Her interest lies in both professional and amateur women, regardless of their origin (Spain or elsewhere), and the reasons that brought them to Spain to work.
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