FIRST HOUSE OF GOVERNMENT AND FOUNDATIONAL MONOLITH OF NEUQUÉN

Scenes from the interior of Argentina. Country and city. Neuquen. circa 1910.

Both vintage photographs, gelatin silver prints, are mounted on a gray cardboard and are presented in period colours. The scene with a ranch measures 14.3 x 23 cm. The rest, 17 x 16.6 cm. Works in good condition.

We will deal first with the view with the Government House and the Neuquén Foundation Monolith. This large two-story wooden chalet and surrounded by a live fence, was built by the firm John Wright of Buenos Aires at the request of the territorial government, being its headquarters between 1904 and 1929. In 1950 it was completely dismantled.

Known as the "Grey Chateaux", the official building -with its oval governmental plate in front and the national flag- dominated with its imposition the modest hamlet of the capital of the National Territory of Neuquén, officially founded on September 12, 1904, thanks to to the efforts of Carlos Bouquet Roldán. In the foreground and to the left you can see the Neuquén Foundational Monolith (1904) with a stepped base and surrounded by wooden piles.

When addressing the other image today, we must say that the photographic documentation of the Pampas plain was always a challenge for our first photographers. That infinite perspective attracted the attention of pioneers such as Esteban Gonnet, Benito Panunzi or Samuel Boote.

In this case, the restless traveling photographer set out to document a primitive ranch with a gabled roof. The humble house is built with materials from the area: mud and bundles of rough straw. This image is enriched by two horsemen, both wearing white hats. The photograph was taken at midday.

Abel Alexander

President of the Ibero-American Society for the History of Photography