Tradition and Modernism in the construction of the "new" woman from the Portuguese New State: photography and propaganda in the Boletim da Mocidade Portuguesa Feminina (1939-1947)

The images that outlined the "new" women ideal of the Portuguese New State government (Estado Novo), set an important guide to understand how the photography was used to establish a female role model consentaneous with the regime ideology. At first glance these images appear odd and contradictory, but a closer look one can identify an intrinsic dialectic between "tradition" and "modernist" themes and forms. Taking as case study the Boletim de Mocidade Portuguesa Feminina (Portuguese Women's Youth Bulletin) (1939-1947), the aim of this work is to analyze how this dialectic was operated at the service of the New State propaganda.