Tourist landscapes. Photographs of the Touring-Club de France during the interwar period

Résumé 0

The Touring Club de France is a tourist association which carries out a significant role on the organization and development of tourism in France before its gradual takeover by the State. It publishes and broadcasts a monthly magazine to each of its members which has a cover photograph from 1920 onwards. The analysis of these cover photographs during the inter-war period allows the TCF’s action to be restituted, to identify the attractions of tourism. This last aspect of the analysis, more complex, is carried out into two phases: it is first the interests and fondnesses promoted by the TCF that are identified. Then, by deconstructing the propaganda message, a wider characterization of the tourist sensibilities of this period is undertaken. To carry out this goal, this work is based on a systematic analysis of each picture using a grid of reading constructed from semiological tools.