EDITED BY HORACIO FERNÁNDEZ

In parallel to its program of exhibitions, public activities, and educational projects, the Museo
Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía conducts intensive research that has a direct impact on its
collections. The projects undertaken by the museum in the field of recovering forgotten or seldom
studied chapters of art history are thus reflected in initiatives such as the one presented in this book,
which examines history through the development in Spain of the photobook, a genre that is both
editorial and visual. The project has come to fruition in the form of an exhibition that, thanks to the
collaboration of Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), will be prolonged through this book and through
the showing of the exhibition at various international venues.
The photobook provided a field for experimentation for prominent names in the history of
twentieth-century photography in Spain. Owing to the nature of the format, the meanings and rich
nuances of the pictures published in each volume were enhanced by the dialogue they established
with the accompanying texts written by different authors. It is sufficient to mention some of the
names featured in the exhibition to give an idea of the how deeply rooted the genre is in Spanish
culture: the literary world is represented by Ramón de Campoamor, Antonio Machado, Miguel
Hernández, Arturo Barea, Miguel Delibes, José Manuel Caballero Bonald, Camilo José Cela, and
Luis Carandell, while the photographers include Kâulak, José Ortiz Echagüe, Ramón Masats,
Francesc Català-Roca, and Oriol Maspons, among others.
As a phenomenon related equally to communication, literature, and the visual arts, the
photobook is a very early example of what is now a widely accepted notion: that the creative process
is multidisciplinary. And, paradoxically, it is precisely this fact–that it draws on various creative
media–that appears to have banished the photobook to a no-man’s-land, where it has lain forgotten
for decades. This project therefore fills a gap and henceforth will provide a useful resource for art
history, literature, and graphic design.
The Museo Reina Sofía has acquired a large number of these books, which are now part of
its collections. They will be on public display in its rooms for several months and from now on
many of them will be included in successive showings of the museum’s holdings. Furthermore,
as a noteworthy collection, they will be available to researchers and specialists at the museum’s
documentary center, where the project has been supplemented by related research on the recent
evolution of the photobook.
This study, which analyzes the development of this hybrid format in our country for the first time,
provides an essential approach to photography as a fundamental record of Spanish culture.

ministry of education , culture , and sport

Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), together with the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
(MNCARS) and in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport, has organized
Photobooks: Spain 1905–1977. The exhibition features a broad selection of photobooks from the
MNCARS collection. Taken as whole, they reveal the extent to which the photobook has served
as a vehicle for expressing the artistic discourses of photographers from all over the world. This
book studies and contextualizes a group of photobooks that in themselves give an idea of the
structure and creative moment that underlies the photographer’s gaze and, as a whole, provide
an insight into the various processes an artist’s work undergoes.
The exhibition and the book bring together many significant photographers. Some are well
known, such as José Ortiz Echagüe, Alfonso, Xavier Miserachs, Francisco Ontañón, and Colita.
Others will be unfamiliar to visitors: Antonio Cánovas, José Compte, Enrique Palazuelo, Luis
Acosta Moro, Salvador Costa, and the collective work of the Educational Missions.
With this project AC/E is contributing to the process of reading and interpreting our history
through photography. These groups of photographs show the particular way in which our
photographers have observed and recorded, interpreted and reinterpreted, remembered and
recalled specific moments of a shared reality. Many of the most significant series of photographs
are related to episodes and circumstances of collective significance, such as the Civil War or the
years of transition to democracy.
AC/E expresses its satisfaction with the initiative and thanks the Ministry of Education,
Culture, and Sport and MNCARS for allowing us the opportunity to take part in this exciting
project. We are also grateful to the curator, Horacio Fernández, for this exhibition and its book,
both of which are the product of careful and integrative research.

teresa lizaranzu , president

acción cultural española
 Contents

13 The Photobook: A Boundary Genre in the Museum

17 By Way of Introduction

74 ¡Quién supiera escribir!... [If only I knew how to write! . . .], Antonio Cánovas, 1905
80 Spanische Köpfe [Spanish heads], José Ortiz Echagüe, 1929
86 Patronato de Misiones Pedagógicas [Educational Missions Trust], 1934
92 Madrid, 1937
100 Madrid baluarte de nuestra guerra de independencia [Madrid bulwark of our war of independence], 1937
106 Viento del pueblo [Winds of the people], 1937
112 Valor y miedo [Courage and fear], 1938
116 Forjadores de imperio [Empire builders], Jalón Ángel, 1939
120 Mujeres de la Falange [Women of the Falange], José Compte, 1939
126 Momentos [Moments], Joaquín del Palacio, 1944
130 Rincones del viejo Madrid [Corners of old Madrid], Alfonso, 1951
136 Barcelona, F. Català-Roca, 1954
140 Les fenêtres [The windows], Leopoldo Pomés, 1957
144 Neutral Corner, Ramón Masats, 1962
150 Toreo de salón [Bullfighting practice], Maspons + Ubiña, 1963
156 Los Sanfermines [The San Fermín festivities], Ramón Masats, 1963
164 Izas, rabizas y colipoterras, J. Colom, 1964
170 Viejas historias de Castilla la Vieja [Old stories of Castile the Old], Ramón Masats, 1964
174 Barcelona blanc i negre [Barcelona black and white], Xavier Miserachs, 1964
182 Nuevas escenas matritenses [New scenes of Madrid], Enrique Palazuelo, 1965–1966
190 Costa Brava Show, Xavier Miserachs, 1966
196 Los cachorros [The cubs], Xavier Miserachs, 1967
200 Vivir en Madrid [Living in Madrid], Francisco Ontañón, 1967
206 Cabeza de muñeca [Doll’s head], Luis Acosta Moro, 1968
212 Luces y sombras del flamenco [Lights and shadows of flamenco], Colita, 1975
218 Los últimos días de Franco vistos en TVE [The last days of Franco as seen on TVE] / Los primeros
días del Rey vistos en TVE [The first days of the King as seen on TVE], Fernando Nuño, 1975
226 Pintadas del referendum [Graffiti on the Referendum], Equipo Diorama, 1977 / Pintades Pintadas
[Graffiti], Foto FAD team, 1977
234 Antifémina [Antifemale], Colita, 1977
242 Punk, Salvador Costa, 1977

249 Index of Names

 The Photobook: A Boundary Genre in the Museum

Certain types of materials in museum collections have traditionally been regarded as merely
documentary in the most instrumental sense of the word, according to a hierarchical conception
that placed them on a lower rank with respect to more expressive pieces that enjoyed immediate
access to museum rooms on the basis of strictly formal or technical criteria. The confusing nature
of museums’ acquisition policies–what with monetary value, dimensions, and size on the one hand
and discursive value on the other–relegated publications, objects, graphic materials, documents
on paper, or film footage to this subordinate category with respect to painting and sculpture. The
photobook has thus endured a secondary status in accordance with this traditional view. As a result,
its complex discourses have lain hidden behind its reproducible, expansive, and communicative
nature. The present time calls for studying this important yet almost unknown episode in the history
of Spanish photography, because photography cannot be understood as a discipline without taking
into account this noteworthy format midway between book and photographic series. A survey of
the history of the photobook undoubtedly sheds new light on photography and helps explain many
notions that continue to be held about it.
The research carried out during the past three years and the creation of a collection of Spanish
photobooks at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS) are the starting point
for this exhibition, which continues a line of work the museum embarked on in 1999 on printed
photographs and mass media. Books, magazines, and posters were first exhibited in their own right
in an international context in Fotografía pública: Photography in Print 1919–1939. The publication
laid the foundations for subsequent research on the photobook. Prominent among the studies
published on this subject are The Book of 101 Books (2001), The Photobook: A History (2004, 2006,
2014), Imagining Paradise (2007), Japanese Photobooks (2009), Swiss Photobooks (2011), The Latin
American Photobook (2011), Autopsie (2012) and The Dutch Photobook (2012), among others. A few
recent exhibitions have consolidated the interest and importance of the photobook, such as The
Shaping of New Visions: Photography, Film, Photobook, which opened at the MoMA in 2012 and was
based on a renewed view of the history. In complementary fashion, also in 2012, the Tate Modern
in London held The Photobook & Photography Now, an interdisciplinary seminar that analyzed the
most recent developments and the new boundaries of the photobook in relation to self-publishing
platforms, electronic publications, and the overwhelming popularization of photography as a
phenomenon at the turn of this century. Initiatives such as the increasingly frequent events staged
in this connection (for example the Kassel Photobook Festival, with six editions under its belt, to
which this exhibition will travel in 2015) attest to the vitality of this mixed genre.
In its effort to seek connections between local and global, between grand narratives and local
episodes, MNCARS has undertaken a parallel line of research on the photobook in Spain. This is
the first time this phenomenon has been explored in our country. The task of recovery and acquisition

13
 stemmed from the surprising realization that these illustrated books have not been part of museums’
photography departments in the past. Two strategic lines were thus pursued with respect to the
museum's collections: on the one hand, the development of the document as a key element in displaying
collections; on the other, boosting the presence of photography in each of the successive sections into
which the collection has been arranged. In this respect, the holistic and nonhierarchic concept of the
collection is the driving force behind the move to include them in an exhibition discourse that makes
them available to visitors to the museum and not restricted to specialists.
The photobook shares a place with photography, graphic design, cinema, literature, artists’
books, and publishing within the practice of photography. As a result it is an object of study that
is of great interest to art history and to the museum. It establishes an oblique relationship between
word and image, between the traditional visual arts, design, literature, and cinema. This relationship
poses a fundamental challenge from a museum perspective: a bound book evidently does not lend
itself to having each of the photographs displayed as single objects, and the single element must
thus be subjected to the whole, the anecdote of a single image to the discourse of the series. The
exhibition thus features photobooks open at different pages, magazines and postcards, copies
of photographs included in them, both period and produced for the purpose, and photographs
of whole books that complement the pieces on show and provide an effective substitute for the
reader’s gesture. The exhibition is thus part of the shift away from traditional exhibition models that
MNCARS has been pursuing for some years now and makes each new exhibition an opportunity to
question the very work of the institution.
It should be stressed that the photobook is a hybrid format that allowed photographers access
to audiences. In this respect, the generation of Spanish photographers of the 1960s and 1970s found
an outlet for their production in the publishers’ Palabra e Imagen collection. The books in this series
are now considered classics (such as Izas, rabizas y colipoterras [Izas, rabizas and colipoterras] by
Joan Colom and Camilo José Cela; Toreo de salón [Bullfighting practice] by Oriol Maspons and Julio
Ubiña, also with Cela; Luces y sombras del flamenco [Lights and shadows of flamenco] by Colita and
José Manuel Caballero Bonald; and Neutral Corner by Ramón Masats and Ignacio Aldecoa, to name
a few). The whole Palabra e Imagen collection, which was committed to the photobook format
in Spain from the outset, has thus been acquired for the museum’s holdings. The example set by
Lumen underlines the collaborative nature of this practice, in which photographers, writers, and
designers share collective authorship.
Other cases show how certain authors or trends cannot be fully understood without photobooks.
Such is the case of Antifémina (Antifemale), which brought together Colita and the feminist activist
Maria Aurèlia Capmany. Or Punk, Salvador Costa’s photobook that presented to Spanish readers the
nihilistic attitudes of the punk movement and its new conceptions of public space as early as
14
1977, years before the photographers of the countercultural movement known as the movida
documented the impact of punk in Spain.
In a very different context, the practice of the photobook has handed down to us examples
that delve more deeply or qualify the propagandistic aspect of photography during the Spanish
Civil War. Just as interest in posters, photomontage, or films as active wartime strategies proved
fundamental to studying this period of Spanish history in the past, the photobook is now emerging
as a new element of analysis thanks to unknown materials. For example, Madrid combines the
practice of the photobook with photomontage; Mujeres de la Falange (Women of the Falange)
reveals the role played by women in the propaganda of the Nationalist side; and Forjadores de
imperio (Empire builders) represents the new holders of power through official portraits. The
relationship between photobook and literature is also addressed–especially on the Republican side,
given the ideological commitment of the intellectuals of Spain’s Age of Silver. In this connection
the exhibition features books such as Madrid baluarte de nuestra guerra de independencia
(Madrid bulwark of our war of independence), a photographic chronicle of Madrid under siege,
accompanied by texts by Antonio Machado; Valor y miedo (Courage and fear), written by Arturo
Barea and photographed by Walter Reuter, among others; and Viento del pueblo (Winds of the
people), by Miguel Hernández.
This catalogue marks an initial scientific approach by MNCARS to the development in Spain
of a previously forgotten genre that is now making a comeback. The photobook is witnessing
outstanding development on the contemporary creative scene, fuelled largely by the do-it-yourself
philosophy and easy access to publishing technology, as the exhibition Books that are photographs,
photographs that are books, held at the Library and Documentation center at the museum. The
relationship between photography and literature in fact began at the beginning of the twentieth
century, with Antonio Cánovas’s photobook in the form of tableaux vivants on a poem by Ramón
de Campoamor. This relationship has been constant since then. The dialogue between word
and image and the consideration of each work as an element of a wider narrative–the basis of
photobook practice–are largely a reflection of the twofold function of the museum as an institution
that works with the imaginary we share and, at the same time, as a generator of words—that is, of
knowledge, discourse, and debate.
Manuel Borja-Villel, Rosario Peiró
15

1 authorship is not mentioned–that illustrate La mala vida en Madrid (The bad life in Ma-
2 Pedro Casas Abarca, who published his allegorical works in 1903 in a book entitled Por los
Editors’ s note:
This project involved dealing with huge variations in how proper names, toponyms,
and titles were written. The criterion adopted in this connection was to respect the
original information as published in each book and to unify it as far as possible in
the text and notes we provide. We therefore ask the reader to treat any apparent
discrepancy–whether in a proper name, a title, or a reference–as a mere reflection of
the variety characteristic of the past century in a country that is heterogeneous as it.
By Way of Introduction
Horacio Fernández, Javier Ortiz–Echagüe
1900 —1936
At the beginning of the last century, books of photographs were rare, and their produc-
tion was limited by technical requirements and costs. Although graphic arts workshops
capable of printing photographs existed and a few collections had been printed in
collotype since the last decade of the nineteenth century, photomechanical processes
whereby the cylinders of a rotary press printed both texts and photographic images were
not yet widely used. Such was the situation around 1900.
Nevertheless, books illustrated with a handful of photographs began to be common
in the 1920s. Many of the reproductions were poor, such as the photographs–whose
drid), which are very low resolution and lacking in detail.1 Even so, despite these flaws,
the images conveyed a veracity that other types of illustrations could not achieve–a true-
ness to life that was necessary in the documentary research of Constancio Bernaldo de
Quirós and José María Llamas.
La mala vida en Madrid is a sociological survey of criminals from Madrid’s slum dis-
tricts and is similar in methodology to the criminal studies conducted by anthropologist
and physiognomist Cesare Lombroso (who, incidentally, wrote the foreword to the Ger-
man translation of La mala vida in 1908). Beginning with L’uomo delinquente (translated
into English as Criminal Man), a book published in 1876, Lombroso used photographs
to identify criminals based on characteristic traits, such as certain details of the shape
of the skull or a narrow or slightly sunken forehead. Similarly, La mala vida en Madrid 1
features numerous full-face portraits in the manner of mug shots, which illustrate certain
deviations or crimes and are explained in detail in the text. The supposed criminals are
(1) La mala vida en Madrid. Estudio psico-
not portrayed as particular individuals but as examples of “types” who represent a devia-
sociológico con dibujos y fotograbados del
tion or marginal behavior. In order to hint at the environments–which are too blurred natural (The bad life in Madrid: Psycho-socio-
and dark to be captured by the imperfect cameras of the day–La mala vida en Madrid logical study with drawings and photogravures
includes three drawings by Ricardo Baroja that recreate the agitated atmosphere of the from life). Text, C. Bernaldo de Quirós and J.
taverns, brothels, and “municipal shelter for tramps.” But the scientific aims of the soci- Mª. Llamas Aguilaniedo. Madrid: B. Rodríguez
Sierra, editor, 1901. 180 × 120 mm, 366 pages,
ologists of the day called for reliable and less subjective pictures–laboratory images that
42 photographs, 6 illustrations, 3 drawings by
were accurate, mechanical, and frozen, even if they were not very clear. Nonetheless, Ricardo Baroja. Paperback, illustrated cover.
the limitations of the time did not prevent painters such as José Gutiérrez Solana from (2) José Luis Barrio-Garay, José Gutiérrez Solana
taking an interest in them. Solana used this documentation as a source for paintings such Paintings and Drawings (Lewisburg and London:
as Los caídos (The fallen; 1912), a title that comes partly from La mala vida en Madrid University Presses, 1976), 69, illus. 67–71, 97.
(3) Por los Pirineos. Impresiones de un viaje
and partly from writer Pío Baroja’s first book, Vidas sombrías (Dark lives), which was
(Through the Pyrenees: Impressions of a
published in 1900.2 journey). Photography, P. Casas Abarca. Text,
Around this time some painters were also photographers–artists who liked to think of José Puigdollers y Maciá. Barcelona: Revista
themselves as modern and who from time to time showed their work in exhibitions that Comercial Ibero-Americana Mercurio, April
attracted few visitors. The wish to make their work available to a wider audience than the 1903. 270 × 190 mm, 138 pages + 11 plates
outside text, 64 photographs. Paperback,
regular salon-goers led them to publishing. An example is the painter and photographer
illustrated cover.
Pirineos (Through the Pyrenees).3 This work has the appearance of a conventional travel
book and provides a detailed account of an excursion made the previous summer. Each
day’s route is described in detail and shown beside photographs that attest to the places
visited. A salient feature is the full-page photographs of a few women dressed elegantly–
though somewhat implausibly for twentieth-century travels–as goddesses or nymphs. The
women have happened upon the travelers, who confess that they are predisposed “to any
poetic or suggestive impression.” These pictures are located outside the text block, except
where a particular page provides a fresh opportunity to show off Casas Abarca’s work. For
example, the anecdote of another chance meeting–this time with an elderly man who tells
an old story–allows the painter-photographer to include a whole series of photographs and
paintings. The book is a poetic narrative comprising scenes played by actors costumed
in cloaks and long skirts–that is, they are tableaux vivants.
2
17

Although it is presented as a travel book, Por los Pirineos is a combination of litera-
ture, photographic testimony, and what Casas Abarca calls “artistic photography”–a novel
recipe that departed from the common types of art photography and enjoyed a certain
amount of success.4 Years later Casas Abarca brought out a second travel book, but he
did not repeat the same formula: this time he focused on monuments and landscapes,
reserving medieval fantasy for his official paintings.5
Tableaux vivants were common practice at fancy-dress parties of the period, espe-
cially those at grand aristocratic dwellings.6 One family, the Iturbes, held an annual party
at their stately home in Madrid. The highlight was the re-creation of classical paintings
by the guests, transformed into amateur actors who adopted hieratic poses for the oc-
casion. The art and stage directors of these theatrical performances were the renowned
history painters José Moreno Carbonero and Emilio Sala. Photographers Christian
Franzen and Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, who belonged to the same social class as the
hosts, were invited to these elegant events and recorded them with their cameras, par-
ticularly the carefully staged tableaux vivants that brought the parties to a close.
In 1904 the Iturbes used this material to publish a luxurious book in large format,
3 Tres fiestas artísticas (Three artistic parties).7 The volume includes a text that describes
the living pictures and notes the names (especially the surnames) of the participants. A
few scenes are printed in small format, such as portraits by Diego Velázquez and Fran-
cisco de Goya played by a lady or gentleman attired in what is supposed to be period
costume. The plates of the most important “pictures” recreated at the parties are outside
the text. The photographs are printed on large paper using photogravure (sometimes
called “heliogravure”), a process that produced high-quality photomechanical prints but
was costly and rare at the time. Indeed, the plates of Tres fiestas artísticas were printed
not in Spain but in Paris, on the heliographic presses of the Dujardin firm, whereas the
text and illustrations were produced at a Madrid printing house.
Franzen and Cánovas were the portraitists of Madrid’s high society, but they also
aspired to be artistic photographers–or photographic artists. Although at the beginning
of the century so-called art photography was being spread through exclusive clubs
and minority magazines, specific publications started to be as or more important than
exhibitions. But luxury books such as Tres fiestas artísticas or, to a lesser extent, Por
los Pirineos were not the only alternative. Another technology allowed large runs to be
printed for affordable prices and with more than sufficient picture quality: postcards.
They were the best bet for photographers who worked on series and aimed for a large
circulation. These years were the heyday of postcards, pieces of card measuring nine by
fourteen centimeters (the format established by the International Postal Union); one side
18
3 escribir! . . . (If only I knew how to write! . . .), which was published as twenty postcards
(4) “Back then we published a book with José
Puigdollers, Por los Pirineos, whose illustra-
tions based on artistic photography were
also a success with the press, for which I was
grateful.” Pedro Casas Abarca, quoted in Julio
Gay, P. Casas Abarca (Barcelona: Tipografía
Académica, 1946), 66.
(5) Pedro Casas Abarca, Por España y Portugal:
Impresiones de un viaje en automóvil (Barcelona:
Tipografía Académica, 1915). This book sold out
immediately and had a certain resonance in the
Portuguese press, according to Casas Abarca.
See Gay, P. Casas Abarca, 73.
(6) See Ángeles Ezama, “Arte y literatura en
los salones femeninos del siglo xix: El salón
de Trinidad Scholtz: La moda de los cuadros
vivos,” in La literatura española del siglo xix y
las artes (Barcelona: PPU, 2008), 111–27.
(7) Tres fiestas artísticas. Cuadros vivos. Zambra
en el Alcázar de la reina de Saba. Historia
de la antigua danza en España (Three artistic
parties: Living pictures: Zambra at the fortress
of the queen of Sheba: History of early dance
in Spain). Photography, Franzen and Antonio
Cánovas. Text, Marqués de Valdeiglesias
(Mascarilla). Madrid: private edition, 1904.
475 x 350 mm. 96 pages + 14 plates, 73 photo-
graphs, 15 (12 Franzen, 3 Cánovas) printed by
photogravure by Dujardin, Paris. Paperback.
(8) Hauser y Menet’s advertisement in España
Cartófila, December 1902.
(9) Part of the series was published as “frag-
ments of a dolora of Campoamor, illustrated
by photography” in La fotografía 24 (Septem-
ber 1903): 374–79.
(10) ¡Quién supiera escribir! . . . Photography,
Antonio Cánovas (Madrid: Hauser y Menet,
1903); 20 numbered postcards printed in
collotype, 90 x 140 mm.
By Way of Introduction 1900–1936
featured a photograph printed in collotype, and the other side was for writing. In 1902
the leading firm of specialist printers in Madrid, Hauser y Menet, claimed to produce half
a million postcards monthly.8
Cánovas used this medium to disseminate an endless assortment of series that en-
joyed great commercial success. They included collections of folk types, portraits of ac-
tresses, landscapes, landmark streets and buildings, summers at health spas, and family
and courting scenes. In particular, his postcards of boys and girls, often scantily dressed
and enacting situations unsuitable for their age, must have been in great demand judging
by the number that have survived. A few postcards show less artistic scenes, such as the
Civil Guard “frisking a suspect” or a nearsighted “socialist” with a long beard. Some of
Cánovas’s most successful series were the adaptations of Ramón de Campoamor’s poems
known as “doloras,” such as the series of ten postcards entitled Todo es uno y lo mismo 4
(All is one and the same), a love story that gets off to a bad start and ends as it should
even though the action takes place in a cemetery.9
4 Cánovas’s most famous series based on Campoamor’s doloras was ¡Quién supiera
in 1903 and then republished with seventeen photographs two years later in a photobook (11) Antonio Cánovas, ¡Quién supiera escribir! . . .
with an extremely limited edition (for further comment and detailed illustration, see pages (Paris: n. pub., 1905), 9.
74–79).10 Cánovas had a flair for business. He catered to all kinds of customers and was (12) El Álbum de la Guerra de Melilla (Album
a democratic photographer who took pride in his sales. “The reception the Spanish and of the Melilla War). Photography, Alfonso y
Enrique. Madrid: Tipografía El Liberal, [1909].
South American public” gave the popular edition was truly outstanding, as he sold “the
10 installments, each 200 x 280 mm, 25 pho-
fabulous figure of one hundred and eighty thousand collections of postcards.”11 tographs. Paperback, cover illustrated with a
Another way of publishing series of photographs was in installments in the form of photograph.
booklets. For example, in 1909 the newspaper El liberal published a collection of install- (13) Estudio histórico del Cuerpo de Ingenieros
5 ments entitled El Álbum de la Guerra de Melilla (Album of the Melilla War).12 Its topical del ejército, 2 vols. (Madrid: Sucesores de
Rivadeneyra, 1911).
subject was the continuous colonial wars in northern Africa, captured in photographs taken
(14) El Rif. Photography, José Ortiz Echagüe
by the press photographer Alfonso Sánchez García, who had been posted to Morocco as (Madrid: Hauser y Menet, ca. 1912); two series
special war correspondent. His photographs appeared in magazines, but El liberal decided of 20 postcards each, 90 x 140 mm.
to compile them in a series of installments, the only text being some captions. The complete
Álbum is a collection of ten booklets, each with twenty-five illustrations. The purpose of
undertaking the project was “to condense in an album that can be bound the visual history
of our glorious feats of arms in the Melilla campaign.”
Nevertheless, El Álbum de la Guerra de Melilla contains few action photographs, instead
focusing on camps, meals, soldiers’ leisure time, the handling of hot-air balloons, troops in
formation, a few illustrious visitors, officers wounded in combat, and, on rare occasions, a
unit poised to attack an invisible enemy. A favorite subject is the serving girls in the mess,
who feature in many of the pictures. One appears on the cover of the fifth installment with
an army hat, water bottle, and glass and wearing a huge grin that strikes the reader as not
very military given the circumstances. The effects of the battle are seen only in the demol-
ished walls and the occasional corpse, already shrouded. Alfonso’s Álbum is an anthology
of war photographs presented in a news-like format that aims to transcend the necessarily
short-lived nature of journalism; it is one of the first attempts to sum up a war in photo-
graphic publications, something that became common during the First World War.
José Ortiz Echagüe also went to Morocco in 1909 dressed in his engineers corps of-
5
ficer’s uniform. He was a soldier and amateur photographer whose pictures had been
published in artistic photography magazines such as Graphos ilustrado and La fotografía.
This pastime led him to be posted to the aerostatic unit, where he was in charge of the
aerial photography service. He published a series of postcards on his military activi-
ties at the Academy of Guadalajara showing the activities of the dirigible España. The
photographs were also reproduced in Estudio histórico del Cuerpo de Ingenieros (Histori-
cal study of the engineers corps), a luxurious book brought out to celebrate the acad-
emy’s first centenary.13 But Ortiz Echagüe did not work on commission only. In Morocco
he photographed landscapes, cities, and, above all, people from the places he passed
6
through. These photographs were published in two series of twenty postcards on the
6 human types of the Rif, a mountainous region in northern Morocco.14
19
 By Way of Introduction 1900–1936

The selected photographs show bazaars bustling with people, Moorish militiamen, and the photographs are neither dressed as the book characters nor enact their adventures
local trades. A few titles refer to anecdotes of war (indicating that they are undoubtedly (unlike in the tableaux vivants of Don Quixote in Tres fiestas artísticas or in the series of
topical pictures aimed at an audience that was becoming accustomed to seeing photo- photographs of theatrical performances taken by the photographer Luis de Ocharán).22
graphs in the press). But postcards continued to be the most effective means of achieving What Asenjo shows is much simpler: people he came across in the streets of villages in
a wide circulation.15 The postcards of the Rif are the first publicly presented examples of La Mancha. The villagers are presented in his reportage as reincarnations of the charac-
the particular style of ethnographic reportage that Ortiz Echagüe would employ in his Ti- ters created by Cervantes: “el don Quijote y Sancho Panza de hoy” (Today’s Don Quix-
pos y trajes series (published in English as Spain: Types and Costumes), the first edition of ote and Sancho Panza) or “Teresa Panza en 1905” (Teresa Panza in 1905), the captions
which came out in Berlin in 1929 with the title Spanische Köpfe.16 (This important photo- state. Asenjo and Azorín traveled around the villages and spoke to the locals, and this
book is examined on pages 80–85.) experience led Azorín to interpret Don Quixote as an immortal type who “represented
By 1912 Ortiz Echagüe was working on photographic series, but the time had not yet an entire people”: a personal version of a fictional character with empirical references–
come for photobooks. That year Antonio Prast showed his work at the Royal Photographic that is, the real people photographed by Asenjo.
Society in Madrid. An article described him as “a very spirited and exquisitely cultured In 1920 José María Álvarez de Toledo, Count of La Ventosa, brought out a book of
young man with a highly refined taste and outstanding artistic intentions.”17 The exhibition his photographs of Spain for a very precise reason: “to make a pleasing combination
was praised but, as always, it did not last long and had few visitors. Prast proposed com- of photography, collotype and heliogravure and, above all, to spread knowledge of
piling his work in a publication that would serve as a catalogue–a genre (generally unap- 9 the latter a little in Spain.”23 A few of the pictures in Por España: Impresiones gráficas
pealing) that would enjoy a long life in the future history of Spanish photography. The (Around Spain: Graphic impressions) were printed on photographic paper and glued to
7 result was the album entitled Fotografía artística (Artistic photography), which consisted the pages, and the rest were reproduced using mechanical means: photogravure and col-
9
of twenty-five photographs printed in collotype and pasted to the pages.18 lotype. This display of technical prowess illustrates the different ways of presenting the
As in painting exhibitions, the photographs were listed in the catalogue of the Prast same photograph. Por España is a travel book–perhaps somewhat touristy–that features
exhibition as individual works that exemplified the various genres addressed by the landscapes, architectures, and people of rural Spain accompanied by brief texts by the
photographer: posed portraits of supposed folk types, bucolic landscapes, and tableaux author. Years later Álvarez de Toledo criticized the poor selection of pictures, referring
8
vivants compositions of people in costume. Cánovas wrote a review of the book, stating to them as “a veritable pout-pourri of photographs of varied quality and conception.”24
(22) Ten photographs from the series were
that although “the printing is very luxurious and must have cost him a fortune,” Foto- Although a more rigorous selection would have afforded the book the unity it lacks, the published in Graphos ilustrado 16 (April 1907).
grafía artística is “a typographic failure.” He also pointed out that it was full of “very Count of La Ventosa should be credited for his quality reproductions and, above all, for (23) Por España. Impresiones gráficas (Spain:
beautiful motifs that are interesting and exciting.”19 The publication of catalogues of (15) Professional photographers complained his generosity in presenting his work with total freedom, dispensing with exhibitions Graphic impressions). Photography, Conde de
photography exhibitions was uncommon during this period, and the album deserved the that the spread of postcards was jeopard- and commissions. la Ventosa. Madrid: self-published, 1920.
izing studios’ business: “Who is going to buy 350 x 250 mm, 76 pages + 20 plates, 74 photo-
review for this fact alone. Fotografía artística is thus an early attempt to preserve and Photographers such as Álvarez de Toledo and Casas Abarca published books that
the magnificent Museum reproductions from graphs, 21 by photogravure. Paperback, cover il-
disseminate–that is, to publish–works shown in an exhibition. featured photographs of their travels. Around the same time, illustrated guidebooks of lustrated with photograph. 300 numbered copies.
Laurent’s successors when you can find all
Photographs were not used by photographers only. Once published, they could be the Museum’s paintings on street stalls, at a historical monuments were already being sold as mementoes of visits. For example, the (24) Conde de la Ventosa (José María Álvarez
used for many purposes. An example is the second lease on life given to a series of perra gorda a picture?” Antonio Cánovas, “Las photographer Ksado published one on Santiago de Compostela in 1928.25 This practice de Toledo), “Cómo veo y ejecuto la Foto-
photographs in a book written by Azorín (José Martínez Ruiz). In 1905 the writer pub- tarjetas postales y la fotografía,” La fotografía became institutionalized that year with the establishment of the National Tourist Board, grafía,” in Galería: Revista internacional
79 (April 1908): 194. de fotografía artística 1 (15 January 1936).
8 lished La ruta de don Quijote, a chronicle of travels around some of the places where which published its first guides on Toledo and Seville. They are filled with pictures of
(16) José Ortiz Echagüe, Spanische Köpfe: (25) Ksado [Luis Casado], Estampas composte-
Miguel de Cervantes’s novel is set. Seven years later he brought out the chronicle in an monuments and landscapes but feature few people.26 The board entrusted many pho- lanas (Madrid: Gráficas Villaroca, [1928]);
Bilder aus Kastilien, Aragonien und Andalusien
edition illustrated with a series of photographs taken in the same places he had vis- (Berlin, Vienna, and Zurich: Verlag Ernst tographers with extending the genre in a host of books, leaflets, guides, and posters 270 x 190 mm, 54 pages + 56 plates with pho-
ited years earlier while preparing the book.20 The pictures were by Manuel Asenjo, an Wasmuth, Atlantis-Bücher, 1929). throughout the following decades. tographs, paperback.
“editor-photographer” of the Blanco y Negro magazine and the ABC daily who had ex- (17) Antonio Cánovas, “Crónica: Antonio Experiments are not common in Spanish books produced during the age of “new (26) Sevilla (Madrid: Patronato Nacional de Tu-
Prast,” La fotografía 134 (November 1912): 322. rismo, [1928]); 260 x 190 mm, xii pages + 230
plored the places featured in Don Quixote with his camera to mark the novel’s centenary 10 photography.” An exception is Las poesías del duque de Rivas (The poetry of the Duke
Prast was a versatile photographer who later plates with 230 photographs printed in pho-
in 1905 and later published the results of his excursion in a magazine.21 The people in of Rivas).27 According to its publishers–a group of bibliophiles called the Agrupación togravure; cloth. Toledo (Madrid: Patronato
illustrated books on sports and mountaineer-
ing. See José F. Zabala, Deportes de nieve Nacional de Turismo, [1928]); 260 x 190 mm,
(Madrid: Imp. de José F. Zabala, 1913); and La xiv pages + 200 plates with 200 photographs
Sierra de Gredos (Madrid: Patronato Nacional printed in photogravure; cloth, dust jacket.
10 (27) Las poesías de don Ángel de Saavedra el
de Turismo, 1928). Prast provided photograph-
ic illustrations for the former and art direction duque de Rivas nueva edición en facsímil de
for the latter. la de Cádiz 1814 (The poetry of Don Ángel de
(18) Fotografía artística (Artistic photogra- Saavedra Duke of Rivas new facsimile edition
phy). Photography and text, Antonio Prast. of that of Cadiz 1814). Photomontage, Adelia
Madrid: self-published, 1912. 280 x 215 mm, de Acevedo. Foreword, Narciso José de Liñán
[26] sheets, 25 photographs in collotype, past- y Heredia. Madrid, Paris, Buenos Aires: ALA
ed and protected with glassine. Paperback. (Agrupación de Amigos del Libro de Arte),
(19) Cánovas, “Crónica,” 322. December 1930. “Ornamented with four
(20) La ruta de don Quijote. Edición ilustrada mesas-revueltas on neoclassical and romantic
(The Don Quixote route: Illustrated edition). motifs by Adelia de Acevedo.” 290 x 230
Text, Azorín. Madrid: Revista de Archivos, mm, [78] pages + 4 plates outside the text, 4
1912. 187 x 123 mm, 206 pages + 33 plates photographic collages. Printed at Imprimerie
outside the text, 33 photographs. Paperback. Coulouma, Argenteuil, on Lafuma pure white
(21) “La tierra de don Quijote,” Blanco y Negro linen paper. Illustrated paperback, glassine
7 731 (6 May 1905). dust jacket, case. 300 numbered copies.

de Amigos del Libro de Arte (Group of friends of the art book; ALA) and headed by
Eugenio d’Ors–the book is its contribution to the centenary of romanticism. Las poesías
is a facsimile edition of a collection of poems of 1814, but with a particular feature: its
illustrations. Adelia de Acevedo–who founded ALA with d’Ors–“ornaments” the book
with “four assortments [mesa-revueltas] of neoclassical and romantic motifs”–four col-
lages made from cuttings that illustrate the changes of the nineteenth century: the taste
for neoclassicism; “historical romanticism,” full of medieval images; Wagnerian “bour-
geois romanticism”; and the industrial revolution, which is called the “hour of the Eiffel
tower.” Each is made up of plates that–according to Acevedo–illustrate the democratiza-
tion of images: from the woodcuts of the first plate to the “democratic lithographs” to
“the basest graphic procedures”: modern press cuttings.
Acevedo calls the pictures in the book “mesas revueltas.” In the history of painting,
this term denotes pictures of tabletops covered with a jumbled assortment of objects.
But Acevedo modeled his work on a book published the previous year featuring col-
lages made by Max Ernst from cuttings of nineteenth-century prints.28 However, Acevedo
assures the reader that her intentions are the opposite: her work does not deal with the
“subconscious” but with an ideal of “history of culture” and “lucidity.” Acevedo’s curious
photographic collages in ALA’s tribute to the Duke of Rivas also establish a dialogue
with avant-garde art and the historical past that is difficult to find in the illustrations of
literary books of the time, which tend to show a systematic preference for drawings or,
in the most exclusive editions, engravings.
Covers are a different matter. The boom in book publication in the second half of the
1920s saw an explosion of striking covers, generally by visual artists but also by design-
ers such as Mauricio Amster and Mariano Rawicz, who frequently used photomontage
techniques during those and the following years. Amster worked for publishing houses
such as Ulises, where he designed, among many others, the cover for a book by César
11 Arconada entitled Tres cómicos del cine (Three film comedians), a splendid exercise in
what was then called “typophoto.”29 Although Rawicz sometimes adapted photomon-
tages by John Heartfield (for example Hotel América, a reportage-novel published by
Cenit in 1930), he also made his own photomontages on covers of books published by
12, 13 the same firm, such as Ha nacido un niño, ¡Huelga! (A child is born, strike!) and, above
14 all, Cemento (Cement), an outstanding photomontage in which a photograph by Walter
Reuter of two young German tramps is superimposed on a Soviet industrial landscape
and everything is labeled in Cyrillic type.30
Books with photographic covers were also published at the other end of the political
spectrum. These works were chiefly aimed at denouncing abuses attributed to the advent
of the Republican regime. Throughout the 1930s, José María Carretero, who signed his
books Caballero Audaz (Bold Knight), published a collection entitled Al Servicio del Pueb-
lo (At the service of the people), with a photographic cover and illustrations.31 Working
along the same lines, José María Albiñana began what he called his “revolutionary cycle”
in 1930: a set of books on the political history of Spain following the fall of Miguel Primo
de Rivera’s dictatorship. Albiñana was a physician, defender of the monarchy, and founder
22
11 12 13 14
(28) Max Ernst, La femme 100 têtes (Paris:
Éditions du Carrefour, 1929).
(29) Tres cómicos del cine (Three film comedians).
Text, César Arconada. Madrid: Ulises, 1931.
190 x 130 mm, 288 pages. Paperback, dust jacket
illustrated with photomontage by Mauricio Amster.
(30) Maria Leitner, Hotel América (Madrid: Cenit,
1930); 190 x 130 mm, 296 pages; paperback, cov-
ers and jacket flaps illustrated with a photomon-
tage by John Heartfield. (Adaptation of the dust
jacket of Hotel Amerika: Ein Reportage-Roman
[Berlin: Neuer Deutscher Verlag, 1930]). Ha nacido
un niño (A child is born). Text, Charles Yale Harri-
son. Madrid: Cenit, 1931. 195 x 125 mm, 204 pages.
Paperback, cover illustrated with photomontage
by Mariano Rawicz. ¡Huelga! (Strike!). Text, Mary
H. Vorse. Madrid: Cenit, 1932. 195 x 125 mm, 288
pages. Paperback, cover illustrated with photo-
montage by Mariano Rawicz. Cemento (Cement).
Text, Fedor Gladkov. Madrid: Cenit, 1933.
195 x 125 mm, 344 pages. Paperback, cover illus-
trated with photomontage by Mariano Rawicz.
(31) The series begins with Lo que no quiere ser Es-
paña (opiniones de un hombre de la calle) (Madrid:
Ediciones Caballero Audaz, 1932); it ends with
¡Viva la revolución! (los malhechores de la política)
(Madrid: Ediciones Caballero Audaz, 1934). The
most interesting is «Recordatorio Gráfico», La
Revolución y sus cómplices, Madrid: E.C.A, 1936.
(32) Doctor Albiñana, Prisionero de la República
(Madrid: Talleres Tipográficos el Financiero, 1931).
On Albiñana, see Julio Gil Pecharromán, “Sobre
España inmortal, sólo Dios”: José María Albiñana
y el Partido Nacionalista Español (1930–1937)
(Madrid: UNED, 2000).
15
By Way of Introduction 1900–1936
of the Spanish Nationalist Party. Incarcerated following the controversial opening of the (33) España bajo la dictadura republicana
Monarchic Circle in May 1930, he remained in prison until December. This experience (crónica de un periodo putrefacto). Text Doctor
Albiñana (Madrid: Imp. El Financiero, 1932).
led him to publish his first book illustrated with photographs, Prisionero de la República
(34) 50 fotos de Salamanca (50 photos of
(Prisoner of the Republic), which includes pictures from his time behind bars.32 Salamanca). Photography, José Suárez.
15 The book with the most visual content in the series is España bajo la dictadura re- Foreword, Miguel de Unamuno. [Salamanca]:
publicana (Spain under the Republican dictatorship), which includes a block of twenty- self-published, [ca. 1932]. 212 x 168 mm, [29]
four photographs that illustrate Albiñana’s vision of recent history.33 The photographs sheets, 50 pasted photographic prints 61x85
mm. Paperback. 120 numbered copies.
show demolished statues, unemployed workers, police charges, the headquarters of the
(35) “Las pajaritas de Unamuno,” Estampa, 3
monarchic daily newspaper confiscated. Sometimes a sequence of pictures is used to un- December 1932.
derline a message, such as when a picture of the government of the “Republic of work- (36) Exposition de photographie de José
ers”–stating that its president is paid 2.5 million pesetas a year–is contrasted with the Suárez (Paris: Salon de l’Office National
Espagnol de Tourisme, May–April 1935).
photograph of the “workers of the Republic,” a group of unemployed people begging
for money in the street. Albiñana states in the prologue that the photograph reproduced
on the cover may be considered “the synthesis of the ‘liberal and democratic regime.’”
The picture shows a group of armed Assault Guards. “It is not a whimsical composition.
It is a genuine photograph that was published by the Spanish press,” Albiñana goes on
the explain, adding, “The Republic, the paternal Republic that toppled the Monarchy
by surprise for its ‘tyrannical’ nature, has ended up in a lucrative situation of privileged
lords of the flock, protected by noisy machine guns and assault guards.”
In the 1930s, books of photographs became widespread, though it is rare to find a
book with photographic prints pasted to its pages in the style of the first nineteenth-
century examples. In 1932 José Suárez footed the costs of publishing a book of this kind
in Salamanca. At the time he was studying law at the city’s university, though his main
interest was photography. He compiled his photographs in an album entitled 50 fotos de
Salamanca (50 photographs of Salamanca), pasting them onto the pages by hand. The
book came out in a limited edition of 120 copies.34 The university’s rector, Miguel de
Unamuno, agreed to write some lines for the foreword. Suárez’s album, the rector states,
is a “portrait of landscapes, country or urban.” The photographs range from city views to
close-ups of architectural details, portraits, and “little birds” (the exercises in paper fold-
ing of which the writer was so fond). This is not a typical album for tourists but, as is
stated in the prologue, “a collection that, more than a guide to foreigners, is a reminder
for those who are from here,” an instrument for “remembering, with the aid of art, that
which constantly greets the eye.”
Despite being a handcrafted album, the book helped Suárez’s career get off to a
good start. The photographs ended up circulating–especially the “little birds,” which
were published in magazines.35 In 1935 almost all the photographs in the series on Sala-
manca were shown at the Spanish national tourist office in Paris, together with Unamu-
no’s foreword.36 The portrait of the rector became famous because it appeared, among
16 other places, in José Bergamín’s El aviso de escarmentados del año que acaba y escar-
16
 1936 —1939

The image of the Spanish Civil War is to be found in photographs: day after day for (1) Visions de guerra i de reraguarda. Història
nearly three years, images of Spain appeared in newspapers, magazines, and newsreels gràfica de la revolució. Sèrie A, Retrospectiva
(Visions of war and rearguard: Graphic history
all over the world and in one other medium–the photobook. What all of these media
of the revolution: Series A, retrospective).
had in common was propaganda. Wherever possible, both the legally elected Republican Barcelona: Forja, 1937. 8 paperback notebooks,
government and the rebels used photographs to tarnish their enemy’s image–a task often 200 x 255 mm. Visions de guerra i de reraguar-
more urgent than that of defending their own image and positions. da. Història gràfica de la revolució. Sèrie B, Ac-
Over time propaganda in photographic publications changed. At the beginning the tualitats (Visions of war and rearguard: Graphic
history of the revolution: Series B, present).
Republican side concentrated on rebel defeats and exaggerated its own wartime political
Barcelona: Forja, 1937–1938. 20 notebooks.
or social achievements. For the other side the priority was to expose in the most brutal (2) España 19 julio 1936 (Spain 19 July 1936).
way possible the atrocities committed by the enemy–a strategy that did little to justify Barcelona: Oficinas de propaganda CNT FAI,
the rebels’ own atrocities. [1936]. Text in Spanish, French, English, Ger-
One course of action by the Republican side took the form of a series of booklets pub- man, and Swedish. 300 x 220 mm, [72] pages,
196 photographs and photomontages. Paper-
17 18 lished by the Catalan government’s Commissariat of Propaganda, entitled Visions de guerra
back, cover illustrated with photomontage.
i de reraguarda (Visions of war and rearguard). The first series, Retrospectiva (Retrospec-
tive) contains (uncredited) photographs by Agustín Centelles, Alfonso, and others from
miento de avisados para el que empieza de 1935 (Warning to those who have learned (37) El aviso de escarmentados del año que the early days of the war in Barcelona and Madrid. Series B, Actualitats (News), features
their lesson and a lesson to those who are warned for the coming year 1935). acaba y escarmiento de avisados para el que
life in the rearguard, which at first was apparently unaffected by the war but became ever
empieza de 1935 (Warning to those who have
The Aviso de escarmentados is an almanac published by Cruz y Raya, a cultural more complicated as the conflict gradually extended toward Catalonia.1
learned their lesson and a lesson to those who
review directed by the Catholic writer and republican José Bergamín.37 He had published are warned for the coming year 1935). Illustra- 19 Much more radical was the photobook España 19 julio 1936 (Spain 19 July 1936) pub-
another almanac one year earlier, but not until the second almanac did he use photog- tions and photographs by several authors, lished by the propaganda offices of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (National Con-
raphy systematically.38 The Aviso is a collection of articles and illustrations linked by the drawings and photomontages by Benjamín federation of Labor; CNT) and Federación Anarquista Ibérica (Iberian Anarchist Federation;
theme of the passage of time and information about the coming year (in the case of the Palencia outside the text. Text, Pablo Neruda,
FAI) a few months after the military uprising in Barcelona had been crushed.2 The CNT/FAI
Juan Larrea, Miguel de Unamuno, Leopoldo
Aviso this information is limited to a calendar of public holidays). The Aviso is illustrated aimed to document the struggle in the streets, the victory of the people, the cruelty of the
Eulogio Palacios, José Antonio Muñoz Rojas,
with numerous nineteenth-century vignettes; photographs of varying provenance, such Ramón Gómez de la Serna, Luys Santa Marina, enemy, wartime events, and, above all, “social reconstruction”—that is, the achievements of
as the portrait of Unamuno; a series of drawings; and, above all, ten photocollages made and Rafael Sánchez Mazas. Edited by José Ber- the anarchist revolution that arose out of the Civil War.
by the painter Benjamín Palencia, which are undoubtedly the photography-based Span- gamín. Madrid: Cruz y Raya, 1934. 300 x 230 Although no credits listing the names of the photographers, designers, and writers
ish works that most closely espouse the surrealist imaginary. mm, 116 + 16 + 16 + 16 + 16 pages in different
responsible for España 19 julio 1936 exist, the artistic and rhetorical value of the photo-
colors. Paperback. 1,000 numbered copies. A
Art critic Manuel Abril published his own anthology of pictures around 1935, this graphs reflects a degree of self-confidence seen less commonly in the confederate post-
facsimile edition was published in 1974.
17 time on childhood.39 Los niños en la pintura y en la fotografía (Children in painting and (38) José Bergamín, El acabóse del año y ers and magazines, where drawings predominate. The introduction to España 19 julio
in photography) begins with baroque paintings and immediately jumps forward to mod- nuevo de 1934 (Madrid: Cruz y Raya, 1933). 1936 states that the photographs are presented from an aesthetic point of view: “They
ern photography–Abril terms it “new photography”–on which he had written an article.40 (39) Los niños en la pintura y en la fotografía are speaking for themselves.” Therefore text–being unnecessary–is minimal to avoid
Abril used the pictures to discuss children’s growth, games, and expressions. Perhaps (Children in painting and in photography). Pho-
detracting from the eloquence of the images.
tography, Hedda Walther, Rúa, L. Moholy-Nagy,
the most interesting feature of the book is the sequence on the gaze, which begins
Misiones Pedagógicas et al. Edición de Manuel
with a photograph by a photographer known only as Hose in which two children stare Abril. Madrid: M. Aguilar editor, [1935]. 215 x 155
straight at the camera–a gesture that Abril regards as the beginning of the ability to pay mm, 112 pages, 47 illustrations. Hardback, cover
“attention”: “the soul is at work. And perhaps even thought.” These German children are illustrated with a photograph.
followed by Hungarian youngsters in a picture by László Moholy-Nagy that is used to (40) Manuel Abril, “La nuevas tendencias del
arte actual en la fotografía,” Orientaciones,
suggest the universality of the phenomenon of the children’s gestures of surprise: their
November 1926, 65–70.
faces are not indicative of nationality; the Hungarians could be Spaniards. This links (41) Patronato de Misiones Pedagógicas:
up with three photographs by the Misiones Pedagógicas (Educational Missions): two of Septiembre de 1931—diciembre de 1933
children listening to a missionary and the third showing the enthralled faces of the boys (Madrid: S. Aguirre impresor, 1934).
and girls “watching the ‘performance.’” “Do any supposedly realistic works offer us the
liveliness, spontaneity, and richness of expressions of these children of Castile listening
to a ‘performance’ by the traveling educators?” The chapter ends with a 1934 report of
the activities of the Educational Missions (for more on the missions, see pages 86–91).41

18

24
By Way of Introduction 1936–1939

19
 The libertarian photobook depicts the Civil War as a “social reconstruction” featuring
collectivization, occupation of land, and socialization of all forms with illustrations redo-
lent of the old books of Christian Franzen and Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, although on
this occasion the image source was not the Museo del Prado but the world of film. Ta-
bleaux vivants depicted supposed military conquests in which the “antifascist women’s
militias” played an important role.
The photomontage on the cover of España 19 Julio 1936 presents a new breed of hero
on a par with, if not superior to, any of the classics, and as well-armed. He is a contem-
porary champion in dungarees who recognizes the red and black flag only and turns his
back on an archaic representation of the people–a woman and child, both of stone–in a
manifesto that, apart from bestowing the monumental character of sculpture on the photo-
graph, disavows the concept of mother country and other such bourgeois dogmas.
20
20 The central government’s brochure 7 de octubre: una nueva era en el campo (7 Oc-
tober: A new era in the countryside) ignores the war altogether. Its aim was to explain 22
and make public the decree that expropriated the lands of farmers who had committed
themselves to the military rebellion.3 The decree was signed by a Communist minister
who entrusted his comrades Mauricio Amster and José Renau, the best graphic design- (3) 7 de octubre: una nueva era en el campo
ers of the time, with the design. Amster and Renau used agency photographs to produce 22 The circulation for the second edition of Cartilla numbered no less than 100,000 (7) Cartilla escolar antifascista (Antifascist
(7 October: A new era in the countryside).
copies, to which must be added the 25,000 of the first edition–and all were sold in the school primer). 2nd ed. Production and pho-
simple yet highly communicative photomontages that always made clear who was good Design, Mauricio Amster and José Renau.
tomontages, Mauricio Amster. Valencia: Minis-
and who evil and that left no doubt as to how the past and present really were. Particu- Madrid: Ministerio de Agricultura, November blink of an eye.7 Amster was rightly proud of the results: “Thanks to it one hundred
terio de Instrucción Pública, October 1937.
1936. 240 x 165 mm, 20 pages, 13 photographs thousand adults learned to read and write without leaving the trenches.”8
larly eye-catching is the Futura typeface design throughout, although in a lesser degree 230 x 160 mm, [50] pages, 21 photomontages.
and photomontages. Paperback, cover illus-
on the cover, which is a dynamic drawing by Renau in the “sickle, raised fist, and ear of Military operations were not halted by ministerial decrees, however, and by late Paperback, illustrated. 100,000 copies.
trated with a drawing by José Renau.
corn” poster style that is perhaps slightly inconsistent with the rest of the brochure. October the rebel army had reached the gates of Madrid. A long offensive ensued during (8) Mauricio Amster, quoted in Patricia Molins,
(4) Christopher Cobb, Los milicianos de la
which the city was evacuated. One of the best Spanish photobooks, Madrid (see the “Un dibujante dedicado al libro,” in Mauricio
Another nonmilitary result of the Civil War was the so-called Defense of Culture, a cultura (Bilbao: UPV, 1995).
Amster tipógrafo, exh. cat. (Valencia: IVAM,
defining characteristic of Republican government policy from the beginning and one (5) Cartilla escolar antifascista (Antifascist monographic entry on pages 92–99) was dedicated to the defense of the capital from
1997), 41–42.
school primer). Photography, José Val del the attacks of an enemy who in the autumn of 1936 did not think twice about dropping
maintained for the duration of the war. The Ministry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts (9) Madrid (Barcelona: Ediciones del Comis-
Omar and José Calandín. Text, Fernando
formed several cultural organizations including the “specialized militias” that, according bombs on civilians.9 sariat de Propaganda de la Generalitat de
Sáinz and Eusebio Cimorra. Design, Mauricio
to a ministry poster attaching equal importance to weapons and words, “fight against Amster. Valencia: Ministerio de Instrucción From this point on, Republican photographic propaganda focused on a series of Catalunya, 1937).
pictures of children killed in the bombing of 30 October. This series was included in (10) Archivo General de la Administración,
fascism by combating ignorance.”4 Pública, April 1937. 230 x 160 mm, [50] pages,
56057–56060. On the Fundación Cesáreo del
21 This was also the aim of the Cartilla escolar antifascista (Antifascist school primer) 21 photomontages. Illustrated paperback. Madrid and numerous posters. The hapless children are usually called the “Children of
Cerro, see Pedro Barruso Barés, Diccionario
25,000 copies. Getafe,” although they may have been from the capital itself. According to the records
edited by the educationalist Fernando Sáinz with photomontages by a designer at the Biográfico del Socialismo español (Madrid:
(6) Cristina Cuevas Wolf, “Activismo en el
ministry in Valencia.5 The Cartilla consists of words and images in a synthesis in which of the Propaganda Office of the Committee for the Defense of Madrid, they were “victims Fundación Pablo Iglesias, 2010).
frente bélico: la cartilla escolar antifascista
the text (in Bodoni with different points and type divided into syllables and split up using of aviation” at the Fundación Cesareo Cerro, an elementary school for the children of (11) Arturo Barea, La forja de un rebelde (Ma-
y la lucha por la alfabetización y la cultura,”
workers at the socialists’ Casa del Pueblo (House of the People) in the capital.10 drid: Debate, 2000), 681–82.
colorful letters) becomes image and the image is read like an open book, irrespective of in Desacuerdos: Sobre arte, políticas y esfera
(12) Que le monde civilisé juge . . . Let the
whether the reader knows how to decipher the sentences used for teaching the letters. pública en el Estado español 6 (2011): 118–27. In his autobiographical novel The Forging of a Rebel, the writer Arturo Barea imagines a
Civilized World Judge . . . (Barcelona: Comis-
The Cartilla is a school reading and writing method, but being also antifascist it was discussion on the use of these photographs, which suddenly appeared with the force of the sariat de Propaganda, October 1936); 180 x
intended for the teaching of historical and political studies.6 The sentences–or rather events behind them and the air of authenticity typical of such images. “From his desk, big 130 mm, 16 loose sheets, 15 photographs. The
slogans–that head each photomontage are never neutral. They follow to the letter an glistening photographs showing rows of dead children stared at me.” The most logical thing Ministry of Propaganda commissioned series
to do was “burn them, and the negatives as well,” out of respect for the children as well as of thirteen photographic prints like those in
apparently unitary (socialist, anarchist, and predominantly communist) form of politi-
the International Institute of Social History,
cal propaganda while seeking to remain within democratic limits, as is suggested in for a number of other reasons, one being that these pictures should never be heard of again.
Amsterdam, IISG BG B9/417.
the opening pages by headings such as “The President of the Republic,” “Obedience to However, they might actually be used against the enemy, although that was dangerous as it (13) Jaume Miravitlles, interview by Fernando
Legitimate Power,” “War of National Independence.” exposed weaknesses in the defense. “We wanted to use them for propaganda, but as things de la Mille, Mi revista 9 (15 February 1937).
The photomontages cover double pages, with one image always superimposed over are now, anybody on whom they were found would be shot on the spot.” Finally, the narra- In another interview a year later, Miravitlles
tor assumes responsibility, stating that he could not allow them to be lost. The whole world multiplied the figure by five: “One demonstra-
another. In the first, the Republic in red on a blue background is represented by a large
tion of propaganda on a massive scale was
statue that is complemented by four photographic cutouts representing the Republic’s had to see the faces of those murdered children.11
the 50,000 collections of photographs of the
social foundations: soldier, worker, peasant, and intellectual. In this way, the new notion While writing his novel in exile, Barea was able to recall the events well, because in children gunned down in Madrid by the fascist
of monumentality (comparable to the overrated, old-fashioned statue) was conferred the autumn of 1936 he had been working at the Ministry of Propaganda, which ordered planes.” Juan M. Soler, “La comisaría de
upon the photograph–a novelty already seen on the cover of España 19 julio 1936. sets of photographs of the children to be printed, as did the Commissariat of Propaganda propaganda de la Generalidad,” Mi revista
of the Generalitat of Catalonia.12 According to the director, Jaume Miravitlles, “One of 40 (1 August 1938).
On the page entitled “Luchamos por la cultura” (Fighting for culture) a trench full
of armed soldiers is superimposed on a number of elementary school desks in two our photographers was in Madrid and had the bright idea of taking photographs of the
shots that bring vanguard and rearguard together as one. In the second edition, Amster children who had died in the air raids. We saw the effectiveness of the dissemination of
changed the photomontages and a large number of the photographs and made some that final proof of fascist barbarity right away. I said to my colleagues: ‘We need to have
messages clearer. For example, the section titled “Mundo único” (One world), which had 10,000 collections of these photos in forty-eight hours.’ We set five presses rolling. We
originally featured an arm with a hand pointing to the “correct” path on a background of got what we wanted. We’d needed stunning, overwhelming propaganda of such incrimi-
photographs of infantry, depicts in the second edition the various weapons used by the nating documents on a massive scale.”13
21
army with the same hand pointing to the center of a military kaleidoscope.
28 29
 By Way of Introduction 1936–1939

The aim was achieved, and the photographs reached a large number of people, includ-
ing the anarchist leader Emma Goldman, whose archive contains a set of twelve such
pictures.14 After seeing the photographs, Virginia Woolf wrote about the war and the role
of women. “Here then on the table before us are photographs. The Spanish Government
sends them with patient pertinacity about twice a week. They are not pleasant photo-
graphs to look upon. They are photographs of dead bodies for the most part. This morn-
ing’s collection contains the photograph of what might be a man’s body, or a woman’s; it
is so mutilated that it might, on the other hand, be the body of a pig. But those certainly
are dead children.”15 Woolf was deeply moved but concluded that photographs of corpses
do not succeed in winning sympathy for those who use them: such propaganda can serve
only to teach people to hate war and proves the inherent immorality of all conflicts.16
Although the Madrid offensive had been halted and most of the population evacuated,
the city was still surrounded, and the bombing continued. Residents experienced short-
ages for the rest of the war. Posters and leaflets with dramatic photographs and words
of praise for the Republican cause sought support both at home and abroad. The words
“¡Madrid con niños asesinados, monumentos arrasados, tesoros de arte ardiendo!” (Ma-
drid with murdered children, razed monuments, art treasures on fire!) filled almost all the
space in a booklet with montages of hurriedly placed overlapping photos published by the
Committee for the Defense of Madrid and entitled Des phrases non! Des faits! (Actions! Not
words!).17 The designers at the Ministry of Propaganda were better organized in the case
23 of Ayuda a Madrid (Aid for Madrid), another double-page booklet featuring a living room
without walls, a roof on fire, and a large man weeping impotently.18 Both show corpses
and include a photograph (used in other publications) of a German-made fire-bomb.
Tribute was paid to those suffering in the capital in the photobook Madrid baluarte
de nuestra guerra de independencia (Madrid bulwark of our war of independence).19
The texts were written by the poet Antonio Machado, and the layout was almost certain-
ly designed by Amster. This publication gave rise to a series of literary books with char-
acteristic photographs (see separate analysis on pages 100–105). One of these is Viento
del pueblo: Poesía en la guerra (Winds of the people: Poetry of the Spanish Civil War) by
Miguel Hernández, published by a refugee aid organization called “Socorro Rojo”, whose
staff included Tina Modotti, a former photographer who has been credited with some of
the images in the book (see pages 106–111).20 In 1938, Valor y miedo (Courage and fear),
a collection of stories with photographs by Walter Reuter was published.21 The stories
were written by Arturo Barea in the manner of newspaper reports, a style that aspired
to literary status in a number of other books published by Nuestro Pueblo that also con-
tained excellent typographic work by Amster (see pages 112–115).22
At that time, in the throes of the war, Republican propaganda focused not just on
refugees and the cruelty of the enemy but also denounced the enemy’s international
allies, describing them as a threat to all democratic countries.
23 24 25
(14) International Institute of Social History,
IISG BG A34/499–510.
(15) Virginia Woolf, Three Guineas (1938; Lon-
don: Harvest Books, 1963), 10–11.
(16) For more, see Susan Sontag, Regarding the
Pain of Others (New York: Picador, 2003), 3–7.
(17) Des phrases non! Des faits! (Madrid: Junta
de Defensa de Madrid, Delegación de Prensa
y Propaganda, 1937); 220 x 150 mm, [20] pages
including covers, 20 photomontages; paper-
back, covers illustrated with photographs. Fully
reproduced in Michel Lefebvre Peña, Guerra
gráfica (Barcelona: Lunwerg, 2013), 170–71.
(18) Ayuda a Madrid (Aid for Madrid). [Valen-
cia]: Ministerio de Propaganda, 1937. 230 x 160
mm, [16] pages, 18 photographs. Paperback,
covers illustrated with photographs. Para ayudar
a los frentes. Ningún hogar sin evacuados (To
help the fronts: No household without evacu-
ees). [Valencia]: Ministerio de Propaganda, 1937.
190 x 130 mm, [16] pages, 18 photographs. Cover
illustrated with photomontage.
(19) Antonio Machado, Madrid baluarte de
nuestra guerra de independencia, 7.xi.1936–7.
xi.1937 ([Valencia]: Servicio Español de Infor-
mación, ca. November 1937).
(20) Miguel Hernández, Viento del pueblo: Po-
26
esía en la guerra (Valencia: Ediciones "Socorro
Rojo", September 1937).
(21) Arturo Barea, Valor y miedo (Barcelona:
Publicaciones Antifascistas de Cataluña, 1938).
(22) Madrid. Text, César Falcón. Madrid-
Barcelona: Nuestro Pueblo, 1938. 210 x 150
mm, 301 pages. Paperback, cover illustrated
with photograph. 24 Acero de Madrid (Sword
of Madrid). Text, José Herrera Petere. Madrid:
Nuestro Pueblo, 1938. 220 x 150 mm, 215
pages. Paperback, cover illustrated with pho-
tograph. 25 Contraataque (Counterattack).
Text, Ramón J. Sender. Madrid: Nuestro Pueblo,
1938. 236 x 154 mm, 305 pages. Paperback, cover
illustrated with a photograph by Robert Capa.
27
One of the atrocities associated with foreign intervention was the bombing of Guer-
nica, which was covered in photographic reports, newsreels, and a photobook appar-
ently published by the Basque government.23 The photobook Guernica contains texts
in Basque and English (it was intended for distribution overseas), as well as almost one
hundred photographs of the devastated town, showing rubble, the remains of walls,
burning buildings, and isolated observers looking on in shock at what is left of their
town or gathering the few possessions they have and preparing to flee. The tone is
documentary and reaches a climax at the end when the photobook provides details on
the German pilots who carried out the attack. Some of the pictures included in the book
became well known, particularly the panoramic view of the devastated town featured
in many large-circulation magazines (including Life) and in the photo-mural dedicated
to the bombing at the Pavilion of the Republic at the International Exhibition of 1937,
where a dialogue was established with Pablo Picasso’s Guernica.24
Despite ambitions more modest than Picasso’s picture, this small book proved con- 26
troversial in the context of the Civil War because it directly countered Francisco Franco’s
argument that local people themselves had set the town on fire so that their enemy
would be blamed for the destruction. Guernica’s double-page panoramic view of the (23) Guernica (n.p.: Gobierno de Euskadi, 1937).
(24) “Spanish Propaganda Pictures Appeal
devastated town was even featured in Francoist publications such as Estampas de la
to World to Take Side in Civil War,” Life, 25
guerra to reinforce that argument.25 Franco joked about manipulating photographs of the
October 1937. On the International Exposition,
ruins through the simple technique of changing captions.26 In Guernica, however, wit- see Josefina Alix, Pabellón español: Exposición
nesses confirmed that the air raid was carried out by Franco’s Nazi allies. Internacional de París. 1937, exh. cat. (Madrid:
The effectiveness of the propaganda regarding atrocities on both sides is beyond MNCARS, 1987), 132–34.
(25) Estampas de la guerra: Álbum nº 1: de
doubt. Published in Valladolid in 1937, 500 fotos de la guerra (500 photos of the war)
Irún a Bilbao (Bilbao: Editora Nacional, [1939]).
contains many photographic references to atrocities, its aim being to present “a visual
The same picture appears in Fotos 68 (18 June
recapitulation” of the war containing “the most compelling evidence of red barbarity.” 1938) and Fotos 160 (30 March 1940), although
“In modern journalism, the graphic document is the greatest lever for moving informa- the caption in the latter erroneously states
tion via channels of truth,” Francisco de Cossío wrote in the foreword.27 that the town is Eibar. On the use of these
images, see Javier Ortiz-Echagüe, “‘Esto no
The photobook 500 fotos de la guerra was an anthology of images that presented
es Guernica’: Fotografía y propaganda de la
the war chronologically. The story begins in the early days of the Republic, at a time
destrucción de Gernika en la prensa durante la
of constant strikes, killings, and burning of churches; it then goes on to the outbreak of guerra civil española,” ZER: Revista de Estudios
civil war (illustrated with pictures taken from magazines published by the Republican de Comunicación 15, no. 28 (2010): 151–68.
side, such as those attributed to Agustín Centelles).28 The description continues by name (26) “Una hora con el Generalísimo,” ABC, 18
July 1937, quoted in Joan Fontcuberta, El beso
of city, although in no strict order. Burgos serves to introduce the Caudillo and his col-
de Judas: Fotografía y verdad (Barcelona:
leagues, while Madrid is depicted as a mass of ruins with corpse-strewn streets, although
Gustavo Gili, 1997), 142.
these are not casualties of bombing or military action but of repression by the elected (27) 500 fotos de la guerra (500 photos of
government and its allies. The case with Guernica and its surrounding area is similar, il- the war). Foreword, Francisco de Cossío. Valla-
lustrated with images of buildings gutted by fires caused by the Republicans during their dolid: Castellana, 1937. 230 x 160 mm, 320
flight and not by German planes. Whereas the ruins are supposed to be the result of pages, 500 photographs. Paperback, cover
illustrated with a photograph.
Republican destruction, the Nationalist bombings are shown coldly and from a distance
(28) The picture of the Plaza de Catalunya at-
by means of aerial views displaying the effects of the bombing without showing details
tributed to Centelles appeared in Paris-Soir, 24 July
or casualties.29 1936; La dépêche, 24 July 1936; Regards, 30 July
Other chapters are devoted to a single theme, such as the destruction of religious images 1936; and L’illustration, 1 August 1936. The photo-
or the role of “women at war,” with the militia women described as having been “possessed graph was also published in Visions de guerra i de
reraguarda, Sèrie A 2 (15 May 1937) and in National-
by the basest criminal instincts” and devoid of “all feminine charm.”30 The book ends with a
ist publications such as Fotos 9 (24 April 1937).
“historical picture” of the ruins of the Alcazar at Toledo, reaffirming the claims already made (29) The photographs used in the double page of
in the foreword: over time, “the cities destroyed in the methodical demolition advocated by the bombings are the same as those printed in “El
communism will be rebuilt, but the ruins shall remain forever motionless and devastated, bombardeo del Jaime I,” El gráfico 16 (6 June 1937).
and not in simple descriptions by historians and poets but in explicit images on the pages (30) Some of the pictures of militia women are
of books and magazines and on white cinema screens.” found in confiscated albums. See, for example,
Archivo Histórico Nacional [National Historical Ar-
The macabre surpassed all limits in the anonymous book España roja (Red Spain),
chive], Fondos Contemporáneos, Causa General,
for which no one claimed responsibility.31 The introduction contains a list of the subjects box 1547. The photograph on page 90 of that pho-
discussed: “Killing, sacrilege, rape, torture, fire, hunger, terror: endless fraternal blood- tobook also appeared in “La defensa de Valencia
shed, art treasures destroyed forever, a whole civilization virtually wiped off the face contra la intentona de los rebelled,” Crónica 351 (2
of the earth.” Although a number of the forty-nine “documents of sorrow and blood” August 1936), and subsequently in the nationalist
press: “Raza marxista: ¡Las chiribís!” Fotos 94 (17
reproduced in the book are manipulated photographs and blatant forgeries, others are
December 1938): 11.

31
 By Way of Introduction 1936–1939

genuine images of bodies of women and girls bearing obvious signs rape. Still other A year later (1938), Ramos Oliveira edited another book published by the Spanish
images show “martyred” bodies, instruments of torture, the disinterred corpses of monks 31 embassy in London. Work and War in Spain is a photobook whose somewhat uninform-
and nuns, ruins of churches, and cities “destroyed by the Reds”: a host of possible ative cover with a full-page photograph of ears of corn waving in the wind is a visual
atrocities in a book whose cover reverberates with echoes of the most terrible etchings metaphor. (The image is also featured on the cover of Hernández’s 1937 book Viento
from Francisco de Goya’s Los desastres de la guerra (Disasters of war), particularly plate del pueblo: Poesía en la guerra.) Ramos Oliveira explains in the preface: “In the battle-
thirty, Estragos de la guerra (Ravages of war). fields of to-day they are sowing the freedom of to-morrow.”35 The situation has changed
Other photobooks produced by the Nationalists display a wider variety of subjects, greatly. The militiamen of 1936 are now excellent soldiers in 1938, and the people’s
28 although the theme of corpses is recurrent. Published in Zaragoza in 1937, 5º cuerpo army is now well-uniformed, more highly disciplined, and better equipped, as a series
de ejército (5th army corps) contains parades of military units and their leaders plus an 27 of photographs of parades, formations, and drills attempts to show. This was an army
array of pictures of destructive devices, some belonging to the Nationalists, others seized of men learning to write letters and read newspapers while the women took care of
from the enemy. Also included are photographs of rest periods and of the “camaraderie” everything else (ensuring that farms ran, mines produced, and factories–especially arms
in the trenches and rearguard–plus pictures of a small number of dead children and the factories–operated). Gone are the militia women, as well as the enemy, to whom no
body of a “militiaman found chained to a machine-gun support” (a photograph used on attention is paid. In the last pages of the book, life in the rearguard is shown as peace-
various occasions by Francoist propaganda).32 ful and almost normal: one has only to see the children at the Republic’s schools, which
29 The tragedy of the refugees can be seen in the photographs in the booklet El crimen have reached “even the remotest villages.”
del camino Málaga-Almería (published in English as The Crime on the Road: Malaga- Was the Civil War being played down? Actually it was a case of the war dragging
Almeria), which were probably taken by Amster. Editions were printed in Spanish, on and Juan Negrín’s Republican government wanting to prolong it until the outbreak
French, and English. This “story with graphic documents revealing the cruelty of the of the coming war in Europe. This involved the difficult task of creating a desire for
fascists” was narrated by Dr. Norman Bethune and features photographs taken by Bet- extreme resistance inside Spain and the equally complicated creation of an image of 32
hune’s assistant Hazen Sise during the evacuation of Malaga in February 1937. Following strength abroad. Ideological and moral battles had already been exploited to the full.
a foreword written by the journalist Alardo Prats and illustrated with pictures of Bet- The occasional exhibition of pictures of children’s corpses still took place, like that in (34) La lucha del pueblo español por su liber-
28
hune, his assistants, and the Canadian Blood Transfusion Unit ambulance is an eyewit- the windows of the Spanish tourist office in Paris in February 1938, but this now gave tad. La lutte du peuple espagnol pour sa liberté.
The Spanish People's Fight for Liberty. Antonio
ness account: “Now, what I want to tell you is what I saw myself of this forced march– rise only to complaints. When Felipe García Ascot, the secretary in the Spanish embassy
Ramos Oliveira, ed. London: The Press Depart-
the largest, most terrible evacuation of a city in modern times.”33 in Paris, was called in by the police to make a statement, he praised the photographs ment of the Spanish Embassy, 1937. 305 x 240
Sise’s photographs of the exodus of refugees on the long road to Almeria focus on (31) España roja (Red Spain). [n.p.]: [n.pub.], [ca. as if he had never seen them before: “It is beautiful propaganda, both for the cause of mm, 10 + [128] pages, 192 photographs from
lost children, mothers burdened with heavy loads (one with a baby at her breast just 1937]. 190 x 125 mm, 48 pages, 49 photographs. Republican Spain and of democratic France.”36 Alliance Foto, Keystone Press Agency, Wide
Paperback, cover illustrated with a photograph. World Photos, and Associated Press Photos.
below graffiti on a wall reading “La mujer X” [Woman X]), swollen feet, and gestures of Calls for resistance were among the main factors in a portfolio of photomontages
(32) 5º Cuerpo de ejército. Estampas de la Paperback, cover illustrated with a photograph.
mutual support, but not the numerous casualties of the bombing referred to by Bethune Guerra (5th army corps: Scenes of the war). 32 entitled Declaración de principios del gobierno de la República Española (Declaration
(35) Work and War in Spain. Guerra y trabajo
in his account. A caption by a picture of an elderly woman in a shawl with a little girl Zaragoza: Junta Recaudatoria Civil, 1937. of principles of the government of the Spanish Republic) published in 1938.37 The title de España. Antonio Ramos Oliveira, ed. London:
lying by the side of the road reads, “Exhausted, shattered, almost dead by the unforgiv- 185 x 145 mm, [48] pages, 217 photographs. refers to the “Thirteen Points” proposed by Negrín in April that year. Although the book The Press Department of the Spanish Em-
ing road.” In the picture the cross-like shadow of a post suggests a passion very differ- Paperback, cover illustrated with a photograph. contains no credits, the artist Antonio Ballester worked with the military institution that bassy, 1938. 305 x 240 mm, 8 + [70] pages,
(33) El crimen del camino Málaga-Almería. 124 photographs from Keystone Press Agency,
ent from that seen during Malaga’s Holy Week celebrations. published it, suggesting a possible link.38
Relato con documentos gráficos reveladores Wide World Photos, Associated Press Photos,
Two particularly important photobooks of Republican propaganda abroad were de la crueldad fascista (English edition: The Each plate combines photographs and drawings corresponding to one point in the
Planeta News, and Altavoz del Frente. Paper-
published in London by the journalist Antonio Ramos Oliveira, press attaché at the Span- Crime on the Road: Malaga-Almeria). Photog- declaration, with the text reproduced below. For example, the fourth point, which pro- back, cover illustrated with a photograph.
30 ish embassy. Published in 1937, the first of these, The Spanish People’s Fight for Liberty, raphy, Hazen Sise. Text, Norman Bethune. poses a plebiscite at the end of the Civil War, depicts a statue, a Republican flag, and (36) Hugo García, “La propaganda exterior de la
contains almost 200 agency photographs, some of which–including the cover, which years [Valencia]: Publicaciones Iberia, [1937]. 210 × República durante la Guerra Civil,” Mélanges de
155 mm, [30] pages, 26 photographs. Paper- la Casa de Velázquez 39-1 (2009): 215–40.
later the painter Ronald B. Kitaj would use for one of his own works–are among David
back, cover illustrated with a photograph. (37) Declaración de principios del gobierno
Seymour’s and Robert Capa’s most frequently reproduced material. “In the photographs
de la República Española (Declaration of
collected in this album the noble Spanish people passes before us,” the editor notes in the principles of the government of the Spanish
foreword. “There are pictures, too, of that Spain on which the Spanish people now heaps Republic). Text, B. F. Osorio Tafall and Jesús
its curses. Taken, most of them, at the beginning of the war, all that they reveal bears the Hernández. [Valencia]: Comisariado del Grupo
stamp of truth. We did not even taken the photographs ourselves. Outsiders and neutrals de Ejércitos de la Región Central, [1938].
310 x 230 mm, [2] sheets + [13] plates, 1 photo-
approached the glorious Spanish people and surprised them at their most intimate.”34
graph, 13 montages. Paperback, portfolio with
The book (which begins with portraits by Chim, including one of Federico García flaps, cover illustrated with a photomontage.
Lorca) contains numerous photographs of Republican soldiers and militiamen prepared (38) Two plates contain deleted passages
to win the war at any cost and fight wherever necessary, whether on the various fronts referring to the magazine Comisario, on which
or in the rearguard. The book also features illustrations of subjects that were constantly Ballester worked. Ballester was also respon-
sible for the cover of Comisario 4 (December
being invoked by propaganda, such as the presence of foreign troops, especially Moroc-
1938), which features a sculpture of his that
cans, in Spain. Twenty-four such photographs, many with xenophobic captions, appear also appears on the cover of the Declaración
in the book. Another theme is the relationship with the Catholic Church, viewed here de principios. A poster designer, Ballester
in an unprecedented manner: instead of burned churches, more photographs by Chim was engaged as a sculptor at the Spanish
show militiamen and Basque priests in the perfect harmony of mutual interest. Refugees pavilion at the Paris International Exhibition
of 1937. See Juan Ángel Blasco, La escultura
from Cerro Muriano and people from Vallecas without homes are also featured in photos
valenciana en la Segunda República (Valencia:
by Capa, Hans Namuth, and Georg Reisner, as are the bombed streets of Madrid. No Ajuntament de València, 1988), 136; and Alix,
pictures of casualties or dead children are included, however. Pabellón español, 185.
29
30 31

32
 By Way of Introduction 1936–1939

sheets of paper with the heads of an elderly peasant couple, an intellectual, and two (39) “Los trece puntos en nuestra prensa,”
young workers. This montage appears to be a revised version of the cover of the anar- Comisario 5 (January 1939): 66.
(40) See José Renau, Arte en peligro
chist photobook 19 de julio 1936. The elements (sculpture, flag, heroes) are identical,
1936–1939 (Valencia: Ayuntamiento de Va-
but the text is different. lencia, 1980), 27. Individual images from the
For the seventh point, which is dedicated to private ownership, the shield of the Re- series are featured in Nuevo orden: Revista al
public is covered with drawings and photographs alluding to industry, agriculture, rail- servicio de las fuerzas armadas 6 (July 1938);
ways, and shipping, each forming one quarter. Above this is a crown with a photograph “Josep Renau a dibuixad els tretze punts de
la Victoria,” Meridià 34 (2 July 1938); and
of banks and shops on Madrid’s Gran Vía. Dedicated to agrarian reform, the eighth point
Levante: Revista de orientación e información
features a broken crown with somewhat dark photographs of peasants and civil guards para los comisarios de Levante 1 (January
that contrast with larger photos of contented Republican peasants who have benefited 1939). Some of the images are also reproduced
from the reform. in Revistas y guerra 1936–1939, exh. cat.
How to achieve adequate dissemination of Negrín’s Thirteen Points was a matter of (Madrid: MNCARS, 2007). A print based on a
photomontage by Renau also appears in “Los
some concern. “Experience shows us to what extent massive columns of prose rise up
trece puntos en nuestra prensa,” Comisario 5
like impenetrable walls before the eyes of most readers,” one article of the time says. (January 1939), 66.
The suggested solution was to accompany these “with a light, simple, and short com- (41) Los 13 puntos de Negrín (Negrín’s thirteen
mentary and a drawing summing up the content, undoubtedly one of the best ways to points). [n.p.]: [Falange], [1939]. 210 x 160 mm,
make them easier to understand and to popularize them.” The goal was “to achieve the [14] pages, 11 photomontages. Paperback,
cover illustrated with photomontage.
greatest possible expression so that comments would be virtually unnecessary.”39 This
was the case with the Declaración de principios, which shows only the official text but
with a visual interpretation through photographs and drawings. Other examples, such as 34
Renau’s series of photomontages on the same subject (intended for the 1939 New York
World’s Fair) were featured in magazines but never printed in book form.40
33 The Declaración de principios was countered in the opposite camp with Los 13
puntos de Negrín (Negrín’s 13 points), a booklet published by the Falange denying the Propaganda Service publications, whose photographic section was run by José Compte, (42) Adelante!! España libre (Forward! A free
Republican president’s message with one of their own: “The left and the idolaters of de- suggest the Falangists no longer felt a need to point out the enemy or even to name him Spain). [Bilbao]: Servicio Nacional de Propa-
ganda, [1938]. 250 x 195 mm, [32] pages, in-
mocracy in all countries have been swallowed up”; and “The Marxist regime in red Spain 34 overmuch. According to Adelante!! España libre (Forward! A free Spain), the Republic had
cluding covers, 32 photomontages. Paperback.
has been given up for lost.”41 Los 13 puntos de Negrín was a modest publication consist- been replaced by “Marxist devastation” in response to which “Spain took up arms . . . in order (43) La guerra de España ante el mundo
ing of plates with text in red ink overlapping photographic cutouts. to be free at last.”42 Photographs of soldiers in the foreground and in montages created (Spain’s war before the world). Bilbao: Servicio
In both, the technique is similar: cropped photographs and text, with the latter the mainly by Compte with dynamic compositions typical of contemporary photography Nacional de Propaganda, May 1939. 235 x 170
subject of comment by the Nationalists. To counter Negrín’s point concerning the plebi- occupy the middle pages of the book, which ends, in an inversion of its beginning, with mm, 76 pages, 5 photomontages. Paperback,
cover illustrated with a photomontage.
scite, anonymous Falangist photomontage designers used pictures of bombs of differ- a statement on a complete program of reconstruction for industry, the countryside, com-
(44) El Alcázar (The Alcazar). Design
ent calibers, an armored truck painted with the letters “FAI,” and a group of weeping munications, and so on. (“photomontage”), José Compte. Bilbao:
women. The text is a statement on democracy in the Republican zone: “Ruled by iron, The books published by the National Propaganda Service suddenly became dominated Editora Nacional, April 1939. 250 x 187 mm,
fire, and hunger.” Countering the seventh point, which deals with respect for private 35 by zigzagging photomontages, as in La guerra de España ante el mundo (Spain’s war before [48] pages, 58 photographs. Paperback, covers
ownership, are photographs of burned houses and refugees with the words, “Thieving of 36 the world).43 The design of one of the best examples, El Alcázar (The Alcazar)–a succession illustrated with photographs.

all kinds, from the Bank of Spain to the savings of the humblest worker.” of ruins that Albert Speer would have thoroughly enjoyed–bears the words “Photomontage
The Falangist booklets were published toward the end of the war, by which time the by José Compte.” Compte was also responsible for a series of postcards entitled Mujeres de
government in Burgos had little need to fall back on counterpropaganda. The National la Falange (Women of the Falange) (featured and discussed on pages 120–126).44
33

35 36

The Civil War ended and with it the Republic’s propaganda front, but not that of the vic- (45) Estampas de la guerra (Pictures of the
tors, who proceeded to publish a series of photogravure reports chronicling their successes. war). Text, Federico de Urrutia. Bilbao: Editora
Nacional, Servicio Nacional de Propaganda,
37 Entitled Estampas de la guerra (Pictures of the war), the series took the form of a six-volume
[1939]. Six albums: 1 De Irún a Bilbao, 32 + [64]
collection with hundreds of photographs of a war that apparently was easily won.45 The list pages of photographs. 2 De Bilbao a Oviedo,
of those whose work appeared in Estampas de la guerra is long: Almandoz, Amado, J. L. 48 + [64]. 3 Frente de Aragón, 30 + [64]. 4 De
Amilibia, Archivo Mas, Auzmendi, E. Ayestarán, A. Azqueta, Begoña, J. M. Borrero, Capella, Aragón al mar, 40 + [64]. 5 Frentes de Andalucía
Castañón, CIFRA, J. Claudio, Contreras, M. Cortés, Bobby Deglané, J. M. Dumas, Echaide, I. y Extremadura, 40 + [64]. 6 Toledo-Cataluña-
Madrid, 46 + [64]. 245 x 175 mm, photographs
Echandi, J. Echeverría, C. Elósegui, J. Fernández, Foto-Carte, A. García Gresa, J. M. Goy-
printed at Huecograbado Arte, Bilbao. Paper-
anes, E. Gratner, F. Hernández San Juan, Iraizos, J. M. Irastorza, Jalón Ángel, E. Lataillade, back, covers illustrated with photographs.
Letamendía, E. Maestre, Marín, Marqués de Santa María del Villar, Martínez Gascón, Navajas,
(46) Pablo Neruda, España en el corazón:
Noain, Ojanguren, Padre Ochoa, A. Pagola, Pando Hermanos, Pelespro, A. Pérez Cubero, Himno a las glorias del pueblo en la guerra
Pessini, Rafael, P. Ribera, Roldán, Rolin, Ruiz, V. Salas, Satóstegui, Savignac, J. M. Serrano, (1936–1937) (Santiago, Chile: Ediciones Ercilla,
1938); 270 x 200 mm, 44 + (32) pages, 16
Torres Molina, Urbina, A. Urte, A. Zulueta, J. M. Zuriarrain.
“photographic compositions” by Pedro Olmos;
Even the images of the generals who had risen up against the legally elected government paperback, 2,000 copies. The photomon-
began to change. In 1937 the generals were made to represent total horror, as in the photo-
tage of Franco with the children’s heads was
montage by Pedro Olmos of General Franco’s smiling face surrounded by hunting trophies reproduced in Horacio Fernández, El fotolibro
and the severed heads of children killed in the bombing. The photomontage was taken from latinoamericano (Barcelona: RM, 2011), 56.
(47) Jalón Ángel, Forjadores de imperio
an illustration based on press photographs used in the first edition of Pablo Neruda’s España
([Zaragoza]: [Ediciones Jalón Ángel], [1939]).
en el corazón (Spain in our hearts).46 By 1939 the generals were being portrayed by Jalón See pages 116–119.
Ángel as efficient unarmed bureaucrats who would never hurt a fly. Ángel’s Forjadores de
imperio (Empire builders) series would be printed both in postcard form and on photogra-
vure plates suitable for framing and displaying in the offices of the new regime.47
37
1939 —1959
The war was over. The victors exacted their justice. The vanquished were doomed in
advance. To justify the repression, the new military government published many books
with illustrations that returned to the propaganda of atrocities, the idea being that the
crimes, real or supposed, committed in the Republican area would lend legitimacy to the
new regime.1
38 April 1940 saw the start of the Causa General, an extensive judicial inquiry that
examined “the crimes committed across the national territory during the Red [Republi-
can] rule.” The product of the inquiry was a thick volume titled La dominación roja en
España (Red domination in Spain) showing the results of “a reliable and true informa-
tive process” that proved “the criminal activity of the subversive forces that in 1936
openly made an attempt on the existence and core values of the Homeland,” according
to the explanatory introduction–“Nota explicativa”–at the beginning of the book.2 La
dominación roja en España is a summary of legal documents relating to twelve themes
39
(including “anarchic terror,” the secret police headquarters, religious persecution, “Red
justice”), each of which includes a documentary appendix that constitutes “a minimal
part of the documentation and collections of photographs held in the Archives occupied
by the national Authorities when what was the Marxist zone was freed.” The appendices (1) In the early 1940s, many press articles
illustrated with photographs addressed the
are full of photographs of corpses, identified with names and surnames; churches set on
memory of the war. José Vicente Puente, “Voz
39 fire or destroyed; groups of militiamen who had attacked palaces or churches; torture a las memorias frágiles,” Fotos 190 (19 October
rooms in secret police headquarters in Barcelona . . . Added to this are press clippings 1940); J. M., “Carta a una memoria frágil
and documents that are designed to give the book the sober and authentic appearance sobre un Madrid de pesadilla,” Fotos 213 (29
of a documentary work.3 March 1944); and “La pequeña historia: Pasión
y quema de los conventos madrileños,” Fotos
Other publications from the immediate postwar period perpetuate this memory of the
214 (5 April 1941).
Republic as a period dominated by chaos and crime. Some are modest, such as the leaflet, (2) Causa General, La dominación roja en España.
including documentary photographs, published by Acción contra la III Internacional (Ac- Avance de la información instruída por el Min-
tion against the Third International) about the secret police headquarters in Barcelona.4 isterio público (Causa General, Red domination
in Spain: Advance summary of the informa-
tion gathered by the Public Ministry). Madrid:
Ministerio de Justicia, [1943]. 260 x 180 mm, xii
+ 264 pages + clx plates. Paperback.
(3) The Falangist press commented that this
book was “anxiously” awaited, as it was proof to
“foreign embassies, for once and for all, of those
who were truly to blame for the cruelest civil
war recorded in History.” The episodes of this
book convert “into a tangible and devastating
reality those criminal theories of Lombroso,”
which “had hitherto seemed to us a fanciful
product of the imagination.” Pascual Marín,
“El horror de la España roja: El libro que todos
deben conocer para saber quiénes fueron los
culpables,” Fotos 368 (18 March 1944).
(4) Cómo funcionaban las chekas de Barcelona
(Barcelona: Publicaciones del CIAS, 1939); 190
x 140 mm, 32 pages, plates; paperback. One
of the photographs, which shows the famous
secret police headquarters at Vallmajor, was
used for the cover drawing by R. L. Chacón,
Por qué hice las “chekas” de Barcelona: Lau-
rencic ante el consejo de guerra (Barcelona:
Editorial Solidaridad Nacional, 1939); 220 x 150
mm, 104 pages, 4 photographs; paperback.
38
 By Way of Introduction 1939–1959

40 Historia de la Cruzada española (History of the Spanish crusade) published by Joaquín

Arrarás and Carlos Sáenz de Tejada is more official, even monumental.5 A history of
Spain from the proclamation of the Republic to the end of the war, it is profusely il-
lustrated with photographs that are arranged individually or in series that recall the
sequence of frames in a film. Poster designer, draftsman, and painter Carlos Sáenz de
Tejada is credited as the artistic director of the project, which includes photographs of
highly varied provenance, a few of which were already known at the time; for example,
Jalón Ángel’s portraits in Forjadores de imperio (Empire builders). Where no photo-
graphs were available to illustrate a theme, drawings and watercolors–by Sáenz de
Tejada and other artists–were used to recreate situations in full detail.

41

Historia de la Cruzada española is an ambitious book in large format; it was pub- (5) Historia de la Cruzada española (Madrid:
lished over a four-year period in a total of thirty-six installments, which were designed Ediciones Españolas, 1939–1943). Joaquín
Arrarás, ed., Artistic direction, Carlos Sáenz
to be bound in eight thick volumes. However, aside from official projects like these,
de Tejada. 310 x 250 mm, 36 installments in 8
publications were scarce, especially quality ones. The hardship of the postwar period volumes (700 + 566 + 564 + 608 + 562 + 438 +
extended to most fields, and book publishing was no exception. The financial straits 574 + 422 pages); paperback.
of the autarky and the resulting high price of paper and other raw materials limited (6) For example, the photomontage on the
the publication rates of the few publishing firms–and the even fewer media–that had cover of Joan Alavedra, El fet del dia (Barcelo-
na: Llibreria Catalònia, 1935); the photograph
survived the disasters of war. And, like other professionals, photographers had been
on the covers of Vicenç Bernardes, Estampes
purged. The alternatives were exile or taking up specialties tolerated by Francisco de l’Uruguay (Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia,
Franco’s regime, such as industrial photography or studio portraiture. 1935); and Projecte d’ensenyament de l’Escola
Gabriel Casas, who had collaborated on periodic publications and produced photo- Nova Unificada (Barcelona: Generalitat de
montages for book covers during the previous years, was one of the photographers who Catalunya, 1936).
(7) Cervantes. Photography, Gabriel Casas.
were forced to give up their photojournalistic activities.6 However, when the war ended,
Text, Sebastián Juan Arbó. Barcelona: Edi-
he still managed to find an outlet for a few photographs. In 1945 Zodiaco publishers ciones del Zodiaco, 1945. 240 x 200 mm, 604
brought out a biography of Cervantes, a carefully edited book written by Sebastián Juan pages + 40 plates outside the text, 40 photo-
Arbó and illustrated with photographs by Casas.7 The photographs in the book are de- graphs. Includes a leaflet in octavo, 12 pages,
scribed as “previously unpublished” and may have been taken purposely for it. with a portrait of the writer. Cloth, illustrated
dust jacket, additional special edition of 225
The sequence begins and ends with still-life scenes. The first features a heap of
signed and numbered copies.
armor that represents “arms.” The second, a composition of books, is an allusion to “lit- (8) Álvaro Bartolomé and Joaquín del Palacio,
erature.” These scenes thus present Cervantes’s fictional character symbolically. Between Momentos (Madrid: author’s edition, 1944).
them are thirty-eight photographs of the village corners of La Mancha, landscapes, and
architecture that recall the seventeenth century. Human beings and signs of the passage
of time are nowhere to be found. Except for a few allusions to places related to Don
Quixote, the titles of the photographs are generic: the book is not an archaeological sur-
vey of places connected with Cervantes but a series of illustrations of the geography of
Don Quixote . . . rather like a collection of sets for a theater or film adaptation.
41 The mood conveyed by the unpopulated and timeless photographs in Casas’s Cervantes
is in keeping with other books from the 1940s, such as the collection of poems Momentos
(Moments) by Álvaro Bartolomé and Joaquín del Palacio, which contains photographs of
40
solitary trees in stark landscapes (reproduced and considered on pages 127–129).8
39
 By Way of Introduction 1939–1959

Over the following years Ortiz Echagüe carried on photographing Spain and brought
44 out a fourth volume titled España castillos y alcázares (Spain: Castles and forts) that to
an extent was a continuation of Pueblos y paisajes.16 During the last year of his life he
toyed with the idea of completing his series on northern Africa–published in postcards
before the war–with a fifth book, but he did not finish it.
Nicolás Muller brought out two photobooks on Morocco in 1944. The first was titled
Estampas marroquíes (Moroccan scenes) and was published by the Instituto de Estudios
Políticos (Institute of Political Studies), which is defined in the preface as “an official
body of the renewed Spain” whose purpose is to promote “the values and qualities of
the territories Spain possesses or protects in Berber lands and colonial lands.”17 The aim
of the book was to convey a kindly image of a colonialist institution, the Spanish protec-
torate in Morocco–a territory that “must be clearly stripped of its clichés.” The sequence
of photographs shows landscapes and cities that recall those seen by Ortiz Echagüe at
the beginning of the century.
Nothing is known about the designer, but the book states that the photographs have
been arranged “facing each other” to provide “a contrast and harmony of forms in each
42 43 44
pair of pages.” Landscapes are followed by pictures of architecture and trades, as well as
a series of bust-length portraits of smiling people gazing upward. They convey the new
image of Morocco that is sought in the book, where the local human types are portrayed
using a racial approach: “The mountain-dwellers of Morocco are the best examples of
the local race,” states the commentary on the last picture, which is also reproduced on
the cover. “These highlands of the Rif range have the same mountainous Andalusian soil
Other projects were based on a model that did not have censorship problems: (9) España: pueblos y paisajes (Spain: Villages (16) España castillos y alcázares (Spain:
and landscapes). Photography, José Ortiz
that extends beneath the Strait. That is why its country folk have the straight, upright air Castles and forts). Photography, José
photographs of landscapes or tourist attractions. Shortly after the war ended José Ortiz
Echagüe. San Sebastián: Editora Internacional of the people of the Alpujarras and the highlanders of Ronda.” The photographs high- Ortiz Echagüe. Madrid: Publicaciones Ortiz
42 Echagüe published España: pueblos y paisajes (Spain: Villages and landscapes).9 He had
Manuel Conde, 1939. 300 x 210 mm, 38 pages 45 light the ties that bind Spain and Morocco. Estampas marroquíes differs from the books Echagüe, 1956. 310 x 250 mm, 30 pages of text
brought out a book of portraits of folk types in 1929, but before long he considered of text + 224 pages of photos, 224 photo- + 312 photographic plates printed by photo-
with an underlying political interest that are aimed at tourists, as it devotes several
the theme to have been exhausted and decided to turn to other subjects. He wrote, “By graphs printed by photogravure. Cloth, dust gravure + 9 in color, pasted. Cloth.
pictures to the jalifa (the supreme authority of the protectorate), who is the subject of a
about 1934 I had already covered the popular type of small farmers, and then decided jacket illustrated with a photograph. (17) Estampas marroquíes (Moroccan scenes).
(10) José Ortiz Echagüe, “A Half-Century
46 second book titled Tánger por el Jalifa (Tangiers by the Jalifa).18 Tangiers had been oc- Photography, Nicolás Muller. Text, Rodolfo Gil
to prepare a second book on the villages and scenery of my country.”10 The work was
of Photography,” in The American Annual of cupied by Spanish troops in 1940, and the Franco regime was interested in strengthening Benumeya. Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Políticos,
completed two years later, but the Civil War prevented it from being published. A note
Photography 1950 (American Photographic its foothold in the area. 1944. 300 x 250 mm, 106 pages, 100 photographs
in the book states, “printing began in January 1936 and finished in 1939.” Together with Pub. Co., 1949), 15. printed at Gráficas Españolas. Hardcover, dust
Muller’s photographs were also shown in an exhibition at the Hotel Palace in Madrid.
the photobook Spanische Köpfe (Spanish heads)–later titled España Tipos y trajes (pub- (11) España mística (Mystic Spain). Photography, jacket illustrated with a photograph.
Critics praised them, stating that Muller “strikes us as the best traveler in art photography
lished in English as Spain: Types and Costumes)–it formed the first two parts of a trilogy. José Ortiz Echagüe. Text, Miguel Herrero- (18) Tánger por el Jalifa (Tangiers by the
García. San Sebastián: Editora Internacional
strictly speaking.”19 Muller’s books thus passed as travel journals instead of propaganda. Jalifa). Photography, Nicolas Muller. Text,
Pueblos y paisajes consists of 224 plates of urban (especially historical) monuments
Manuel Conde, 1943. 310 x 230 mm, 56 pages An institutional channel for travel photography was tourist books, which continued Rodolfo Gil Benumeya. Madrid: Instituto de
and panoramic views, as well as some aerial shots. Few of them feature people (one
of text + 248 pages, 248 photographs (24 by to be published in the 1940s. For example, in 1943 Rafael Calleja published Apología Estudios Políticos, 1944. 300 x 250 mm, 57
picture from Tipos y trajes is reused). The aim was to give an idea of the variety of other photographers) printed at Huecograbado pages, 54 photographs. Hardcover, dust jacket
turística de España (In support of Spanish tourism), a compilation of pictures by some
Spain’s architecture and geography, from the coast (“land of the most attractions and Arte, Bilbao. Cloth, dust jacket illustrated illustrated with a photograph.
of the photographers who had worked for the National Tourist Board before the war, in-
most surprising spots”) to the “austere tableland,” which should be explored by “the with a photograph. (19) Cecilio Barberán, “Marruecos, visto por
(12) José Ortiz Echagüe, quoted in Asunción
cluding Otto Wunderlich, Sybille von Kaskel, Cecilio Paniagua, and the Marquis of Santa Muller,” Fotos 385 (15 July 1944): 16.
connoisseur of Spain, he who seeks its soul and its spirit.” The book was a commercial
Domeño, La fotografía de José Ortiz-Echagüe: María del Villar. A few newer photographers were also represented, including Kindel, (20) Rafael Calleja, Apología turística de España
success and, like Tipos y trajes, was republished many times, first by Editora Internac-
Técnica, estética y temática (Pamplona: whose work was published for the first time.20 (Madrid: Dirección General de Turismo, 1943).
ional Manuel Conde López, later by Mayfe, and from 1950 onward by the author’s own Gobierno de Navarra, 2000), 244.
publishing company, Publicaciones Ortiz Echagüe. (13) Ortiz Echagüe, “A Half-Century of
43 The third volume in the trilogy came out in 1943 with the title España mística (Mystic Photography,” 29.
Spain).11 Ortiz Echagüe explained its origins: “A third field of action had hitherto been out (14) Ortiz Echagüe, quoted in Domeño,
La fotografía de José Ortiz-Echagüe, 244.
of bounds to my spirit owing to the difficulty I foresaw of entering it. Religious themes are
(15) An anthology of the series was published
inexhaustible in Spain; its processions, its pilgrimages, and in particular the hidden life of in 1947 in Antonio González, Doce estampas
its old monasteries.”12 Despite it being an “almost inaccessible” world, he decided to take cartujanas (Bilbao: Editorial Vizcaína, 1947).
up the challenge. The book is a tour of religious buildings, ceremonies, and people. A few
photographs are taken from earlier books, but new series of photographs are also included,
such as the one on the life of monks, whose composition recalls Francisco de Zurbarán’s
cycles of paintings for monasteries. Although comparisons and iconographic sources can be
sought, the photographer took every opportunity to stress that photographs are documents
and that the best course is to “leave the painters in peace.”13
Ortiz Echagüe was not satisfied with the result: “I did a third volume on mystic
subjects, probably the worst of the three.”14 Nevertheless, España mística sold well
and was republished many times.15 45 46

40
 By Way of Introduction 1939–1959

on La Sagrada Familia came out in 1952, and two years later he had already published (27) Francisco Català-Roca and César Mar-
another three: a book of poems by José María Valverde, a guide to Madrid published by tinell, La Sagrada Familia (Barcelona: Aymà,
1952); José María Valverde, illustrations by
Destino, and a monograph on Barcelona (see pages 137–139).27
F. Català-Roca and J. Leonard, Versos de
Of all these books of the 1950s, Català-Roca’s most personal project is possibly a domingo (Barcelona: Barna, 1954); Francisco
49 guide to Cuenca commissioned by José Manuel Lara at the wish of politician Gabriel Català-Roca and Juan Antonio Cabezas,
Julià, civil governor of the province, and published in 1956 with a text by writer César Madrid (Barcelona: Destino, 1954); and
González-Ruano.28 Català-Roca made several trips to Cuenca, where he served “the best Francisco Catalá Roca and Luis Romero,
Barcelona (Barcelona: Editorial Barna, 1954).
and deepest professional apprenticeship.”29 In an article González-Ruano remembered
(28) Guía de Cuenca y principales itinerarios de
Català-Roca as a “friendly man and an excellent professional” who was always surround- su provincia (Guide to Cuenca and main routes
ed by begging children because he “dresses like a tourist.”30 The purpose of the commis- of its province). Photography, Francisco Catalá-
sion was to produce a guidebook of a province that was isolated and forgotten but was Roca. Text, César González-Ruano. Barcelona:
a potential tourist attraction: “Few Spanish towns have so many and such good things to Planeta, 1956. 250 x 200 mm, 104 pages + [80]
outside the text with photographs, 111 photo-
show tourists as this town of Cuenca,” the preface states.
graphs printed by photogravure. Paperback,
Typical of a guidebook, Cuenca contains scenes of popular festivities, landscapes cover illustrated with a photograph.
47 with weather-beaten rocks, and the flatland of La Mancha, in addition to the town’s land- (29) Francesc Català-Roca, Impressions
marks, especially the so-called hanging houses, which are displayed on the cover over a d’un fotògraf: Memòries (Barcelona:
black strip that bears the name of the town printed in Futura typeface in yellow ink. The Ediciones 62, 1995), 108.
Some travelers dispensed with guidebooks and made their own personal tours. A (21) Camilo José Cela, “Elogio de la fotografía,” (30) Horacio Fernández, Cuenca hacia 1956: La
overall effect is quite well done, though no information is provided about the designer.
good example is Camilo José Cela’s tour of the Alcarria region in the summer of 1946. Arriba (13 January 1938), in Obras completas, versión de Català-Roca (Madrid: La Fábrica, 2008).
vol. 12 (Barcelona: Destino, 1990), 323–24. A few pictures are uncommon for a tourist guide: a double-page spread of a stone (31) Català-Roca, Impressions d’un fotògraf, 110.
Cela was accompanied by a photographer, as an article published that year states: “Not wall with an arch that frames a castle in the background, modern cafeterias, and a girl
(22) El Español, 22 June 1946, 29 June 1946, 6 (32) Rainer Maria Rilke and Leopoldo Pomés,
long ago the chronicler went on a walking tour with Karl Wlasak around the fields and July 1946, and 13 July 1946. standing against a wall with a graffito warning, “Come on girls of this village, the years Les fenêtres (Las ventanas) (Barcelona:
fallow land, valleys and moors of the tableland.”21 A few days after Cela returned to (23) Camilo José Cela, “Nota a esta edición” pass and you’ll be left on the shelf.” Editorial RM, 1957).
Madrid, a number of installments of the account of his excursion, accompanied by the (16 October 1952), in Viaje a la Alcarria
The book was printed in a single impression by Heraclio Fournier in photogravure.
photographs, appeared in the press.22 The writer traveled as an observer and produced a (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1967), 10.
(24) Viaje a la Alcarria (Journey to la Alcarria). The blacks are deep and dense and the rich grays are unusually brilliant. As for quality
simple, realistic account. He was convinced that in travel books “the best thing is to take of print, Cuenca is one of the finest publications from those years; it earned Català-Roca
Photography, Karl Wlasak. Text, Camilo José Cela.
the bull by the horns a bit and say ‘here there’s a house, or a tree, or a dying dog’ [. . .]. Madrid: Revista de Occidente, 1948. 230 x 165 a contract from the Ministry of Information and Tourism to produce further guidebooks
Travel books are usually far too pedantic.”23 Photography helped him achieve this aim, mm, 226 pages + 26 plates outside the text with and many posters.31
as it allowed him to repeat the travels through the images, as he himself recognized. 50 photographs. Paperback. A facsimile edition
Although more cheaply printed, other books from the period are also notable for
At the end of 1947 Cela returned to these notes and photographs and set about writ- was published in 1987. Wlasak was commissioned
by Cela to take the photographs: “I have about a their design. Les fenêtres (The windows) (see pages 140–143), a book of Rainer Maria
47 ing. The following year he published Viaje a la Alcarria (Journey to La Alcarria) in an
hundred photos, all very good, and I think they Rilke’s poems with photographs by Leopoldo Pomés, is subtly laid out by graphic de-
edition with fifty photographs by Karl Wlasak that helped emphasize details of the text.24 should all be published. The price of these photos signer Ricard Giralt Miracle, the master of his generation.32 Giralt Miracle was not unac-
Cela appears in some the photographs and also mentions them in his account: “So that is covered by the total for the book, as they were customed to working with photography, as he also made photographic book covers; for
a photograph can be taken, the mayor gives orders for water to flow through the pipes commissioned from the photographers—Viennese
and so the bailiff goes to fetch an iron rod and unblocks them. A few women take the Karl Wlasak and Portuguese Conchita Stichaner—
by me; I paid for them and they are mine.” Camilo
opportunity to fill their pitchers and drinking jugs.” Cela referred to Viaje a la Alcarria
José Cela to José Janés, 3 January 1947, quoted in
as “a geography” that the photographs helped to visualize. Adolfo Sotelo, “Viaje a la Alcarria: génesis y recep-
Photobooks became more frequent in the 1950s. A few of high quality were pub- ción,” El Extramundi y Los Papeles de Iria Flavia 46
lished, such as Alfonso Sánchez García’s Rincones del viejo Madrid (Corners of old (Summer 2006): 13.
Madrid).25 This photobook was printed in excellent photogravure and features forty-one (25) Alfonso, Rincones del viejo Madrid (Noc-
turnos) (Madrid: Artes Gráficas Martorell, 1951).
photographs taken at night (see pages 130–136).
(26) Microfotografías (Microphotographs).
A few corporate publications from the period also include photographs. For example, Madrid: [n.pub.], 1953. 260 x 200 mm, 104
48 in 1953 the Sociedad Española de Penicilina (Spanish Penicillin Society) brought out a pages, 88 photographs. Cloth.
curious publication as a Christmas gift: a photobook with full-page reproductions of mi-
croscopic images.26 The photographs were taken by researchers in the society’s laborato-
ries (the facilities are shown on one of the pages). Brief captions provide the names of
the photographers–all of whom are scientists–and the institutions to which they belong.
In the foreword, Enrique Durán describes the book as follows: “The plates have only a
very short text. They are almost pure suggestion. A Christmas gift for the reader’s curios-
ity.” However, the cells and tissue as seen under the microscope do not serve a scientific
purpose here. They are more of an invitation to readers to reexperience the curiosity
with which children view pictures in books. “Later, life forces us to have fewer illustra-
tions and more text in our books. The one you are holding is of the kind that used to be
a favorite, a reward and a rest from so many others.”
48
A few publishers likewise launched complete collections of books illustrated with
photographs, chiefly tourist guides to cities or provinces. A prominent photographer
in this field was Francesc Català-Roca, whose work was often published. His first book 49

42
 By Way of Introduction 1939–1959

example, the cover of Alexandre Cirici’s El arte modernista catalán (Catalan modernist The abstract nature and geometric patterns of the pictures are mirrored by the book’s (35) The exhibition of abstract art held in
art), which shows one of the chimneys of Antoni Gaudí’s La Pedrera building silhouetted design, which emphasizes the relationships between these elements. Some of the photo- Santander in the summer of 1953 showed
more than 100 pictures “and a dozen truly
against a red background. The photograph was taken by Català-Roca, with whom Giralt graphs are cropped to emphasize their horizontal or vertical nature. A good example is
magnificent photographs by [Carlos] Saura
Miracle enjoyed a close relationship. He also designed the cover of Alfonso Pintó’s La a double-page spread that contrasts a vertical bell tower with a more general, horizontal and Kindel.” Juan Fernández Figueroa, “Arte
tarjeta postal: Estética e historia (The postcard: Aesthetics and history), a delightful col- view. Each of the two photographs is located at the outer edge of the page, full bleed, abstracto: Santander,” Índice de Artes y Letras
lage made up of a nineteenth-century photograph by Mayer and Pierson of the Countess so that most of the space is left blank. In some cases the photograph on an even- 66 (July August 1953), quoted in Julián Díaz
of Castiglione, two postcards framed by butterfly wings, and a Swiss postage stamp. Also number page is joined at one corner with that of the facing page, so that a blank space and Ángel Llorente, La crítica de arte en Es-
paña (1939–1976) (Madrid: Istmo, 2004), 217.
50 noteworthy is the typo-photo cover of H. Alsina Munné’s Historia de la fotografía (His- on one page is contrasted with a photograph on the other. In other instances, a single
(36) The exhibition at the Athenaeum received
tory of photography), where the title is integrated into a photograph of a woman’s eye photograph occupies the double page, and Kindel shows the geometric relationships the Eugenio d’Ors gold medal for the visual arts
by the firm Batlles-Compte.33 between the different architectural volumes. The relationships are different on each in 1959 (see ABC, 16 June 1959, 4), and in 1961 the
Quality photographs and a good designer could turn a run-of-the-mill publication page–quite an achievement for a small catalogue. Fernández del Amo stresses, “Joaquín Sao Paulo Biennial awarded a prize to Fernández
51 into something special. This is true of Vegaviana, probably the best book by Kindel, the del Palacio presents us with this personal vision, whereby the village of Vegaviana takes del Amo for Vegaviana and other town planning
50
designs. Another report on Vegaviana, with 25
sobriquet of Joaquín del Palacio, who under his given name supplied the photographs on its full significance and each example has the objective value of a work of art.”
photographs, is in Revista nacional de arquitectu-
for Momentos and Apología turística de España.34 In the 1950s he worked for a Madrid (33) Alexandre Cirici, El arte modernista catalán Architectural photography gave rise to many publications. Joaquín Gomis published ra 202 (October 1958): 1–14.
architects’ association and showed his work in exhibitions alongside avant-garde paint- (Barcelona: Aymà, 1951); Alfonso Pintó, La tarjeta what he called fotoscops: small books consisting of a “succession of photographs, guided by (37) NO-DO 847A, 30 March 1959, http://www.
ers and sculptors.35 postal: Estética e historia (Barcelona: Producciones a rhythm that has learned something from the discoveries of cinema.”38 The first, on Gaudí, rtve.es/filmoteca/no-do/not-847/1487557/.
editoriales del Nordeste, 1953); and Sebastián (38) A. Cirici Pellicer, La Sagrada Familia
Vegaviana is one of the monographs published by the Madrid Athenaeum on his came out in 1952, and during the following years fotoscops appeared on art and architecture.
Gasch, El arte de los niños (Barcelona: Produc- de Antonio Gaudí, 80 fotografías inéditas de
exhibitions; it is an architectural sample of the buildings designed by José Luis Fernán- ciones editoriales del Nordeste, 1953). Historia de
The finest books from those years were not published by the photographic asso-
Joaquín Gomis seleccionadas y ordenadas por
dez del Amo in Vegaviana, a village created by the Instituto Nacional de Colonización la fotografía (History of photography). Text, H. ciations, which organized exhibitions for amateurs and occasionally published year- Juan Prats-Vallés (Barcelona: Omega, 1952).
(National Institute of Colonization) in 1956, on which Kindel carried out an extensive Alsina Munné. Barcelona: Producciones editoriales books with a low circulation. The main driving force behind the postwar renewal was On the fotoscop project, see Joaquim Gomis:
photographic report. Fernández del Amo’s architecture won many prizes, and the exhibi- del Nordeste, 1954. 170 x 120 mm, 132 pages, 96 the Afal group (Agrupación Fotográfica Almeriense [Photography group of Almeria]). De la mirada oblicua a la narración visual
illustrations. Hardcover, dust jacket illustrated with (Madrid: La Fábrica, 2012).
tion at the Athenaeum was featured by the Noticiarios y Documentales (NO-DO), the From 1956 to 1962 Afal published a magazine that brought together the most unset-
a photograph by Batlles Compte. This cover was (39) On The Family of Man, see “Fotografía
official newsreel service of the Franco regime.36 The newsreel that mentions Kindel’s ex- also the basis for Giralt Miracle’s design for the
tling aspects of Spanish photography of the time. In contrast to the photography
y prensa,” Afal 10 (July–August 1957). On
hibition stresses the expressiveness of his photographs, which “make us realize the clean leaflet advertising the book, which shows more clubs’ resistance to anything new, Afal advocated a type of photography in keeping Steinert, see the monographic issue Afal 32
and charming lines of the new village, which the lens has taken by surprise, capturing of the photograph and features the title along the with humanist photography and the experimentalism of “subjective photography” and (September–October 1961). On Strand, see
its main outlines.”37 lower strip. See José Luis Martín Montesinos, published reviews of the main publications that dealt with these trends (e.g., Edward Giuseppe Turroni, “De la fotografía española,
Ricard Giralt Miracle: El diálogo entre la tipografía de la fotografía italiana,” Afal 24 (May–June
Kindel’s photographs, sober and direct images that emphasize the geometry of the build- Steichen’s The Family of Man catalogue and Otto Steinert’s Subjektive fotografie). The
y el diseño gráfico (Valencia: Campgràfic, 2008), 1960). On Moments Preserved, see Gonzalo
ings, show the “basic outlines” of the architecture. The composition is based on the vertical 162. On the designer, see also Ricard Giralt Mira-
group’s periodical, also named Afal, was one of the first platforms to echo the most
Juanes, “Moments Preserved, comentarios a
lines of the walls and the diagonal lines of the roofs, which infuse the pictures with dyna- cle, exh. cat. (Valencia: IVAM, 1996). advanced international photographic publications of the day: Paul Strand’s Un paese, un libro de Irving Penn,” Afal 35 (March–April
mism and rhythm. Only a couple of Kindel’s photographs feature people, although human (34) Vegaviana. Photography, Joaquín del Irving Penn’s Moments Preserved, and William Klein’s New York, which changed the 1962). On William Klein, see Gonzalo Juanes,
presence is sometimes suggested by shadows and dark silhouettes against a white wall. Palacio. Text, Javier Sáenz de Oiza and José history of photobooks. 39 “Anotaciones sobre el New York,” Afal 24
Luis Fernández del Amo. Madrid: Ateneo (May–June 1960); and Francesco Bolzoni,
[Cuadernos de Arte 4], 1959. Cat. 175 x 165 “Roma,” Afal 31 (July–August 1961).
mm, [32] pages, 25 photographs. Paperback,
cover illustrated with a photograph. Pictures
by Kindel also appear in P. Luis María de los
Hoyos, La Alberca: Monumento nacional
(Madrid: Selecciones Gráficas, 1946).

51
 In 1957 Afal decided to publish a collective book: a yearbook compiling the finest
52 photographic work of the year. The project was delayed, however, and Anuario de la
fotografía española (Yearbook of Spanish photography) did not come out until the follow-
ing year.40 An essential role in the Anuario was played by José María Artero, the editor in
charge of selecting works and photographers. As Artero points out in the yearbook’s pref-
ace, this was a difficult task, “owing to the many more or less marked or developed trends
that have arisen as a result of new approaches to photography.” The idea was not to pro-
duce a unified, coherent book but to report on the many existing trends: the Anuario thus
features the work of established photographers such as Català-Roca, Muller, and Francisco
Gómez; of younger photographers such as Pomés who had already published books; and
of those who were just starting out, such as Julio Ubiña, Oriol Maspons, Ricardo Terré,
Carlos Pérez Siquier, Xavier Miserachs, and Gonzalo Juanes. As a collective work in which
the photographers are represented by only a few special photographs, the Anuario lacks
unity and cannot be considered an accomplished photobook.41
However, one of Afal’s chief aims was to disseminate photography through photo- 52
books. In its magazine the association underlined “the importance photography can have
as narrative,” and this led some of its members to turn to photojournalism, as well as
to publishing photobooks. “It thus seems that Spain is at last acknowledging the edito- (40) Anuario de la fotografía española
rial value of the Image,” the January 1962 issue of Afal states, “and books are being 1958 (Almería: Revista Afal, 1958).
prepared for publication in which photography is a main informative element: Masats (41) On the conflicting historiography
of the yearbook, see Laura Terré, Historia
with San Fermín, Juanes with Asturias, Miserachs with Costa Brava, Terré with Semana
del grupo fotográfico AFAL 1956–1963
Santa, Ontañón with Pueblos de España . . .”42 Although in the end only Masats’s and (Seville: Photovision, 2006), 111–16.
Miserachs’s books were published, Afal devised the most important projects of the fol- (42) [Carlos Pérez Siquier], “Narración por
lowing years, marking the future of Spanish photography. imagines,” Afal 34 (January–February 1962).

53

At the beginning of the 1960s a small, Barcelona-based publishing house called Lumen (1) Esther Tusquets, Confesiones
had the idea of bringing out books with pictures. Esther Tusquets–director and owner de una editora poco mentirosa
(Barcelona: RqueR, 2005), 32.
of the company–recalls, “we were toying with the idea of doing illustrated books; Barrel
(2) Card advertising Lumen’s Palabra
was using photographs for the covers of his Biblioteca Breve [series]; handsome photog- e Imagen collection, 1964.
raphy books were being published, especially outside Spain; and we all fervently sup- (3) Libro de juegos para los niños de los otros
ported the idea that film and photography deserved to be arts just as much as the five (Book of games for other people’s children),
traditional arts we had inherited from Antiquity.”1 Palabra e imagen 1. Photography, Jaime Buesa.
Text, Ana María Matute. Design, Luis Clotet
Such was the situation when “Jaime Buesa, a young contributor to La vanguardia,
and Oscar Tusquets. Barcelona: Lumen, 1961.
turned up at our house one day. He had brought us a project for a book”: a handful of 220 x 210 mm, [80] pages (48 ochre paper for
photographs of kids from deprived neighborhoods and a few pages Ana María Matute the text + 32 white paper for the photographs),
had written about them. “It was what we were looking for: words and pictures based 16 photographs. Hardcover, cover illustrated
on a common subject,” Tusquets wrote. The proposal was accepted. Buesa and Matute’s with a photograph, publisher’s label.

book was published in 1961, giving rise to the Palabra e Imagen (Word and image) col-
lection that would run until 1975 and encompass nineteen titles.
A flyer from Lumen describes Palabra e Imagen as “a collection that is different from
everything that has been done so far in the field of publishing.” Its books “are not art
books, they are not photography books, they are not literary works,” but “a new con-
cept.” They all have a subject, “and the writers, the photographer and those who plan
and produce the book work on it as a team.” The aim was to present “an idea” using
different means: “not just words but also the photography, the composition, the type of
lettering, and the color of the paper can be used to express it. In our books everything
is there for a reason, everything has a meaning within the deep unity that is the basis
of Palabra e Imagen.”2
53 The essence of Palabra e Imagen is embodied by its first book, Libro de juegos para
los niños de los otros (Book of games for other people’s children), which came out in
square format with illustrated covers, the text printed on thick colored paper and the
pictures outside the text on glossy paper.3 Critics appreciated the originality of the col-
lection, in which the pictures “are not just illustration, but an effective complement to

46 47
 the text.” Above all they stressed the design: “With exquisite typography, L. Clotet and (4) “Los libros del día: Libro de juegos para los
O. Tusquets have put together this handsome book produced in Nagsa’s exemplary niños de los otros,” La vanguardia, 10 February
1962. Libro de juegos also won first prize in the
workshops,” La vanguardia commented. Libro de juegos was the only Spanish publica-
competition for the best edited book at Barcelo-
tion mentioned in the Times literary supplement’s review of the Frankfurt Book Fair na fair, and the National Book Institute selected
together with the most original works–one Italian, two French, and one Russian–from it as one of the top ten of the year, according to
the previous year.4 Destino 1,325 (29 December 1962).
The chief designer was Oscar Tusquets, who worked with different contributors each (5) Esther Tusquets, “Casi cincuenta años
después,” in Mario Vargas Llosa, Los cachorros
time. Oscar, Esther’s younger brother, was a student of architecture and was no more
(Madrid: La Fábrica, 2010), 5.
than twenty-one when the first book came out. At Palabra e Imagen he was “in charge (6) Oscar Tusquets, Todo es comparable
of visual aspects such as the design, illustrations, and photographs.”5 (Barcelona: Anagrama, 1998), 34.
Tusquets was convinced that the best place for photographs was on a printed page. (7) Tusquets, “Casi cincuenta años después,” 5.
“There is nothing more boring than the always deserted rooms of the photography (8) Tusquets, Confesiones de una editora poco
department in any museum,” he wrote years later.6 “Those snapshots that we might have mentirosa, 51.
(9) Oriol Maspons, quoted in El instante per- 54
found so attractive in a book [. . .] are reproduced much better [on museum walls], but
dido, exh. cat. (Barcelona: la Caixa, 1995), 14.
. . . it is as if they were dead.” Perhaps he was recalling his experience with Palabra e (10) La caza de la perdiz roja (The Hunt of the
Imagen, where he worked side by side with the photographers, whose pictures served a Red Partridge), Palabra e imagen 2. Photog-
joint purpose together with a text, forming a sequence on the printed page. In Tus- raphy, Oriol Maspons. Text, Miguel Delibes.
quets’s view, printing photographs was a manner of overcoming “elitist barriers.” Design, José Bonet and Oscar Tusquets. Bar-
celona: Lumen, 1962. 220 x 210 mm, [72] pages
The design devised by Oscar Tusquets and his fellow student Lluís Clotet for Buesa
(40 greenish-gray paper for the text + 32 white
and Matute’s book was repeated in the rest of the collection: a square format, an in- paper for the photographs), 35 photographs.
dependent sequence of photographs, and an easily read text printed on thick, creased Hardcover, covers illustrated with photo-
paper, each volume in a different color. Oscar’s sister, the “literary editor,” was in charge graphs, plastic dust jacket.
of selecting and contacting authors to ask them to write something new or to choose an (11) Miguel Delibes, quoted in Tusquets, Con-
fesiones de una editora poco mentirosa, 51.
existing text for the collection. “They nearly all answered and nearly all of them liked
(12) “I have never been satisfied with La caza
the idea. They were short texts, for special and different books.”7 de la perdiz roja, but I did the best I could—
Miguel Delibes was one of the first to be approached. According to Esther Tusquets, descriptively, because I believe that the
“he expressed an interest and proposed as a subject the shooting of a bird that was appar- subject calls for no more—in compliance with
ently in danger of extinction, the red-legged partridge.”8 The photographs were commis- a professional obligation.” Oriol Maspons to
Gabriel Cualladó, 8 December 1962, quoted in
sioned from Oriol Maspons, who traveled to Valladolid to work with the writer. Delibes
Terré, Historia del grupo fotográfico AFAL, 425. 55
specified the subjects Maspons was to address and took him shooting. “I went to spend (13) For example, José María Casademont,
eight days with Delibes in Valladolid. I went partridge shooting with him. Well, it was he “Un libro de Oriol Maspons: La caza de la per-
who did the shooting. Em va fer caminar com un boig [He made me walk like mad].”9 diz roja,” Imagen y sonido 1 (June 1963); An-
54 La caza de la perdiz roja (The Hunt of the Red Partridge), the second book in the tonio Vilanova, “La caza de la perdiz roja, de
collection, features photographs of animals and shooters, a landscape with particularly Miguel Delibes,” Destino 1,350 (22 June 1963);
José R. Marra-López, “Una nueva colección:
sharp contrast, and even a partridge falling–the image is blurred and almost abstract.10
Palabra e Imagen,” Ínsula 204 (November
These things led Delibes to fear the worst. “I am a bit frightened of Oriel,” he wrote in 1963); and Segio Vilar, “Noticia y crítica sobre
a letter to Esther Tusquets. “I accept that the book is not just for shooters, but he must los libros de una nueva colección editorial,”
realize that by no means should it be just for photographers . . . There are marvelous Papeles de Son Armadans 83 (February 1963).
photos, but I am afraid he might be getting a little carried away by the abstract virtuosity (14) Tusquets, “Casi cincuenta años después,” 7.

of partridge feathers.”11 However, Maspons did not feel satisfied with such an informa-
tive assignment that for him was, after all, no more than a commission.12 Nevertheless,
it was well received by critics and enjoyed unexpected commercial success.13
In Palabra e Imagen the photographer and writer were important, but so were the de-
signer and editor. Esther recalls, “In a Palabra e Imagen the editor (and to a great extent the
graphic designer) proposes, suggests, adds. It is not the juxtaposition of all the texts and im-
ages that makes the collection. Without Lluís and Oscar designing with almost total freedom,
creating from scratch, and without our discussions while the work was being carried out, it
would not have been the same.”14 All this can be seen in the third book in the series, Neu-
tral Corner. Tusquets and Clotet experimented with form in its content–both literary (e.g., by
converting the title into images) and visual (with variations in the sequence of photographs).
The result was the first great photobook in the collection. (See the related entry on pages
144–149, which is followed by a further five monographs on books in the Palabra e Imagen
series: Toreo de salón [Bullfighting practice, 1963], fourth in the series [pages 150–155]; Viejas
historias de Castilla la Vieja [Old stories of Castile the Old, 1964], fifth [pages 170–173]; Izas
rabizas y colipoterras, sixth [pages 164–169]; Los cachorros [The cubs, 1967], tenth [pages

48
56

196–199]; and Luces y sombras del flamenco [Lights and shadows of flamenco, 1975], the last (15) Los días iluminados. Semana Santa en
in the collection [pages 212–217].) Andalucía (Enlightened days: Holy Week in
Andalusia), Palabra e imagen 7. Photography,
55 The seventh book in the collection–Los días iluminados (Enlightened days)–features
Francisco Ontañón. Text and selection of po-
a series of photographs by Francisco Ontañón on Holy Week in Andalusia, accompanied ems, Alfonso Grosso. Design, Oscar Tusquets.
by a selection of texts by classical Spanish writers on the same subject.15 The sequence Barcelona: Lumen, 1965. 220 x 210 mm, [100]
begins with the preparations for a procession and ends after the parade is over with a pages (64 greenish-gray paper for the text +
dramatic curtain fall: a picture of the canvas covering the entrance to a religious brother- 36 white paper for the photographs), 38 pho-
tographs. Hardcover, covers illustrated with
hood’s storeroom. In this narrative sequence Ontañón provides an account of proces-
photographs.
sions and children watching them, penitents waiting, flamenco singers wearing dark (16) Juan Perucho, “Algunas considera- 60
glasses, and, above all, many float bearers: dozens of anonymous carriers who bear the ciones en torno a la fotografía de Francisco
heavy weight of religion, steeped in tradition, on their shoulders. Ontañón’s camera Ontañón,” Destino 1,457 (10 July 1965), 37. See
observes from a certain distance; it seeks groups and their movement, sometimes in also “Los días iluminados, Francisco Ontañón,”
Imagen y sonido 27 (September 1965).
blurred shots in which barely more than lights and pointed hoods can be made out. The
(17) Poeta en Nueva York (Poet in New York),
photographs thus display a somewhat informalist style that critic Juan Perucho did not Palabra e imagen 8. Photography, Oriol Maspons
fully understand: he described Los días iluminados in Destino as a “strange document” and Julio Ubiña. Text, Federico García Lorca.
that “has something of a popular ex-voto about it.”16 Design, Oscar Tusquets. Barcelona: Lumen,
56 Lumen published the eighth book in the Palabra e Imagen series in 1966: Poeta en Nueva 1966. 220 x 210 mm, [122] pages (86 greenish-
61
gray paper for the text + 36 white paper for
York (Poet in New York) by Federico García Lorca.17 Prior to this the books in the collec-
the photographs), 49 photographs. Hardcover,
tion had featured hitherto unpublished texts written or prepared for the purpose. On this covers illustrated with a photograph.
occasion Esther Tusquets commissioned Maspons and Julio Ubiña to produce a book on the (18) Federico García Lorca, interview by Antonio
work of a deceased poet. (Although the publishers may not have known this, Lorca had ac- Otero Seco, Mundo gráfico, 24 February 1937.
tually wanted the first edition of Poeta en Nueva York “to feature photographic and film illus- A list of the illustrations envisaged by the poet
can be found in The Poet in New York and Other
trations.”)18 To perform the assignment, Maspons and Ubiña traveled to New York with the
Poems (New York: W. W. Norton, 1940), 16–18.
poem as a guide. “We had García Lorca’s text, which I read about forty times, marking things (19) Oriol Maspons, quoted in El instante
I might find in New York, and went there for two or three weeks,” Maspons notes.19 Accord- perdido, 14. 62
ing to the prologue, the aim of the photographers was not “to recreate a period or provide (20) Pablo Neruda, quoted in Tusquets,
an exact illustration of each verse.” The book thus included two types of photographs: some Confesiones de una editora poco mentirosa, 94.
(21) Una casa en la arena (The House in the
related to the places mentioned in the poem and others that “are a free interpretation of this
Sand), Palabra e imagen 9. Photography, Sergio
world full of images and suggestions that Lorca’s poems convey.” Larrain. Text, Pablo Neruda. Design, Toni Miserachs
Esther Tusquets contacted Pablo Neruda in 1964. She explained the project to him and Oscar Tusquets. Barcelona: Lumen, 1966.
with a copy of Viejas historias de Castilla la Vieja. Its “admirable text” and “beautiful 220 x 210 mm, [96] pages (60 greenish-gray
photographs” were sufficient to convince the poet, who proposed a subject: “I live on paper for the text + 36 white paper for the pho-
tographs), 35 photographs. Hardcover, covers
a furious Pacific coast, with large waves and seaweed, rocks, shipwrecks. My house
illustrated with a photograph.
has many things from the sea, which I have collected from all kinds of places. What if I (22) Tusquets, Confesiones de una editora
wrote a story about each object, figureheads, old anchors, model ships, and landscape poco mentirosa, 94.
and people from these parts?”20 Neruda suggested using the photographer Sergio Larrain, (23) Libro del mar (The book of the sea),
57 who accepted the commission. And so the ninth Palabra e Imagen photobook, Una casa Palabra e imagen 11. Photography, F. Català- 63
Roca. Text and drawings, Rafael Alberti. De-
en la arena (The House in the Sand), came into being.21
sign, J. C. Pérez Sánchez. Barcelona: Lumen,
In this case the photographer worked on the orders of the writer, who had chosen a 1968. 220 x 210 mm, [132] pages (96 greenish-
highly personal subject, his own home, and had clear ideas about what he wanted in the gray paper for the text + 36 white paper for
book: “1. The key is essential. There can be no book without it. But you can photograph it the photographs), 33 photographs. Hardcover,
on its own, as if floating in the air, or better still, tossed onto the sand. 2. All the figureheads covers illustrated with photographs.
(24) La ciudad de las columnas (The city of
must be shown. 3. The sea between the posts of the property must come at the end,” and so 64
columns), Palabra e imagen 12. Photography,
on. He supplied a detailed list of compulsory instructions as the scheme to be followed by Paolo Gasparini. Text, Alejo Carpentier. Design,
the photographer to the letter.22 Una casa en la arena is one of the best examples of coordi- Mariona Aguirre and Toni Miserachs. Barcelona:
nation between writer and photographer, and the pictures show what the words describe. Lumen, 1970. 220 x 210 mm, [116] pages (80
58 Libro del mar (The book of the sea), an anthology of photographs by Català-Roca greenish-gray paper for the text + 36 white paper 65
for the photographs), 44 photographs. Hardcover,
and texts by Alberti compiled from archives and earlier publications and showing
covers illustrated with a photograph.
considerable typographic disorder from the very cover, marks the start of the second
stage in the life of Palabra e Imagen, in which Oscar left Lumen to set up the Tusquets
publishing house with Beatriz de Moura.23 His absence is noticeable. The photographs in
Libro del mar are excellent, but the book’s only unity consists in the little it retains–the
minimum: format and paper–of the original project.
59 With La ciudad de las columnas (The city of columns) Palabra e Imagen experiment-
ed with a new literary genre.24 The book features an essay by Alejo Carpentier on the ar-
50
By Way of Introduction Palabra e Imagen
chitecture of Havana that is laid out by designers Mariona Aguirre and Toni Miserachs in (25) Informe personal sobre el alba y acerca de
larger print on the odd-number pages; the facing pages are left blank. Paolo Gasparini’s algunas auroras particulares (Personal report
on daybreak and concerning some particular
photographs are ordered in accordance with the architectural features commented on in
dawns), Palabra e imagen 13. Photography,
the text. The cover displays a photograph of a frieze with columns of different styles–a César Malet. Text, Carlos Barral. Design,
visual translation of the book’s title. Inside the book, the first picture is an aerial view Mariona Aguirre and Toni Miserachs. Barce-
of the city, and it is followed by several thematic series: galleries of columns, window lona: Lumen, 1970. 220 x 210 mm, [104] pages
grilles, stained-glass windows, colonnades . . . Close-up details are predominant, and (68 greenish-gray paper for the text + 36 white
paper for the photographs), 39 photographs.
only at the end is a general view of a street provided.
Hardcover, covers illustrated with photographs.
Volume thirteen of the collection, entitled Informe personal sobre el alba y acerca (26) Veinticinco poemas de Cavafis (Twenty-
de algunas auroras particulares (Personal report on daybreak and concerning some five poems by Cavafis), Palabra e imagen 14.
particular dawns), is a collection of erotic poems by Carlos Barral with photographs by Photography, Dick Frisell. Text, Cavafis and Juan
César Malet.25 The pictures are abstract, based on female nudes, and created using vari- Ferraté. Design, Juan Ferraté and Toni Miser-
achs. Barcelona: Lumen, 1971. 220 x 210 mm,
ous procedures: fragmented bodies that are always headless and footless, bright back-
[100] pages (64 pink paper for the text+ 36 white
lighting, transparencies, and double exposures. Some of the photographs recall earlier paper for the photographs), 32 photographs.
works, such as Eikoh Hosoe’s photographs in Man and Woman (1961). Hardcover, covers illustrated with photographs.
Dick Frisell, a British photographer based in Spain, took a series of photographs (27) Una tumba (A tomb), Palabra e imagen 15.
in Greece to illustrate an anthology of Cavafis’s poems that was brought out as book Photography, Colita, Text, Juan Benet. Design,
Enric Satué. Barcelona: Lumen, 1971.
number fourteen in the collection.26 The omnipresent Juan Ferraté (who is featured on
220 x 210 mm, [108] pages (72 pink paper for
the cover as the book’s author: he translated and edited the selection of poems and with the Text, + 36 white paper for the photo-
Toni Miserachs was responsible for the design) states in the prologue, “I am attracted graphs), 28 photographs. Hardcover, covers
above all by the idea of a good photographer succeeding in capturing in his pictures illustrated with photographs.
something of the world–so sensual and at the same time so delicate and passionate and (28) Evelyn Picon Garfield, Cortázar por
Cortázar (Veracruz, Mexico: Universidad
with such intellectual rigor–evoked by Cavafis.”
Veracruzana, 1981), 32.
The somewhat decadent air of this photobook is even more apparent in the follow- (29) Prosa del observatorio (Prose of the ob-
ing one entitled Una tumba (A tomb).27 The design–by Enric Satué, consisting of mauve servatory), Palabra e Imagen 16. Photography
lettering on pink paper–immerses the reader in a visual tale that could be described as and text, Julio Cortázar (with the collaboration
decadent, gothic, and bourgeois. The main feature of the photographs is a sculpture of Antonio Gálvez). Barcelona: Lumen, 1972.
220 x 210 mm, [116] pages (80 greenish-gray
group that is repeated several times among countless leprous-looking stones in the form
paper for the text + 36 white paper for the
of balustrades, sphinxes, tritons, and other garden statues in autumnal villas from the photographs), 35 photographs. Hardback,
very distant past: a tomb, of which the occasional interior can be made out with more covers illustrated with photographs.
ruins, past luxuries, dusty glass panes, and covered furniture. (30) Rosario Ferré, Cortázar: El romántico en
Julio Cortázar put his name to volume sixteen of Palabra e Imagen. Cortázar had su observatorio (San Juan, PR: Editorial Cultural,
1994), 157. On photography as a metaphor, see
traveled to the astronomical observatories of Jai Sinhg in India: “I took three hundred
Picon, Cortázar por Cortázar, 45.
photographs, because I wanted to write a text accompanying the photos, and in the end (31) Solo a dos voces (Two-part solo), Palabra e
I was able to.”28 The opportunity was given to him by Esther Tusquets, who published imagen 17. Photography, Antonio Gálvez. Text,
the text, accompanied by thirty photographs, with a descriptive and categorical title: Octavio Paz and Julián Ríos. Design, Toni Mis-
Prosa del observatorio (Prose of the observatory).29 The result is a sort of poem in prose erachs. Barcelona: Lumen, 1973. 220 x 210 mm,
[112] pages (62 pink paper + 20 green paper + 32
in which photographs are a metaphor for what is conveyed by the text, an element “of
white paper for the photographs), 47 photo-
primordial importance” in the book as a whole.30 For the pictures, Cortázar enlisted the graphs by different photographers. Hardback,
help of photographer Antonio Gálvez. The photographs, he writes, “were taken in 1968, covers illustrated with a photograph.
with poor-quality film,” and “Antonio Gálvez made them into what is shown here.” (32) Arranz Bravo Bartolozzi fiesta de la confu-
The following books in the Palabra e Imagen series bear little resemblance to the previ- sion (Arranz Bravo Bartolozzi celebration of con-
fusion), Palabra e Imagen 18. Photography, Xavier
ous ones. Solo a dos voces (Two-part solo) is a miscellany on Octavio Paz by another writer,
Miserachs et al. (Tony Catany, Ferran Freixa,
Julián Ríos; it consists of a carefully edited and typeset conversation between writers and an Jordi Gómez, Tedy Lindstrom, Paco Llobet,
album of assorted memories of Paz, some photographic.31 However, the series of pictures Josep Llorens, Antonio Orzaez, Toni Vidal). Text,
lacks coherence–which is only logical considering that the work was not done by a photog- Carmen Casas and Ramón Barnils. Barcelona:
rapher. Fiesta de la confusión (Celebration of confusion) is another jumbled assortment, in Lumen, 1974. 220 x 210 mm, [144] pages. Hard-
cover, cover illustrated with a photograph.
this case on two artists who were well known at the time: Arranz Bravo, and Bartolozzi; it
is an ensemble book in which Xavier Miserachs’s photographs do not stand out as much as
usual.32 Palabra e Imagen ended in 1975 with Luces y sombras del flamenco, in which Colita
and Esther Tusquets revived the old style of the collection.
A total of nineteen titles were published as part of the Palabra e Imagen collection.
Several more were planned throughout its history but did not see the light. Esther Tus-
quets approached Antonio Buero Vallejo and Jesús Fernández Santos, and Alfonso Sastre
proposed producing a book on “what hands express.” Tusquets also wrote to Rafael
51
 61

57 62

60

58

63 65

59

64
 1960 —1970
Azcona, a film scriptwriter who worked with the director Luis García Berlanga and was (33) Esther Tusquets, Confesiones de una vieja
interested in doing a book “on food or on burials” with photographs by Ramón Masats. dama indigna (Barcelona: Bruguera, 2009), 80–81.
(34) Tusquets, Confesiones de una editora
However, Azcona “suddenly went off to Italy,” and “the book came to nothing.”33 Plans
poco mentirosa, 41.
were made for Ignacio Aldecoa to bring out another book on deep-sea fishing, a subject (35) Tusquets, Confesiones de una vieja dama
that fascinated the writer: “A dangerous type of fishing as a livelihood” that requires “a indigna, 80.
photographer who is not just good but also has a measure of boldness.”34 Oscar Tus- (36) Esther Tusquets to Camilo José Cela, 18
quets suggested a book with Luis García Berlanga, “who has assembled a good collec- September 1963, in Archivo de la Fundación
Camilo José Cela. The book was published
tion of books and erotica.”35
shortly afterward with illustrations by José Sáenz
Plans were also made for a third book with Camilo José Cela. The first idea was González. Camilo José Cela, Once cuentos de
a Palabra e Imagen with the text of Once cuentos de fútbol (Eight tales of football).36 fútbol (Madrid: Editora Nacional, 1963).
They then came up with the idea for a project entitled Para Elisa (For Elisa), which was (37) Esther Tusquets to Camilo José Cela,
to feature texts by Cela based on old postcards selected by Maspons.37 After dismiss- 31 August 1963, in Archivo de la Fundación
Camilo José Cela.
ing both ideas, they thought of doing a series of novels similar to Gavilla de pliegos de
(38) Esther Tusquets to Camilo José Cela, 1
cordel (Chapbook gang) with photographs by Colita. “A spicy, lively, witty” book, Esther March 1965, in Archivo de la Fundación Camilo
Tusquets wrote. She was clear about the photographs: “I can see the photos perfectly: José Cela.
laboratory photos this time, humorous and gruesome, with a jokey touch, very pop art. (39) “A more ambitious project is a book, this
It will be a sensational book, very different from the others.”38 Although Colita received time only of photos, on Spain [. . .]. It will be an
important book. Some 500 photographs, on which
the texts and set to work, the project was never completed.
we have pinned great hopes.” Esther Tusquets to
Lumen embarked on other ambitious photographic projects that were never realized, Carlos Pérez Siquier, 22 February 1963, quoted in
such as a book by Masats on Spain.39 They also jointly published photobooks that are Terré, Historia del grupo fotográfico AFAL, 29.
now classics, with their original layouts and the texts in Spanish. These include Barakei (40) Eikoh Hosoe and Yukio Mishima, Muerto
(1963) by Eikoh Hosoe and Yukio Mishima; Nothing Personal (1964) by Richard Avedon por las rosas. Killed by Roses (Barcelona: Lumen,
1963). This is the Japanese edition (Barakei
and James Baldwin; Sweet Life (1966) by Ed van der Elsken; and New York: The New Art
[Tokyo: Shueisha, 1963]), plus an offprint with
Scene (1967) by Ugo Mulas.40 a translation of the texts and a round label on
Palabra e Imagen attracted the critics’ attention from the outset. Some appreciated the book’s cardboard case. Richard Avedon
“the commendable but risky intention to decisively combine two artistic expressions, and James Baldwin, Nada personal (Barcelona:
literature and photography, in order to achieve a new, superior work of art”–an attempt Lumen, 1966). Published in Catalan as Res de
personal. Ugo Mulas, Nueva York: Escenario del
that “had never been applied so purely and rigorously” in Spain.41 Others felt that the
arte nuevo (Barcelona: Lumen, 1967). Ed van der
resulting books “ought to be well received by both a cultivated audience and a mass- Elsken, Sweet Life (Barcelona: Lumen, 1967).
inclined audience that, as such, has a predilection for cultural aspects delivered through (41) José R. Marra-López, “Una nueva colección:
any photographic system.”42 Palabra e Imagen,” Ínsula 204 (November 1963): 4.
Palabra e Imagen explored the possibilities of both elements throughout nearly (42) Sergio Vilar, “Noticia y crítica sobre los
libros de una nueva colección editorial,” Papeles
fifteen years: some writers composed their texts independently; others worked with the
de Son Armadans 83 (February 1963): 219.
photographer; and still others took the photographs themselves or used the pictures to
construct a fiction. The same is true of the photographers: some attempted to document
the text; others sought a more symbolic type of illustration; and still others produced abstract
works or varied essays. With Palabra e Imagen, Lumen created a laboratory where for
fifteen years writers, designers, photographers, and editors experimented with different 66 67
ways of producing a type of combined book that attached equal importance 68 69
to visual and textual readings . . . word and image.

Formentor, a collection of fiction published by Seix Barral, was redesigned around 1960:
thenceforward its books had dust jackets with photographs by Oriol Maspons and de-
66 67 signs by Miguel Grau Vilella, who collaborated on Fin de fiesta (Grand finale), Esta cara
68 de la luna (This side of the moon) and Las mismas palabras (The same words).1 The
text of these book jackets, in large print, formed typographic patterns that were superim-
posed onto the black-and-white photographs, and everything was tinted in two or three
colors. This cheerful and striking style was repeated during the first half of the decade
(sometimes with other designs and photographers, such as Carmen Peris or Eugenio
Forcano) but was soon discarded to give way to more “artistic” covers.2
This is regrettable, especially considering that photographic covers are not rare dur-
ing those years, above all those of Biblioteca Breve–another collection by the same pub-
(1) Fin de fiesta (Grand finale). Photography, Oriol
Maspons. Text, Juan Goytisolo. Design, M. Grau.
Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1962. 200 x 135 mm, 202
pages. Hardback, dust jackets illustrated with a pho-
tograph. Esta cara de la luna (This side of the moon).
Photography, Oriol Maspons. Text, Juan Marsé.
Design, M. Grau. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1962.
200 x 130 mm, 270 pages. Hardback, dust jackets
illustrated with a photograph. Las mismas palabras
(The same words). Photography, Oriol Maspons.
Text, Luis Goytisolo. Design, M. Grau. Barcelona:
Seix Barral, 1962. 200 x 130 mm, 358 pages. Hard-
back, dust jackets illustrated with a photograph.

54 55

lishers consisting of essays and fiction whose dust jackets display photographs in black (2) 69 For examples of Peris’s and Forcano’s
and white. Among the photographers whose photographs were used for this purpose are work, see Oficio de muchachos (Boys’ trade).
Photography, Oriol Maspons. Text, Manuel Arce.
Leopoldo Pomés and, above all, Maspons, who was responsible for the stunning covers
Design, Carmen Peris. Barcelona: Seix Barral,
71 of Cabeza rapada (Shaven head; 1958) and Encerrados con un solo juguete (Locked up 1963. 200 x 130 mm, 232 pages. Hardback,
with a single toy; 1960), among others.3 dust jackets illustrated with a photograph. Las
Some of these books also have photographs inside their covers but outside the text cuarentenas (Les quarantines [The quarantines]).
72 block. One such example is Caminando por las Hurdes (Walking around Las Hurdes), a Photography, Eugenio Forcano. Text, Fereydoun
Hoveyda. Design, M. Grau. Barcelona: Seix Barral,
type of travel book–written with a critical and nontouristic intent and less concerned with
1963. 200 x 130 mm, 332 pages. Hardback, dust
traditions than with injustices–dealing with remote or unknown corners of Spain that still jackets illustrated with a photograph.
clung to the past.4 Some of these political testimonies disguised as literary forays are sup- (3) 70 La conciencia de Zeno (published in Eng-
plemented with convincing photographic documentation, as in Caminando por las Hurdes, lish as Zeno’s Conscience). Photography, Leopoldo
73 Tierra de olivos (Land of olive trees), and Por el río abajo (Down the river).5 Pomés. Text, Italo Svevo. Barcelona: Seix Barral,
1956. 180 x 110 mm, 450 pages. Paperback,
The chroniclers’ quarrels with the authorities are part of the account: “We were not
dust jacket illustrated with a photograph.
able to take photographs in Las Hurdes other than those of our prose,” they state in Cabeza rapada (Shaven head). Photography,
Caminando por las Hurdes. “However, we were lucky enough to come by a few stills Oriol Maspons. Text, Jesús Fernández Santos.
from Buñuel’s film report Tierra sin pan [Land without Bread] kindly supplied by the Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1958. 180 x 110 mm, 224
author.” The photographs that had supposedly come from Luis Buñuel actually belonged pages. Paperback, dust jacket illustrated with
a photograph. Encerrados con un solo juguete
to Eli Lotar, a member of the team who filmed the documentary directed by Buñuel in
(Locked up with a single toy). Photography, Oriol
the spring of 1932. The rest of the photographs were commissioned by the publisher Maspons. Text, Juan Marsé. Barcelona: Seix Bar-
from Maspons, who traveled to Las Hurdes to illustrate the book in 1960.6 In the layout ral, 1960. 180 x 110 mm, 264 pages. Paperback,
the older pictures are contrasted with the new ones, and only the dates are provided dust jacket illustrated with a photograph.
in order to stress that nothing has changed in three decades: “Any of the photographs (4) Caminando por las Hurdes (Walking around
Las Hurdes). Photography, Oriol Maspons and
chosen for the book might have been taken during our recent trip.” However, Maspons’s
Luis Buñuel. Text, Armando López Salinas and
photographs do not support this statement: the geography and the hamlets might be Antonio Ferres. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1960.
the same, but his pictures lack the exaggerated crudity of Buñuel’s false documentary. 180 x 110 mm, 192 pages + 8 plates, 11 photographs.
Although in 1960 the inhabitants of Las Hurdes were poor, they were no longer the Paperback, dust jacket illustrated with a photograph.
wretched creatures portrayed by Buñuel, cruel to animals and chronically ill. Instead, (5) Tierra de olivos (Land of olive trees). Pho-
tography, Oriol Maspons, and Daniel Gil. Text,
they were cheerful people, friendly to the outsiders–even the photographers–who visited
Antonio Ferres. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1960. 180
them on rare occasions. x 110 mm, 212 pages + 8 plates. Paperback, dust
jacket illustrated with a photograph by Oriol
Maspons. Por el río abajo (Down the river). Pho-
tography, O. M. [Oriol Maspons], X. M. [Xavier
Miserachs]. Text, Alfonso Grosso, Armando
López Salinas. Cover Design, Castelo. Paris:
Ebro, 1966. 155 x 175 mm, 206 pages + [8]
outside the text, 12 photographs. Paperback,
cover illustrated with a photograph.
70 71 72 73
By Way of Introduction 1960–1970
Maspons’s pictures are found in many books of the 1960s, especially those published
74 as part of Lumen’s Palabra e Imagen collection. Also by Lumen is Això també es Barcelo-
na (Such is Barcelona too), a curious guide to the city that is referred to as “the younger
sister of all the serious guidebooks”: “it may have a frivolous air and, deep down, be tru-
ly passionate.”7 Written by Josep M. Espinàs and illustrated by the caricaturist Cesc with
photographs by Maspons and his partner Julio Ubiña, Això també es Barcelona avoids
tours of monuments and historic sites. Its theme is the city’s bustling street life, which
is conveyed in a variety of details from cemeteries to flamenco venues to markets, the
most interesting bars, and popular festivities, among others. Maspons and Ubiña’s high-
contrast photographs show these places with a special design feature by one of the crea-
tors of the Palabra e Imagen collection, Lluís Clotet: they all have their corners trimmed
to imitate the octagonal shape of the blocks in Barcelona’s Ensanche district. The city is
thus present throughout the book. This peculiar framing is also used for human figures 74
and even zoo animals, which are not represented generally but appear in a gallery of
individual portraits in contrast to the multitudinous microcosm of Cesc’s drawings.
The most brilliant and ambitious photographic portrayal of the city is Xavier Mis- (6) “I went to Las Hurdes in 1960. Carlos Barral
erachs’s Barcelona blanc i negre (Barcelona black and white) (dealt with on pages wanted to do a book that would be called
Caminando por Las Hurdes. The book came out
174–181), a photobook that espouses to an extraordinary degree the approach adopted
and was harshly criticized for being ill-inten-
by William Klein only a few years earlier.8 Other urban books on Barcelona include tioned and so on. I was unable to shoot even
Arquitectura modernista (Modernist architecture), with architectural photography by half of what I saw because it was forbidden to
75 Leopoldo Pomés; and Esgrafiados de Picasso (Sgraffiti by Picasso), featuring photographs take photos. The Civil Guard were watching
by Francesc Català-Roca of some large-scale drawings made by Pablo Picasso on the you and simply told you that they would throw
you out if you took photos.” Oriol Maspons,
facade of the Col·legi d’Arquitectes (the building of the architects’ association).9
quoted in Oriol Maspons: El instante perdido,
The introduction to Esgrafiados de Picasso provides a short, educational description exh. cat. (Barcelona: la Caixa, 1995), 16.
of the project. This is followed by a group of photographs that go from the general to (7) Això també es Barcelona (This is Barcelona
the particular: a panoramic view of the city, the Col·legi d’Arquitectes from the other too). Photography, Maspons+Ubiña. Text, Josep
side of the square, the building seen from the ground, and a series on Picasso’s friezes M. Espinàs. Design, Lluís Clotet. Drawings,
Cesc. Barcelona: Lumen, 1965. 240 x 140 mm,
on the Col·legi’s facades and in his sketches. The last photographs focus on details of
144 pages, 40 photographs, 27 drawings. Paper-
the work so that figures are no longer perceptible–only the technique used to execute back, cover illustrated with a photograph.
(8) Xavier Miserachs, Barcelona blanc i negre
(Barcelona: Aymà, 1964).
(9) Oriol Bohigas, Arquitectura modernista
(Barcelona: Lumen, 1968); photography, Leopoldo
Pomés; 300 x 245 mm, 330 pages, 259 photo-
graphs; illustrated hardback. Esgrafiados de
Picasso (Sgraffiti by Picasso). En el Colegio Oficial
de Arquitectos de Cataluña y Baleares. Photog-
raphy, F. Català-Roca. Text, Alexandre Cirici-
Pellicer. Design, Ricard Giralt Miracle. Barcelona:
Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos, 1965. 230 x 240
mm, 69 pages + 31 photographs. Illustrated cloth.
75
 By Way of Introduction 1960–1970

78 by the firm–and were later compiled in El libro de la caza menor.17 Delibes established (14) Camilo José Cela and Enrique Palazuelo,
the order of the pictures: he sorted them into groups of ten, which formed thematic Nuevas escenas matritenses: Fotografías al
minuto (Madrid: Alfaguara, 1965–1966); Luis
sequences, and incorporated them into the related chapters. The photographs are di-
Carandell and Francisco Ontañón, Vivir en Ma-
rectly related to the content of the book and–also at Delibes’s suggestion–published full drid (Barcelona: Kairós, 1967); and Mirada sobre
bleed.18 According to the publisher, the contrast of the photographs caused problems Madrid (A look at Madrid). Photography, Daniel
when it came to printing them: “[I]t is really very difficult to work in photogravure with Gil. Text, Antonio Ferres. Cover design, Jordi
photographic material as harsh as what Ontañón submitted.”19 Nevertheless, the book Fornas. Madrid: Península, 1967. 180 x 110 mm,
132 pages + [8] outside the text, 8 photographs.
was a success, and a second edition was printed the following July.
Paperback, cover illustrated with a photograph.
The experience encouraged Delibes to repeat the same formula a year later with USA (15) El libro de la caza menor (The book of
y yo (USA and I), an anthology of articles that had also been published in Destino.20 For small game). Photography, Francisco Ontañón.
this project Delibes enlisted Maspons and Ubiña as collaborators. They already had a Text, Miguel Delibes. Barcelona: Destino, May
79 collection of photographs taken in America (for their Poeta en Nueva York [Poet in New 1964. 215 x 150 mm, 218 pages + 96 plates
outside the text, 120 photographs. Cloth, dust
York], part of the Palabra e Imagen collection). Although some of these pictures were
jacket illustrated with a photograph.
incorporated into the book–or appeared on the dust jacket–and others were used to il- (16) Over time Ontañón became an expert
lustrate Delibes’s articles in Destino, Maspons and Ubiña’s material was insufficient, and photographer of animals. See, for example,
the publishers had to supplement with agency photographs.21 Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente and Francisco
76
80 Another travel book is Sorpresa de España (Surprise of Spain), which was defined by Ontañón, Animales salvajes de África Oriental
(Madrid: Everest, 1970).
Federico Muelas as a guidebook in which the traveler must allow himself to be sur-
(17) Some photographs in the series were
prised.22 Instead of proposing a systematic route, it explores a number of themes: walls, published in articles such as Miguel Delibes,
“El primer día de la temporada,” Destino 1,381
them. However, the sequence is not entirely linear. For example, subsequent pages fea- (10) José Luis Martín Montesinos, Ricard Giralt (25 January 1964): 13–17.
ture Picasso’s “muro de la sardana” (sardana wall) showing people dancing sardanas (a Miracle: El diálogo entre la tipografía y el diseño (18) “I have sorted them into tens and there
gráfico (Valencia: Campgràfic, 2008), 196. are twelve groups, that is, a total of 120. It is
Catalan folk dance) outside the Col·legi. Art is thus incorporated into daily life through
(11) Guía del Rastro (Guide to the Rastro flea advisable for each block of 10 photos to go
the painstaking design of the masterful Ricard Giralt Miracle, who paid attention to every market). Photography, Carlos Saura. Text, Ramón together because they have a certain unity [. . .]
detail and “was very proud” of the result.10 Gómez de la Serna. Drawings, Eduardo Vicente. I told you that it looks much nicer if the pho-
Books came out on other cities, such as the illustrated version of Ramón Gómez Madrid: Taurus, 1961. 225 x 190 mm, 220 pages + tographs have no margins, that is, if they are
76 de la Serna’s Guía del Rastro (Guide to the Rastro flea market) published by Taurus in [24] outside the text, 32 photographs, 44 drawings. separated by the paper cutter.” Miguel Delibes
Illustrated cloth, dust jacket illustrated with a pho- to José Vergés, Valladolid, 24 January 1964, in
1961.11 The photographer was the future film director Carlos Saura, who was then toying
tograph. Ramón Gómez de la Serna’s text is from Miguel Delibes-Josep Vergés, Correspondencia,
with the idea of taking up photography professionally.12 Saura’s photographs document 1910: El Rastro (Valencia: Prometeo, 1910). 1948–1986 (Barcelona: Destino, 2002), 197–98.
the disorder inherent in Madrid’s great street market. The fragmentary account begins (12) Carlos Saura, “Villages et visages (19) José Vergés to Miguel Delibes, Barcelona,
with the silhouette of a statue overlooking a square as if it were one of the buyers . . . d’Espagne: Photographies des années cin- 28 June 1964, in Delibes, Correspondencia, 223.
or perhaps one of the sellers. The photographs then go from perspective views of the quante et soixante,” in Carlos Saura: Años de (20) USA y yo (USA and I). Text, Miguel
juventud: Photographies 1949–1962, exh. cat. Delibes. Barcelona: Destino, April 1966.
crowd to a series of details: piled-up reels of thread, old medals or dolls, sculptures on
(Trézélan, France: Philigranes 2002), 7. 215 x 150 mm, 240 pages + 60 plates outside
the ground, people bargaining. Some show objects out of context (such as a crystal lamp (13) Miguel Mihura, Madrid (Madrid: Dirección the text, 58 photographs by various unidenti-
hanging outside a closed garage door), seeking to achieve the puzzling effects that were General de Arquitectura, 1961). fied photographers. Cloth, dust jacket il-
greatly appreciated years earlier by artists such as Giorgio de Chirico and André Breton. lustrated with a photograph by Oriol Maspons
Writer Miguel Mihura, painter Juan Ignacio de Cárdenas, and photographer Francisco and Julio Ubiña, designed by Erwin Bechtold.
78 (21) Maspons and Ubiña’s photographs begin
Gómez (whose photographs were often published in Arquitectura magazine) collaborated
the series of articles by Miguel Delibes, “USA
on a book on Madrid that was published in 1961.13 The photographs show details of daily
por el ojo de la cerradura,” Destino 1,442 (27
life in the city: trams, passers-by, bars full of people. A more abstract picture features only March 1965): 13–16.
a flaking wall. Although the documentary nature of the photographs contrasts with the (22) Sorpresa de España (Primer recuento)
naïveté of the drawings, everything is designed as a whole: the texts, photographs, and (Surprise of Spain [first count]). Photography,
drawings are all part of the same account and infused with good-natured humor. Kindel. Text, Federico Muelas. Design, Luis
Roibal. Madrid: Enrique Aguado, July 1962.
Other photobooks on Madrid include Nuevas escenas matritenses (New scenes of Ma-
250 x 180 mm, 158 pages, 47 photographs.
drid) by Enrique Palazuelo (see pages 182–189), Vivir en Madrid (Living in Madrid) by Paperback, cover illustrated with a photograph
77 Francisco Ontañón (see pages 200–205), and Mirada sobre Madrid (A look at Madrid), by Nicolás Muller.
which features eight photographs taken by the graphic designer Daniel Gil that portray
the city through what is unfortunately a small selection of signs.14 All these books are the
product of collaboration between writers and photographers. This fashion was set by the
Palabra e Imagen collection and caught on with other publishers. Another example is El
libro de la caza menor (The book of small game) by Ontañón and Miguel Delibes.15
The success of Palabra e Imagen’s La caza de la perdiz roja (The Hunt of the Red
Partridge) spurred Delibes to write another book for Destino: a well-illustrated “present-
day study” of small game. The photographer chosen for the assignment was Ontañón,
who had accompanied Delibes on earlier shoots.16 Some of the texts and photographs 77
79
had previously appeared in Destino–the magazine by the same name also published
58
 By Way of Introduction 1960–1970

(23) España clara (Light Spain). Photography, Two photobooks by Juan Gyenes, Ballet español (Spanish dancing) and, above all, Anto- (30) Zambra, Tablao flamenco (Zambra,
Nicolás Muller. Text, Azorín. Design, Miguel nio el bailarín de España (Antonio the dancer of Spain), which contains monumental photo- flamenco show). Photography, Francisco
Buñuel. Madrid: Doncel, March 1966. Ontañón and Francisco Gómez. Design, José
graphs printed in luxury photogravure, address the subject of flamenco singing and dancing.29
290 x 250 mm, 168 pages, 169 photographs Mª. Cruz Novillo. [Madrid]: Spanish Pavilion
printed by photogravure at T. G. Arte, Bilbao. 82 A much more modest publication is Zambra, which was brought out on the occasion of the New York World’s Fair, 1964. Text in Spanish
Cloth, dust jackets illustrated with photographs. New York World’s Fair in 1964.30 Its title is the name of a school of flamenco dancing and sing- and English. 320 x 160 mm, [78] pages (34
(24) Fernando García Vela, Fotografías de Nicolás ing that was presented at the Spanish pavilion during the fair. The photographs, taken by two colored paper for the text + [44] white paper
Muller (Madrid: Revista de Occidente, 1947). Franciscos, Gómez and Ontañón, feature flamenco singers and dancers as well as a smatter- for the photographs), 32 photographs. Paper-
(25) Gerardo Vielba, quoted in Fotógrafos de la es- back, covers illustrated with a photograph.
ing of bullrings and landscapes to make up the quota of Andalusian commonplaces required
cuela de Madrid: Obra 1950–1975 (Madrid: Museo (31) Antonio Gades. Photography, Jesús de la
Español de Arte Contemporáneo, 1988), 26–27. to promote tourism. A noteworthy feature is the design by José María Cruz Novillo, who is Sota and Antonio Cores. Text, Edgar Neville,
(26) Muller published monographs on País responsible for the vertical “composition”: twice as high as it is wide, the book emphasizes the Alfredo Mañas, and José Manuel Caballero
Vasco, Baleares, Andalucía (Madrid: Clave, figures of the dancers, whose photographs, like nearly all of those in the book, are reframed to Bonald. [Madrid]: Spanish Pavilion New York
80 1967); Canarias (Madrid: Clave, 1968); and accentuate the vertical. Whereas the posed photographs have a studio air about them, others, World’s Fair, 1964. Paul Dammar, ed. Text
Cantabria (Madrid: Clave, 1969). in Spanish and English. 220 x 220 mm, [32]
with a selective focus, convey the activity and passion of the live spectacle.
(27) Xavier Miserachs, Costa Brava Show sheets, 21 photographs. Paperback.
(Barcelona: Kairós, 1966). Jesús de la Sota, a painter and photographer who was better known as a designer of (32) Chunga. La gitana de los pies descalzos
(28) Ramón Masats, Los Sanfermines (Madrid: furniture and objects and was responsible for the interior design of the Spanish pavilion (Chunga: The barefoot gypsy). Photography,
Espasa-Calpe, 1963); and Tauromaquia (The at the New York World’s Fair, also designed some of the pavilion’s publications, among J. L. Gonzalvo, Saulnier, Paris Match, Colita,
art of bullfighting). Photography, F. Català- 83 them Antonio Gades, a book on flamenco dancing featuring black-and-white photo- and Leopoldo Pomés. [Madrid]: n.pub., [1964].
Roca. Text, Néstor Luján. Design, Jaume Pla. 270 x 210 mm, 10 pages, 12 photographs, text
graphs.31 He produced the photographs, as well as the drawings and graphic design.
Barcelona: Ediciones Nauta, April 1962. in Spanish and English. Paperback, covers
300 x 150 mm, 142 pages, 77 photographs. 84 Chunga is another small book based on a similar concept.32 In this case the subject is illustrated with a photograph.
wood, roofs, bells, alleyways, winter trees, shadows on walls, animals . . . The photo- the flamenco dancer known as La Chunga. The photographs, by Pomés and Colita, are
Cloth, two dust jackets, one plastic and the
graphs are by Joaquín del Palacio–better known as Kindel–who had already published other paper illustrated with a photograph. interspersed with poems about the dancer. Several years later Colita would produce the
two other photobooks, Momentos (Moments) and Vegaviana. Although Sorpresa de (29) Juan Gyenes, Ballet español (Madrid: finest photobook on the subject: Luces y sombras del flamenco (Lights and shadows of
España was to be sold as a tourist guide, Kindel avoids clichés and conventional pho- Afrodisio Aguado, 1953); 300 x 240 mm, 124
flamenco; see pages 212–217), which brought the Palabra e Imagen collection to a close.
tographs of monuments. When he does show one, he chooses unusual viewpoints and pages, 95 photographs; cloth, dust jacket
illustrated with photograph. Juan Gyenes,
focuses on details that represent the whole. His photographs are carefully composed and
Antonio el bailarín de España (Madrid: Taurus,
range from extreme close-ups to general views in which the horizon, a tree, or a white 1964); 310 x 250 mm, 104 pages; cloth, dust
wall strike a perfect balance. The pictures are enhanced by the design of Luis Roibal, jacket illustrated with photograph, there is
who is listed in the credits as being in charge of the “artistic direction” and was therefore a numbered edition of 250 copies.
responsible for reframing many of the photographs in an exaggeratedly elongated format.
Nicolás Muller published España clara (Light Spain) in 1966.23 He had previously
done two photobooks on Morocco and shown his work in an exhibition organized
by the Revista de Occidente.24 España clara is an anthology of pictures of the Span-
ish regions, structured around texts by Azorín. Gerardo Vielba considered the book’s
title to be “redeeming” because it opposed the cliché of “dark” Spain as a backwater.25
Muller provides a luminous view of a country with a rich landscape of folk architecture
and historic monuments. In a sense España clara is a forerunner of the tourist books on
Spanish provinces that Muller would bring out during the following years.26
During those years tourism was significantly opening up the country. Its economy, its
customs, and, above all, its coastal towns began to change. The photobook that is most
critical of this phenomenon is Costa Brava Show by Miserachs (see pages 190–195).27 81
Tourism also found its way into the rigueur topics: bullfighting and flamenco. The main
photobooks on bullfighting are Los Sanfermines (The San Fermín festivities) by Ramón
81 Masats (discussed on pages 156–163) and Tauromaquia (The art of bullfighting) by Català- 83 82 84
Roca with a full report on the bullfighting world written by journalist Néstor Luján.28 The
sequence of Català-Roca’s photographs begins with children and apprentice bullfighters
and continues with village squares and, finally, bullfights in the major bullrings, which are
described in an account that ends with the bullfighter being carried on people’s shoulders
amid the applause of the crowd while the bull lies dead and forgotten in a corner.
The book includes not only two-page panoramic views but small details: an over-
head view of the musicians; the picadors’ hats hanging on the wall; the bullfighter wait-
ing to go out into the ring. The photographs are full bleed, their arrangement and format
varying according to the pages: in addition to full-page and two-page photographs, pic-
tures in different sizes play with the type, which, in order to adapt to the photographs,
extends across the page to leave hardly any margin. These and other details, such as
the two accompanying sets of book jackets, display the careful design of the man who
“devised and directed” the edition: Jaume Pla.

60
 By Way of Introduction 1960–1970

The photobooks from this decade extend to other subjects as well. Masats, for exam-
ple, dared to illustrate an edition of Don Quixote, adding to the earlier efforts by Franzen
and Cánovas, Azorín and Asenjo, Luis de Ocharán and Gabriel Casas.33 Masats produced a
realistic report on daily life in the rural areas of La Mancha without concern for achieving
a historical appearance with his pictures, which feature tractors, cars, telephone posts, and
even advertisements that present Don Quixote as a tourist attraction. This brings an ironic
and amusing touch to the long tradition of illustrating Cervantes’s novel.
85 Also by Masats is a magnificent catalogue, designed with sculptor José Luis Sánchez,
86 of an exhibition held at the Madrid Athenaeum in 1961. Fernando Nuño showed his
work there the following year, and it was published in the related catalogue.34 Cata-
logues of photographic exhibitions were rare at the time, and self-published photobooks
were almost unheard of. A noteworthy example is the unique work by a photographer
from an advertising background who, in addition to taking the pictures and featuring in
some of them, was responsible for the text and design: Luis Acosta Moro.35 (This truly
unique photobook is dealt with on pages 206–211.) 85
The 1960s began with photographic book covers and ended the same way. In 1966
87 Gil started designing covers for Alianza Editorial’s pocket book collection. He became
artistic director of the firm shortly afterward and worked there until 1989. During that
time he designed some 4,000 book covers.
Gil was a graphic design artist who trained at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in
Ulm, West Germany. Before working for Alianza Editorial, he designed record covers
and posters and even took photographs, such as those published in Tierra de olivos and
Mirada sobre Madrid. But after joining Alianza, he focused entirely on designing covers,
a job that basically “consists in transforming a story into an image.”36

(33) Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quijote de la

Mancha (Madrid: Alfaguara, 1967); photo-
graphs, Ramón Masats; 264 x 210 mm, vol. 1:
cxlvii + 566 pages, vol. 2: 626 pages; hard-
back, plastic dust jacket, 4,000 copies.
(34) Masats. Photography, Ramón Masats.
Text, José Luis Fernández del Amo. Design,
José Luis Sánchez. Madrid: Cuadernos de
Arte del Ateneo de Madrid 76, 1961. 200 x 195
mm, 36 pages, 13 photographs. Paperback,
covers illustrated with a photograph. F. Nuño.
Photography, Fernando Nuño. Text, Salvador
Jiménez. Madrid: Cuadernos de Arte del
Ateneo de Madrid 97, 1962. 200 x 195 mm,
36 pages, 13 photographs. Paperback, covers
illustrated with a photograph.
(35) L. Acosta Moro, Cabeza de muñeca,
excombatiente e introducción dedicada a un
buzo (Barcelona: Ediciones Marte, 1968). He
published another photobook the previous
year: L. Acosta Moro, Trece historias sobre la
muerte fotografiadas, con seres vivos, dentro
de un cementerio (Barcelona: Ediciones Marte,
1967); photography, text, and design, Luis 87
Acosta Moro; 205 x 205 mm, 217 pages + 53
full-page photographs on special paper; pa-
perback, cover illustrated with photographs.
(36) José María Moreno Galván, “Daniel Gil:
Las portadas de Alianza Editorial,” Triunfo 571
86 (8 September 1973): 47.
 In Gil’s view, “a designer is a bit like a one-man-band: he uses photography, but (37) Daniel Gil, quoted in “Daniel Gil en
is neither a photographer nor has the mentality of one.”37 Photography eliminates the cuatro tiempos,” Experimenta 13–14 (1996): 29.
(38) Enrique Cotarelo, “Daniel Gil,” Arte
subjectivism and singularity of drawing and other techniques of the classical fine arts; it
fotográfico 383 (November 1983): 1,135.
fabricates cold, depersonalized images. “What I aim for is precisely to make that per- (39) Ibid., 1,136.
sonal element disappear, or for it not to be perceptible,” he explained in an interview (40) “Daniel Gil: Una portada es un acto
in Arte fotográfico. He added, “This element would be a virtue for an art involving pure de seducción,” Heraldo de Aragón, 23
creation, but for an art with the commercial vein [graphic design] has, it is an obstacle. February 1985.

That is why I seldom use drawing, because drawing is too much mine, it is as if it were
my own signature, something distinguishable. However, through photography an object
can become a symbol, an anonymous being.”38
In Gil’s hands photographs were versatile and extremely easy to manipulate. He
modified them at the negative stage and during the development process, and he
cropped, reframed, outlined, or retouched prints without asking for permission. He
made extensive use of photographic collage, sometimes employing the old montage
technique of the interwar years but also utilizing other means to give shape to the work:
he jumbled, fragmented, duplicated, and multiplied figures. His photo-manipulation
techniques are not far short of what was then possible: developing in negative, deform-
ing, enlarging the halftones, superimposing images, transparency, breaking down the
RGB, solarization, modifying the contrast, focus, relief . . .
He stated that his aim was “to remove objects from their usual context and discover
oth er meanings that can arise outside, in another context.”39 This artistic procedure was 88
devised by Russian formalism during the interwar years. But Gil’s use of the device is
not merely formalistic; it is subordinate to a number of intentions of both the designer
and the publisher. As Gil stated, “A cover provides supplementary information. In tech-
nical, scientific, philosophic books, its role is minor. But in literary texts its purpose is to In 1973 Cuadernos de fotografía devoted a monographic issue to the publication of (1) Gerardo Vielba, “Fotos, libros, editoriales,”
captivate. The image of the cover depends on the messenger. A book has many readings photographic books. Gerardo Vielba, its author, made a declaration of principles: “We Cuadernos de fotografía 5 (June 1973): 10.
(2) Ibid.
and a designer, without betraying the book, can have a completely different vision to believe that books are not just a suitable vehicle for images, but also, and for this rea-
(3) La década prodigiosa 60s, 70s (The prodi-
somebody else. That is, the infallible, definite cover does not exist.”40 son, one of the main functional and disseminative ends of photography. To illustrate, gious decade 60s, 70s). Text, Pedro Sempere.
visually document a text has been a constantly enriching aim, sometimes an unavoidable Design, Alberto Corazón. Madrid: Felmar,
expressive need in human communication.”1 March 1976. 200 x 110 mm, 272 pages, 200
With this idea in mind, Vielba surveyed the Spanish books of photographs published illustrations. Paperback, covers illustrated
with photographs.
to date, from José Ortiz Echagüe’s tetralogy to Destino’s guidebooks, Xavier Miserachs’s
(4) Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore,
Barcelona, and the Palabra e Imagen collection . . . “Is that all? . . . Much remains un- The Medium Is the Message: An Inventory of
said; chiefly what has yet to be done, for compared to other publishing worlds ours has Effects (New York: Random House, 1967); and
scarcely begun . . .”2 Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore, War
Things had changed nonetheless, though neither as much nor as well as hoped for and Peace in the Global Village: An Inventory
of Some of the Current Spastic Situations That
years earlier. “The 60s were years of ground-breaking and revolutionary experiments.
Could Be Eliminated by More Feedforward
Change became a permanent feature.” In contrast, “the 70s are years of assimilation and (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968). Published in
88 dreamless realities,” we read at the start of La década prodigiosa (The prodigious dec- Spanish as El medio es el masaje: Un inventario
ade), a book published by Pedro Sempere and Alberto Corazón in 1976 as “a chronicle de efectos (Buenos Aires: Paidós, 1969), with
of the everyday revolutions and permanent changes” that occurred between the murder Fiore’s design; and Guerra y paz en la aldea
global (Barcelona: Martínez Roca, 1971). Pedro
of John F. Kennedy in 1963 and the death of Salvador Allende ten years later.3
Sempere published a monographic study on
Corazón’s design is the most novel aspect of La década prodigiosa. Some chapters McLuhan: La galaxia McLuhan (Valencia:
feature a dictionary definition of the word that provides the theme, in the style of Joseph Fernando Torres, 1975).
Kosuth’s first conceptual works. The section on May 1968 thus begins with a defini-
tion of May; definitions of masculine and feminine head the chapter on feminism; and
vice-versa gives way to a reflection on gay culture. The list of themes suggests that “not
governments but sensibilities changed” at the end of the 1960s. The design itself is a
product of these sensibilities, as it recalls the methods of the books of Quentin Fiore and
Marshall McLuhan, which are full of illustrations, slogans, highlighted quotes, and many
kinds of lettering.4 What is more, La década prodigiosa is printed in several colors: pre-
dominantly sepia, which changes to red when dealing with May 1968 and to dark brown
in the last chapter on “the effects of information.” This chapter addresses humankind’s
arrival on the moon, the execution of Nguyen Van Lem in Saigon–the photograph that
earned Eddie Adams the Pulitzer Prize–and the assassination of photojournalist Leonardo
Henrichsen in the streets of Santiago, Chile, in 1973.
64 65
 By Way of Introduction 1970–1977

Corazón takes as a basis photographs found in magazines and newspapers–as well as (5) “My professional activity no doubt steered
comic strips, logos, graffiti, and drawings–to produce a book in which no clear bound- my artistic activity toward pop trends. A natu-
ral continuity was thus established between
ary separates word and picture: in many cases the text is printed directly over the photo-
a book or record cover and the print I was
graphs; some pictures are full-page, and others are miniatures in the margins of the text. making for an art exhibition.” Alberto Corazón,
Adams’s photograph, for example, is repeated up to three times on the same page in the quoted in Alberto Corazón: Obra conceptual,
manner of Andy Warhol’s serigraph prints, illustrating how images can be reduced in the pintura y escultura 1968–2008, exh. cat. (Va-
media, as Sempere describes.5 lencia: IVAM, 2008), 35.
(6) Valeriano Bozal, “La revolución de la ima-
Design was in vogue at the start of the 1970s. In an article from the period Valeriano
gen,” Triunfo 478 (27 November 1971): 22.
Bozal writes, “perhaps it is graphic design that has contributed most decisively to chang- (7) The criticism triggered a major controversy.
ing the image of our medium, making it, as some say, a more European medium.”6 In According to Manuel Vázquez Montalbán,
Bozal’s opinion, many designers are important, but only one is acceptable. That one is Bozal’s criticisms are not entirely fair, espe-
neither Daniel Gil (regarded by Bozal as a “box maker” who associates “iconographic cially the statement that “Alberto Corazón’s
is the only unsullied lens.” Manuel Vázquez
motifs with what is thematically expected of the work”) nor Enric Satué (who represents
Montalbán, “El grafismo entre el bien y el
“design for design’s sake” and produces “merchandise”) but Corazón, an example to be mal,” Triunfo 480 (11 December 1971): 28. The
followed because of his use of strategies for “establishing a distance,” which allows him discussion continues in another article by
to take an ironic approach compared to the sentimentalism of the mass media.7 Valeriano Bozal, “Sobre el grafismo,” Triunfo
Since 1965 Corazón had been designing book covers for publishers such as Ciencia 481 (18 December 1971): 47.
(8) See Alberto Corazón, diseñador, vol. 2
89 Nueva, Ariel, Castellote, Seix Barral, and Felmar, to whose Punto Crítico collection La
(Madrid: TF, 1999); and Trabajar con signos:
década prodigiosa belongs.8 In other books in the collection, such as La huelga de los Diseños de Alberto Corazón 1963–2013 (Mur-
actores (The actors’ strike), he uses similar devices (printing in sepia, photographs en- cia: Fundación Murcia Futuro, 2013).
larged to the point that the offset pattern is visible) to present a reportage on a gather- (9) La huelga de los actores (The actors’
ing where nothing happens, illustrated with photographs by Gustavo Catalán and José strike). Photography, Gustavo Catalán and
José Ramón Herrera. Text, Manuel Vidal. De-
Ramón Herrera on fold-out pages.9
sign, Alberto Corazón. Madrid: Felmar, 1975. 89
Small publishing firms were not the only ones to go in for innovative designs. In 250 x 185 mm, 104 pages, 9 photographs + 11
1975, Televisión Española published two photobooks, Los últimos días de Franco vistos plates outside the text, 11 photographs, 6 on
en TVE (The last days of Franco as seen on TVE) and Los primeros días del Rey vistos fold-out pages. Paperback, cover illustrated
en TVE (The first days of the King as seen on TVE).10 They tell part of the history of the with a photograph.
(10) Los últimos días de Franco vistos en TVE
transition from the Franco regime to the monarchy, based on photographs by Fernando
(Madrid: Departamento de Publicaciones
Nuño of a television screen. The design effectively combines screen shots of the televi- RTVE, 1975); and Los primeros días del Rey
sion with shots of the actual events, sometimes tinted. Isolated or arranged in series, vistos en TVE (Madrid: Departamento de
they form a sequence that provides an account of the events told almost exclusively in Publicaciones RTVE, 1975).
90
images (a truly unique work that is dealt with on pages 218–225). (11) París, la revolución de mayo (Paris, the
May revolution). Photography, Antonio Gálvez.
Contemporary events are documented through television but also through photo-
Text, Carlos Fuentes. Design, Vicente Rojo.
graphic essays on current affairs. An example is the work of Antonio Gálvez, former Mexico: Era, 1968. 320 x 230 mm, 32 pages,
90 collaborator on Palabra e Imagen, who also published a book of photographs on May 30 photographs. Paperback, covers illustrated
1968 (in Mexico) and another on Luis Buñuel (in Paris).11 From their exile, Gálvez and with a photograph, 3,000 copies. Luis Buñuel
91 the journalist Xavier Domingo published an essay on Spain entitled La paella des gogos and Antonio Gálvez, Luis Buñuel (Paris: Eric
Losfeld, 1970).
(Mugs’ paella).12 The book is illustrated with vignettes and drawings by Louis Gleize and
(12) La paella des gogos (Mugs’ paella).
contains a section of photographs by Gálvez that are presented as “documents.” Photography, Antonio Gálvez. Text, Xavier
The sequence of images reflects on the situation of Spain at the beginning of the Domingo. Drawings, Louis Gleize. Paris:
1970s; it begins with a tourist advertisement whose caption is an invitation to step into Balland, 1971. 215 x 140 mm, 192 pages, 39
the tale: “Discover exciting Spain.” This is followed by a strip of “documents” on Spanish photographs. Paperback, cover illustrated
with a drawing by Vázquez de Sola.
refugee camps built in France at the end of the Civil War, which are set against a photo-
(13) “Antonio Gálvez,” Nueva lente 1
graph of a wooden fence displaying the words “Spanish cemetery. Year 1939.” (September 1971): 43.
Gálvez regarded himself as a “photographer of the real,” but he also made non-
documentary montages.13 The pictures of the refugee camps are followed by two such
montages: in the upper part, Francisco Franco’s face is overlaid with a group of sinister
bishops, while the lower part features a gloomy-looking plowed field with a milestone
and yoke and arrows in the foreground. This indicates the political context of the rest of
the book: photographs that address the subjects of tourism and the extreme poverty of
the Spaniards; their “eternal customs” such as the Holy Week processions; the precari-
ous political system; and the appeal Spain holds for a caricatured French tourist depicted
on the beaches in drawings by Gleize. The caustic nature of the “documentation” is in
keeping with the critical tone of the text.

91

66
 By Way of Introduction 1970–1977

Another group of the period was Yeti, made up of Antonio Lafuente, Félix Lorrio, (Barcelona: La gaia ciencia, 1977).
and Miguel Ángel Mendo. Jorge Rueda described the group as a “formula of emotional (18) Jorge Rueda, “Yeti,” Nueva lente 70
(December 1977): 59.
commitment” whose members had renounced “personal vanities” in order to engage in
(19) Nueva lente 67 (September 1977): 58–62,
“teamwork.” This was “neither easy nor common to find.”18 Its members worked individ- published a questionnaire for reporters in
ually as reporters and teamed up for exhibitions that showed a combination of docu- which the answers and photographs of the
mentary photographs and photomontages or colored photographs.19 As a group, they members of Yeti are signed individually. On the
94 collaborated on a book: Relatos de la Universidad (Tales of universality) published exhibition activities of the group, see “Equipo
Yeti,” Nueva lente 60 (February 1977): 77; and
by Víctor Zalbidea in 1977.20
“Equipo Yeti,” Nueva lente 74 (1978): 82.
Zalbidea’s book is a set of short stories illustrated with drawings and photographs (20) Relatos de la universidad. (Relatos de
by the Yeti group that have no particular subject or style. The illustrations include terror / relatos de ficción) (Tales of universality
documentary photographs, such as the demonstration at the start of the book that [Tales of terror/tales of fiction]). Photography
continues with similar photographs in different chapters. Other illustrations are colored, and cover, Grupo Yeti. Text, Víctor Zalbidea.
Drawings Manuel Boix, Artur Heras, and Ra-
such as that of the master in the classroom on the back cover. The book also includes
fael Armengol. Madrid: Sicania Editora, 1977.
montages: one shows a naked doll dipped in textured paint; another features a man’s 210 x 140 mm, 230 pages, 10 photographs. Pa-
back beneath a layer of bubbles. The result is heterogeneous and not directly related perback, covers illustrated with photographs.
to the text. The book is perhaps not well made, but it has the air of an age that seems
inclined to change.

92

Domingo and Gálvez’s book can be considered a sarcastic essay. In contrast, the book (14) El libro negro de Vitoria (The black book
published by Mariano Guindal and Juan H. Giménez on the so-called Vitoria events is a of Vitoria). Text, Mariano Guindal, Juan H.
Giménez. Madrid: Ediciones 99, 1976.
92 reportage.14 El libro negro de Vitoria (The black book of Vitoria) tells of the police sup-
200 x 130 mm, 171 pages + 33 photographs
pression of a worker’s strike that ended in deaths and firearm wounds. The text is a sober + 1 illustration. Paperback, cover illustrated
chronicle of the events, accompanied by two sections of photographs. The pictures are with a photograph.
documentary and show what the cameras have succeeded in capturing: pools of blood (15) Barrio (Neighborhood). Photography,
on the ground, barricades, groups of policemen, bullet marks on the walls, and a mass Luis Viadel. Text, Francisco Candel. Barcelona:
Marte, 1977. 200 x 200 mm, 118 pages, 77
funeral. The succinct document combines journalistic reportage with a 1930s-style book.
photographs. Hardback, cover illustrated with
A more literary, though no less political, model is chosen by Francisco Candel in a photograph.
93
93 Barrio (Neighborhood) published in 1977 with photographs by Luis Viadel.15 Barrio is a (16) “Primera Feria del Libro de Barcelona,”
fable in which the writer gives a voice to a neighborhood, which is the main subject. “A Destino 2,077 (9 June 1977).
neighborhood ‘makes a confession,’” states an advertisement for the book.16 This poetic (17) Pintadas del referendum (Madrid: Equipo
Diorama, January 1977); and Pintades Pintadas
license allows the author to establish a face-to-face dialogue with the neighborhood,
Barcelona: De Puig Antich al Referendum
thus lending the book a more casual tone.
Viadel’s documentary work is centered on the suburbs of cities. His photographs feature
abandoned building sites, places under construction, graffiti-covered walls, children in rags,
popular festivities, and aerial views that show the reality of the outlying areas of major cities.
Some of these subjects had already been touched on in the urban photobooks of the previ-
ous decade, such as Miserachs’s Barcelona blanc i negre (Barcelona black and white), but
here they are dealt with systematically. However, Barrio is no ordinary photobook but rather
a literary-photographic essay told by several voices: the pictures on the one hand and the
dialogue between Candel and the neighborhood on the other.
Barrio is also a political book. Candel was not just a writer but an activist. The book
ends with the author haranguing associations, residents, politicians, and intellectuals to
mobilize and understand and solve problems. The message is clear: local, neighborhood
politics is the principle of general politics. “Safeguard and defend the neighborhoods
and you will safeguard and defend all the rest.”
The photographers of the transition period also adopted 1930s approaches in other
ways, not just in their interest in political books. For example, they shifted away from
individual authorship and toward collective works. Two photobooks of 1977 (dealt with
on pages 226–233) document a widespread communication phenomenon: street graffiti.
Both are the product of teamwork. The first, by Equipo Diorama–Pintadas del referendum
(Graffiti on the referendum)–was published early in 1977 and was followed by the Foto
94
FAD group’s Pintades Pintadas (Graffiti) a few months later.17
68

95 Arquitectura y lágrimas (Architecture and tears) is a collective work by a group of ar-
chitects called Studio Per, made with the collaboration of photographer Leopoldo Pomés.21
Studio Per’s members had previously worked for Palabra e Imagen: Oscar Tusquets, Lluís
Clotet, Cristián Cirici, and Pep Bonet. Together they formed “a team of four professionals,
whom we can equally ask for an architectural design, an article on semiology, a project
for staging an exhibition, or a room for the Dalí museum in Figueras, a lecture on Italian
architecture, or an audio-visual on terraces, bins, booths, signposting, etc.”22
One of these heterodox projects is Arquitectura y lágrimas, an exhibition on contem-
porary architecture held in a Barcelona museum. The catalogue, designed and published
by Tusquets, was divided into several chapters that made up independent series, such
as the set of photographs by Pomés showing details of the street furniture of Barcelona
(a high-quality series done in color but printed in black and white). Arquitectura y
lágrimas features a further three series: the first on detached houses in residential areas
on the city’s outskirts, photographed by Xavier Sust; the second on apartment block ter-
races, based on a documentary filmed by Gonzalo Herralde; and the last a compilation
95
of objects by unknown designers on sale in shops in 1975, portrayed in isolation and
removed from their usual context and selected by Studio Per.
(21) Arquitectura y lágrimas: documentos de
Arquitectura popular catalana 1975 para un
Museo de Historia de la Ciudad (Architecture
and tears: Documents of popular Catalan ar-
chitecture 1975 for a Museum of City History).
Photography, Leopoldo Pomés and Xavier Sust.
Text, Pep Bonet, Cristián Cirici, Lluis Clotet,
and Oscar Tusquets. Barcelona: Tusquets Edi-
tor, 1975. Text, in Spanish and English. 165 x 158
mm, 120 pages, 143 photographs. Paperback,
cover illustrated with a photograph.
(22) Daniel Giralt-Miracle, “Arquitectura y
lágrimas,” Destino 1,953 (8 March 1975): 32.
(23) Ibid. The exhibition had resonance, as
indicated by an article on the entrance to the
city of Barcelona: “Other entrances are worthy
of this exhibition of architecture and tears that
a group of sensitive professionals is offering to
curious Barcelonans.” “La primera impression,”
La vanguardia, 4 March 1975.
(24) Mis fotos de Cuenca. La parte Antigua
(My photos of Cuenca: The old part). Pho-
tography, Fernando Zóbel. Design, Fernando
Zóbel, Jorge Blassi, and Jaime Blassi. Cuenca:
Museo de Arte Abstracto, 1975. 210 x 210 mm,
44 pages, 42 photographs. Paperback, cover
illustrated with a photograph. 2,000 copies.
This was Zóbel’s second book on Cuenca. The
previous one was an album of drawings: Fer-
nando Zóbel, Cuenca (Sketchbook of a Span-
ish Town) (New York: Walker, 1970). Years later
Zóbel published Mis fotos de Sevilla (Seville:
Monte de Piedad y Caja de Ahorros, 1985).
By Way of Introduction 1970–1977
The text is limited to a few captions. At the end is a transcription of a conversation
between the authors that reveals their intentions: the photographs aim “to see the eve-
ryday as if it were already history”–that is, to establish a distance from which to reflect
on popular taste and contemporary kitsch, which arouses mixed feelings. “We can react
differently to the same photo, for example: cry with laughter or sorrow, or even about
what we are doing professionally. It’s all the same. The common denominator in all
these reactions is always these tears.”
Daniel Giralt-Miracle held Arquitectura y lágrimas to be the result of “the brilliant idea of
taking in hand the task of visual documentation that none of our museums or municipal or state
institutions performs”: a collection of “equally eloquent” pictures that “address the neo-capitalist
reality of Calvo Sotelo’s skyscrapers, with their poor imagination and their chaotic design.”23
Photography can also be used to paint pictures, even of the abstract kind, as in
96 the case of Fernando Zóbel, who presented his photographs in book form in Mis fotos
de Cuenca (My photos of Cuenca), published by Cuenca’s Museo de Arte Abstracto in
96
1975.24 Zóbel was a methodical painter who used the classical “rough sketch–draw-
ing–small-scale design–painting” process, and regarded photography as one of several
possible means of making notes.25 He recalled making this discovery in the mid-1950s: “I
discovered photography as a means of figuration, an instrument that in a way was vastly (25) Fernando Zóbel, quoted in Rafael Pérez-
superior to all the devices of painting.”26 Thereafter his sketchbooks were pasted with Madero, Zóbel: La serie blanca (Madrid:
Rayuela, 1978), 17.
photographs, and he even held a “purely documentary” exhibition of his photographs:
(26) Fernando Zóbel, quoted in Mario
Cuenca y sus niños (Cuenca and its children; 1969). The archives of the Museo de Arte Hernández, Fernando Zóbel: El misterio de lo
Abstracto in Cuenca hold the dummy of a splendid book that was never realized. transparente (Madrid: Rayuela, 1977).
Mis fotos de Cuenca is not a collection of documents but, as Zóbel states, a book in (27) Fernando Zóbel, quoted in Rafael Pérez-
which “I wished to express myself as a photographer and as a painter.”27 The book is au- Madero, “Zóbel: Mis fotos mi Cuenca,” El
Banzo, 1976, 48.
tonomous, made up of working material–of “painter’s photos,” as the author acknowledg-
(28) El río de Cuenca (The river of Cuenca).
es in the preface: “Photos of effects and relationships that impressed me and can help me Photography and text, Simeón Saiz Ruiz. Design,
paint.” They include no important monuments or places but views of architectural details, Fernando Zóbel and Joaquín Saenz. Cuenca:
landscapes, rays of sun falling across a street, children playing. “The real subject of these Diputación Provincial, 1977. 210 x 210 mm, 10
photos can be a gleam, harmonious or discordant color, a random composition of diago- pages + 35 plates, 35 photographs; paperback,
cover illustrated with a photograph. 1,000 copies.
nals, children’s play.” These are everyday images, many out of focus or imperfect, which
(29) Mireia Bofill, María Luisa Fabra, Ana Sallés,
the painter uses to compose paintings that are much more abstract than the photographs, Elisa Vallés, and Pilar Villarrazo, La mujer en Es-
although the elements he started with can sometimes be recognized in them. paña (Barcelona: Ediciones de Cultura Popular,
The book, designed by Zóbel together with Jorge Blassi and Jaime Blassi, is contin- November 1967); “material fotográfico original
97 ued in Simeón Saiz Ruiz’s El río de Cuenca, which has the same format and design.28 de Pilar Villarrazo”; 215 x 155 mm, 176 pages +
[18] outside text, 18 photographs; paperback.
Saiz Ruiz was also a painter and published a series of photographs taken beside the Jú-
(30) Maria Aurèlia Capmany and Colita, An-
car River in 1975 and 1976 with no documentary intent. The author acknowledges this in tifémina (Madrid: Editora Nacional, 1977).
the prologue: “I have tried to define strange and unrepeatable moments, lights you have (31) Salvador Costa, Punk (Barcelona:
never seen like that, the change wrought by some seasonal phase in a known landscape, Producciones Editoriales, 1977).
which even becomes mysterious on changing.” This explains the “loose appearance
of my photos,” which to a great extent were laboratory products. “When developing I
never sought a ‘well finished,’ technically perfect photo. I am more of a painter than a
photographer. I sought patches and explored the qualities of chance in incorrect devel-
oping.” His photographs are more abstract than Zóbel’s. Many are overexposed to the
extent that his pursuit of informalism is perceived in the landscapes, along the lines of
the painting of the previous decades.
The years of transition also brought new subjects, one of which was feminism. Colita
was the photographer who espoused this most systematically, taking up and expanding
Pilar Villarrazo’s photo-essays of the previous decade.29 In 1977 she published a large
series titled Antifémina (Antifemale) (see pages 234–241) that brought to a close a line
of work on the image of women that is repeated in different variants in the history of
Spanish photobooks beginning with Antonio Cánovas’s version of Campoamor’s poem
Quién supiera escribir! . . . (If only I could write! . . .).30
Other threads run through this history. One is the documenting of portraits, customs,
and costumes by photographers from Ortiz Echagüe–who looks at the past and tradi-
tion–to Salvador Costa and the excellent photobook Punk (shown on pages 242–247).31
97
71
At the time–1977–Costa’s photographs of types and costumes were hot news. What is more,
they paid no attention to national themes in order to open up to the world–something that,
after decades of withdrawal and isolation, was starting to happen with Spain itself.
Mention should also be made of the collaboration between writers and photogra-
phers that began at the start of the twentieth century with Cánovas and Azorín and con-
tinued until the last publications in the Palabra e Imagen series in 1975. Or the history
and propaganda books, from Alfonso to the reportages from the transition period, such
as Los últimos días de Franco vistos en TVE or Pintadas.
Not long afterward photobooks began to be rarities, and not precisely owing to an
absence of photographic books: certain galleries, museums, and publishers were inter-
ested or specialized in photography in the 1980s. This was good news but, paradoxical-
ly, not so much for photobooks. A few photographers continued to work in the format,
but they were the exception.
Photobooks began to give way to the catalogue–an ephemeral publication not in-
tended to be permanent and almost always conventional, repeated time and time again
to the point of exhaustion and too much of a straitjacket for more ambitious photogra-
phers, designers, or publishers. The catalogue, which somehow has withstood time in
only a few higher-quality cases, has prevailed for the past twenty years. Fortunately–now
that we have turned into a new century and the curious haven provided by the institu-
tional or private art market has come to an end in Spain–the photobook has been given
fresh impetus by new technology and a generation of young photographers interested in
the medium. Though this history has yet to be written.

72
 ¡Quién supiera escribir!... 1905 The painter Emilio Sala encouraged Cánovas to enter the competition: “Illustrating Cam-
poamor’s doloras with photographs . . . there’s nothing to it! You can do real pictures,” he
Historia de la antigua danza en España
(Story of ancient dance in Spain) in Tres
[If only I knew how to write! ...] said.5 And Cánovas, who had collaborated with Sala and other painters on “pictures” for
Tres fiestas artísticas, decided to enter with photographs illustrating El amor y el interés
fiestas artísticas, 38. Cánovas’s photo-
graphs were published in Blanco y Negro,
photographsAntonio Cánovas (Love and interest), Los extremos se tocan (Extremes meet), Glorias póstumas (Posthumous
19 October 1901, 9–12.
(7) The jury’s decision was published in
text Ramón de Campoamor glories), Todo es uno y lo mismo (All is one and the same), and ¡Quién supiera escribir! . . .6
Blanco y Negro, 15 June 1901, 20. The
Paris: [n.pub.], 1905 They were a resounding success. The jury awarded all five prizes to the same person: same page featured the 1.5-pesetas E and F
220 x 270 mm, 16 pages text + 17 plates, 17 photographs Cánovas.7 In June 1901, Blanco y Negro held the exhibition of the photographs on its prem- series of postcards, also by Cánovas, which
printed in photogravure by P. Dujardin, Paris. Cloth ises. According to one newspaper article, “The whole of Madrid will file through there thanks also won prizes in Paris and Nice.
to the hospitality to which Mr. Luca de Tena has us accustomed.”8 (8) Marcos Bomba, “Blanco y Negro,” El Día,
Among Cánovas’s entries the most widely acclaimed and the winner of the first prize was 10 June 1901; emphasis in original.
¡Quién supiera escribir! . . . Based on a poem by Campoamor published in 1846, this dolora (9) Data provided by the Spanish National
tells the tale of an “ignorant young girl in love” and a “good-natured and understanding” par- Institute of Statistics censuses of 1900
ish priest who gives her advice and writes a letter to her sweetheart for her. A simple story and 1910 are significant: in 1900, 108,443
but one with great intensity of feeling, it struck a chord with the public at large at a time women could not read (109,279 in 1910),
as opposed to 55,300 men (60,010 in 1910).
when illiteracy was endemic, particularly among women.9 ¡Quién supiera escribir! . . . was
The figures also show that the percentage
the dolora Cánovas considered the most suitable for illustrating: “I had soon chosen a dozen of women who could read and write in that
doloras as possible candidates for photographing. However, the one I could see best in my first decade was much lower than that of
mind’s eye was the one with the priest and the girl who could not write, and I saw it so clearly men and that illiteracy among women was
that on some nights as I tossed and turned in bed wondering about this undertaking, it was on the rise. At the beginning of the century,
almost as if I’d actually already done it.” 10 in the 20–25-year-old age group 7,233
The series was so successful that Cánovas, who by then was known as “the author of women could not read compared to 2,993
some of those postcards that are in vogue,” decided to have them printed in postcard for- men, and ten years later the proportion had
mat.11 For this he redid the series, which had originally consisted of seventeen photographs, not improved much (6,209 women; 2,786
adding three so that they would be the same in number as normal postcard collections. Once men). See “Clasificación de los habitantes
por su edad, combinada con sexo, estado
again the success was spectacular. According to press reports, 200,000 postcards from the
civil e instrucción elemental” [Classification
series were sold in 1903.12 That number “seems fantastic but is completely correct,” another
of population based on age, gender, marital
report assured readers.13 status and primary education], Spanish
Encouraged by the enthusiastic reception, Cánovas decided to release a higher-quality National Institute of Statistics.
edition using the original photographs from the competition. For the reproduction of the (10) Cánovas,“Crónica,” 356; emphasis in
photographs he turned to Dujardin’s of Paris, which had published Tres fiestas artísticas. His original. José Francés (Silvio Lago) made
reason for doing so is explained in the introduction: “Mr. Cánovas’s work cannot be reduced a similar comment about Cánovas’s work:
to the size of normal postcards since, as we stated above, the cards were not of the original “The artist has created scenes and charac-
photographs but a skillful reworking of the prize-winning entries in the Blanco y Negro com- ters where previously there were only ide-
petition.” Technical reasons also weighed on the decision: publications in book form were as.” Silvio Lago,“Las poéticas ilustraciones,”
less short-lived and also offered a higher-quality photogravure–“that most exact, artistic, La Esfera 196 (29 September 1917): 12.
(11) Bomba, “Blanco y Negro.”
and expensive of procedures that has brought so much prestige to Dujardin’s.” As the pho-
(12) “And speaking of success, we might say
tographer himself said in an article, the new presentation must do justice to the quality of his
that one of the greatest successes we have
images and remove them from the ephemeral world of the postcard, which, while potentially heard of is that of Mr. Cánovas with his
a good business, was also a risky one for studio photographers.14 ¡Quién supiera escribir! . . . series, whose
The book, entitled ¡Quién supiera escribir! . . . like the poem, contains a preface explain- 11th edition Messrs. Hauser and Menet
ing the origin of the images and the book itself, and it reproduces in high-quality photogra- are currently printing, with the result
vure the seventeen scenes Cánovas entered in the 1901 competition. that 20,000 series have now been sold, or
The core of the book consists of the seventeen images featuring the girl and the priest in other words, 200,000 postcards. How
in a single location. The series adheres faithfully to the narrative of the poem. Cánovas’s many employees have worked on them?
carefully prepared mise-en-scène was crucial. As he wrote in the introduction, for the male How much money has changed hands?
(1) “Un sportman fotógrafo,” Gran vida: Re- How many stamps have been sold to the
In 1904, a journalist introducing Antonio Cánovas del Castillo (who was better known as character he had looked for a priest who was “just right for the part, who was old and had a
vista ilustrada de sports 18 (1 November state and how many greetings, tender mis-
“Kâulak”) said, “All admirers of his beautiful works, which include the photographs for Cam- definite look of kindness and simple country manners about him.” To find him, Cánovas had
1904): 17. sives and fond memories will be recorded
poamor’s dolora ¡Quién supiera escribir! . . ., and of the tableaux vivants arranged at Iturbe’s (2) Tres fiestas artísticas, photographs to visit a good many churches. “He heard more masses in those few days than in the rest of in the albums. Pérez Galdós was indeed
home have felt the desire to own a portrait by Cánovas.”1 by Franzen and Cánovas (Madrid: n.pub., his life,” the book notes, adding “Whenever he saw a cassock, he would start running after right when he said that postcards have
Cánovas was a renowned society portraitist who had just opened a professional photo- 1904). it.” Finally, he chose Francisco Ortega, whom he met at the Bishop’s Palace in Madrid. The turned the world upside down.” Boletín
graphic studio. His name was linked to two works in particular. Shot at costume parties held (3) Blanco y Negro: Revista ilustrada, female model, however, had already been chosen. The book does not tell us her name, only de la Tarjeta postal ilustrada (Barcelona),
by the Iturbe family, the first was a collection of photographic tableaux vivant that recre- 9 February 1901, 24. To encourage both that she was a “very pretty young lady” from a noble family with “an extraordinary talent for quoted in La Fotografía: Revista mensual
ated paintings and literary themes mainly from the Spanish Golden Age; it was released the amateurs and professionals alike, a first declamation” who would bring to life “before the photographic camera, the extremely sensi- ilustrada 21 (June 1903): 5.
same year in book form under the title Tres fiestas artísticas (Three artistic parties).2 The prize of 500 pesetas and four prizes of 100 tive character conceived by Campoamor’s muse.”15 (13) Dusto Solsona, in an article in the
second was ¡Quién supiera escribir! . . ., a series of literary scenes based on the eponymous pesetas were awarded. The winning entries Buenos Aires El Diario, quoted in La Foto-
The location chosen was a gallery in the old convent of La Concepción Francisca (demol-
poem by Ramón de Campoamor, and one of the most successful photographic works of would also be exhibited in the Blanco y grafía: Revista mensual ilustrada 29 (Feb-
Negro reception rooms.
ished shortly after, in 1904) in Calle Toledo, Madrid. The building was austere and opened
Cánovas’s career. ruary 1904): 14. The foreword to ¡Quién
(4) For example, the front cover of La ilus- onto a courtyard with the light entering from the side, heightening the theatricality of the
The ¡Quién supiera escribir! . . . series originated with a competition organized by the supiera escribir! . . . gives an even higher
tración española y americana, 30 January scene. As the preface notes, Cánovas paid attention to every detail: “By the sun-drenched
magazine Blanco y Negro in 1901 to “illustrate a dolora by Campoamor with photographs.”3 figure: “Regarding the welcome extended
1900, featured a drawing by Pedrero of the balconies, birdcages. Hanging in a corner, the shovel hat, staff and lantern for the Viaticum. to the postcards by the Spanish and South
doloras–simple, didactic compositions that were popular at the time and constantly fea- girl from ¡Quién supiera escribir! . . . In the background, religious paintings and an old clock. On the walls, stoups, rosemary and American public, the fact, more eloquent
tured in the press–were sold in the form of collections of popular poetry with newspapers (5) Antonio Cánovas, “Crónica,” La Foto- olive, rosaries, the keys to the church and knickknacks with a distinctive monastic air.” than anything we could say, is that in less
and on postcards.4 Magazines like Blanco y Negro seized such opportunities to organize grafía 24 (September 1903): 356. Here Cánovas’s work is similar to that of other photographers, such as Christian Franzen, than three years Mr. Cánovas has sold the
competitions for their readers. (6) Sala had been listed as a contributor to

74 75
 whose tableaux vivant were published together with Cánovas’s Tres fiestas artísticas; or Luis fabulous total of one hundred and eighty ¡Quién supiera escribir!... — 1905

de Ocharán, who had just produced a series of much celebrated photographs based on Don thousand collections of postcards, or in
Quixote.16 However, only ¡Quién supiera escribir! . . . appeared in book form with the whole other words, as each collection consisted
series included in sequence. of ten cards, around two million postcards.”
(14) Antonio Cánovas, “Las tarjetas postales
When recreating literary and pictorial themes, the photographer must act like “a painter
y la fotografía,” La Fotografía 79 (April
of historical pictures,” Cánovas wrote, “gathering, choosing, arranging all the components
1908). For more opinions on this sub-
to be included in the composition, bringing in furniture, costumes and accessories.” 17 As is ject, see Antonio Cánovas, La fotografía
evident, the model the photographer had in mind was a pictorial one.18 moderna: Manual compendiado de los
In this context in 1901, however, he might also have been a film director preparing back- conocimientos indispensables al fotógrafo
grounds and directing actors. The series of “pictures” for ¡Quién supiera escribir! . . . almost (Madrid: J. Fernández Arias, 1912), 241.
seems to suggest a narrative outline. (15) In “Crónica,” Cánovas reveals, almost in
Each of the seventeen “pictures” takes a verse from Campoamor’s poem as a caption. passing, that her name was María Puente.
This forms a clear narrative thread: the girl’s request; the priest’s questions and misgivings; (16) Ten photographs from this series were
the explanation of the love story between the girl and her sweetheart; and her frustration published in Graphos ilustrado 16 (April
at not being able to express her thoughts herself. The story unfolds in specific settings: it 1907), as well as a portrait of Ocharán
by Cánovas and an article demonstrat-
begins in the gallery where the encounter between the girl and the priest takes place and
ing the similarities between both men’s
continues in the priest’s office, at first viewed from a distance and then closer, with the ac- work methods. On Ocharán’s Quixote, see
tors’ faces clearly visible. Everything is based on the staging and gestures of the models, Bernardo Riego, “Luis de Ocharán’s Pho-
who act like the main characters in a silent stage play or like actors in a static film, the im- tographic Quixote: Between the Spanish
ages accompanied by captions similar to silent film intertitles. Pictorial Historical Tradition and the New
For Cánovas, artistic merit lay in one’s ability to generate a “picture” suitable for the Cinematographic Aesthetic,” in Photog-
scene. What the history painter “would have painted, I have photographed,” he wrote, add- raphy 1900: The Edinburgh Symposium
ing, “I know that someone like Pradilla or Moreno Carbonero would have produced an im- (Edinburgh: National Museums of Scotland,
mortal picture, whereas I, with my shortcomings, managed no more than an acceptable print 1992), 69–73.
with a pleasing effect. But however modest, that which I did is a work of art.”19 M.R. (17) Antonio Cánovas, Transformación de
la Fotografía: Conferencia leída en el Ateneo
de Madrid el domingo 28 de enero de
1906 por A. Cánovas (Madrid: Hijos de M.
G. Hernández, 1906), 40.
(18) On various occasions the photogra-
pher insisted on this: “I started to put up
the decoration, hanging pictures, arrang-
ing the table . . . composing the picture
as a painter would.” Antonio Cánovas,
“Crónica,” La Fotografía 24 (September
1903): 358; emphasis in original.
(19) Cánovas, Crónica, 359.

76 77
 ¡Quién supiera escribir!... — 1905

78 79
 Spanische Köpfe [Spanish heads] 1929 Despite using archaic techniques, Ortiz Echagüe believed photography was “above all,
document.”4 His project was structured around the clash between tradition and progress in
many of the pictures in its series of Spanish
human types: Castellano (Castilian) in 1922,
Bilder aus Kastilien, Aragonien und Andalusien an attempt to record ways of life that were dying out. He stated, “Future generations should
be grateful that instead of traipsing around with our cameras in search of trivial motifs of
Lagarteranas en misa (Women of Lagartera
at mass) in 1924, El idolillo (Mother’s dar-
[Pictures from Castile, Aragón and Andalusia] no significance, we can hand down documented and interesting books with the most up-
ling) in 1926, Turégano in 1928, and Regreso
al hogar (Return home) in 1929. For further
to-date pictures of life today, beginning with the aspects that our dynamic present life has
photographs José Ortiz Echagüe doomed to certain and prompt extinction.”5
information on the dissemination of the
images, see Asunción Domeño, La fotografía
text Félix Urabayen, J. García Mercadal, José María Salaverría, In this respect Ortiz Echagüe displays clear similarities to photographers like Edward de José Ortiz Echagüe: Estética, técnica y
J. Muñoz San Román, José Ortiz Echagüe Curtis, who published his monumental The North American Indian from 1907 to 1930. Like temática (Pamplona: Gobierno de Navarra,
cover design Lucian Zabel Ortiz Echagüe, Curtis aimed to document a reality in danger of extinction–the traditional 2000), 218.
life of American Indians–and stressed that his pictures showed “what actually exists or has (9) Ortiz Echagüe, “Con amor,” 1.
Berlin, Vienna, and Zurich: Verlag Ernst Wasmuth, Atlantis-Bücher, 1929
recently existed (for many of the subjects have already passed forever) not what the artist in (10) On these publications by Wasmuth, see
300 x 215 mm, 32 pp. text + 80 pp. photographs, 80 photographs printed in photogravure by Manfred Heiting, Autopsie: Deutchspra-
his studio may presume.”6 However, this did not prevent him from retouching copies or using
Rotophot A.G., Berlin. Illustrated hardcover, dust jacket illustrated with photographs, 15,000 copies chige Fotobucher 1918 bis 1945 (Göttin-
techniques characteristic of artistic photography, as he was convinced that “the fact that the
Indian and his surroundings lend themselves to artistic treatment has not been lost sight of, gen: Steidl, 2012), 98–131.
(11) On this edition, see Anne-Kathrin
for in his country one may treat limitless subjects of an aesthetic character without in any
Winkler, “José Ortiz Echagüe, Spanische
way doing injustice to scientific accuracy.” The North American Indian was printed using a Köpfe: Bilder aus Kastilien, Aragonien
photogravure technique similar to that employed in Camera Work. und Andalusien,” in Michael Scholz-Hänsel,
According to Ortiz Echagüe, his photographic work “was not carried out with the pre- Spanien im Fotobuch: Von Kurt Hielscher
meditated intention of publishing a book” but “with the most selfless love of my country’s bis Mireia Sentís (Leipzig: Plöttner, 2007),
folk themes, which then aroused my full interest.” He initially showed his pictures in maga- 100–101. The book was later distributed
zines and exhibitions, and some became widely disseminated. For example, his 1903 Sermón internationally.
en la aldea (Village sermon) was published in Graphos ilustrado in March 1906, in La esfera (12) “Here is a whole arsenal of documents
in March 1915, and later in Photograms of the Year 1921.8 for studying the folk costumes of Spain. Or
Halfway through the 1920s he began to consider the possibility of showing the series of rather, of a few regions of Spain, because
not all are represented in the eighty fine
photographs in book form. He had a clear aim in mind: the pictures had appeared separately
photographs reproduced in the book.
in magazines and exhibitions, and he wanted to restore the systematic nature of the project.
The whole Mediterranean coastal region,
Around 1926, “on the initiative of a Berlin publisher,” he began to bring together “the most Galicia and other Spanish regions are miss-
select part of the work of 24 years, and obviously on this basis I set about producing a Span- ing.”“Libros y revistas: Tipos y trajes de
ish edition, which I have continued to improve in successive editions.”9 España,” La Vanguardia, 5 June 1930, 6.
The German publishing house was Wasmuth, which had previously brought out botanical (13) José María Álvarez de Toledo (conde
photographs by Karl Blossfeldt, in addition to illustrated books on “architecture, landscape de la Ventosa), Por España (Impresiones
and village life,” such as Kurt Hielscher’s Das unbekannte Spanien.10 Ortiz Echagüe’s book gráficas) (Madrid: Tip. Artística, 1920); and
was entitled Spanische Köpfe–literally, “Spanish heads”–and came out in 1929. The volume Kurt Hielscher, Das unbekannte Spanien
featured a collection of eighty photogravure prints with captions in German, Spanish, Eng- (Berlin: Ernst Wasmuth, 1922). On Sorolla’s
lish, and French, possibly with a view to international distribution.11 The photographs in- project, see Priscilla Muller and Marcus B.
Burke, Sorolla: The Hispanic Society (New
cluded in the first edition were taken in the two Castiles, Aragón, Andalusia, and the Basque
York: Hispanic Society of America, 2004).
country. As critics pointed out at the time, the selection left gaps, which were progressively
Around 1870, Laurent’s firm published
filled in subsequent editions.12 a catalogue of photographs entitled
Spanische Köpfe sets out to document “folk life” in Spain from a twofold perspective: the Tipos españoles: De venta aquí (Spanish
specific costumes of each region and the human types of each of the places where these cos- types: On sale here). The advertisement is
tumes were worn. Culture and race go hand in hand. In this respect Ortiz Echagüe’s project reproduced in Michel Fritot, ed., Nouvelle
continues a tradition that dates back–to mention only Spanish cases–to pictorial projects such histoire de la photographie (Paris: Bordas,
as Joaquín Sorolla’s depictions of the Spanish regions, as well as photographic endeavors such 1994), 116.
as Jean Laurent’s photographs of types and later books such as the Count of La Ventosa’s Por (14) Tipos y trajes de España (Bilbao,
España (1920) or Hielscher’s Das unbekannte Spanien.13 Spanische Köpfe added to these photo- Madrid, Barcelona: Espasa Calpe, 1930),
essays its systematic approach and the long time period covered. 80 photographs. The second edition was
(1) On the origins of his career, see Javier enlarged in the following ones, entitled
In 1916 José Ortiz Echagüe began systematically photographing the life of common folk in Ortiz Echagüe himself promoted a Spanish edition, which came out in 1930 with the
Ortiz-Echagüe, Norte de África: Ortiz España, tipos y trajes, and twelve edi-
Spain. His first photographs on this subject date from 1903, but he was unable to devote his Echagüe (Madrid: La Fábrica, 2013), 15–38. title Tipos y trajes de España (published in English as Spain: Types and Costumes).14 The tions had come out by 1971 (Madrid:
full attention to the project until returning from Morocco, where he was posted for five years (2) José Ortiz Echagüe, “My Photographic illustrated part is identical to the German edition: the plates are the same–eighty photo- Publicaciones Ortiz Echagüe), featuring
and where he developed the photographic method he would apply in subsequent assignments.1 Career,” Camera Craft: A Photographic gravure prints with the same caption and type, indicating they are from the same printer, 272 black-and-white and thirty-four color
This “method” was of a mixture of apparently contradictory elements. Ortiz Echagüe Monthly 9 (September 1925): 417. Rotophot A.G. of Berlin. The only difference between the two editions lies in the text, as the photographs.
worked with pigment-based materials, chiefly direct carbon printing on Fresson paper. The (3) José Ortiz Echagüe, “Con amor, pacien- Spanish edition features an essay by José Ortega y Gasset. We know from his correspond- (15) Fernando Ortiz Echagüe to José Ortega
technique was laborious and involved hand-coating, which meant that each copy was unique. cia y movilidad,” typed text, 18 March ence that Ortiz Echagüe contacted Ortega early in 1929 through his brother Fernando Ortiz y Gasset, Seville, 22 January 1929, in
For this reason the technique was favored in the world of “art” photography. Ortiz Echagüe, 1950, 3, in Archivo del Museo Universidad Echagüe, then European correspondent of the Buenos Aires newspaper La nación, to which Archivo de la Fundación Ortega y Gasset,
however, used the technique not for allegories or landscapes but to document village life. de Navarra. Madrid, C-102/56. See also Sophie Triquet,
Ortega was also a contributor. In January 1929 Fernando sent Ortega the photographs and
“For four or five days of the year,” Ortiz Echagüe wrote, “I travel over such places in Spain (4) José Ortiz Echagüe, “El traje popular “Images d’Espagne: Les représentations
en España,” in Tipos y trajes de España
asked him to write some words that “would ensure the success of the book, which is to be
as I know beforehand still preserve the characteristics of my people. In wandering through photographiques et leurs enjeux identi-
(Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1930), 37. published in several languages.”15 The matter was delayed, however, and on 3 August Or-
the little villages, I talk to the people, select models one by one, start the difficult task of taires autour de 1930,” in Histoire de l’art
(5) Ortiz Echagüe, “Con amor,” 3. tiz Echagüe forwarded to Ortega a letter from Wasmuth, the publishers, stating that “the
dressing them in the typical garb.”2 He did not mind too much about resorting to a mise-en- et anthropologie (Paris: INHA / Musée du
(6) Edward Curtis, The North American only possibility of success” was to launch the book at the Barcelona International Exhibition, Quai Branly, 2009).
scène. But he always stressed that his intention was documentary, and he dismissed outright Indian, vol. 1 (1907; New York: Johnson which had opened on 20 May and which “many German visitors” were expected to attend.16 (16) Wasmuth [publishing company] to José
the possibility of working in a studio or with backdrops, which he felt would lead to certain Reprint Corp., 1970), xiii–xiv. When, how, or even if Ortega responded is unclear, but the first edition was published with- Ortiz Echagüe, Berlin, 29 July 1929, in Ar-
failure. “The models would not know how to wear classic costumes, the hairstyles would be (7) Ortiz Echagüe, “Con amor,” 1. out the philosopher’s text. chivo de la Fundación José Ortega y Gasset-
inappropriate, and the attitudes would be incorrect,” he stated.3 (8) Photograms of the Year published

80 81
 Despite the doubts, the book was successful from the outset, and its sales progressed Gregorio Marañon, Madrid, C-102/57a. Spanische Köpfe — 1929

steadily.17 Institutions such as the Hispanic Society of America in New York and Madrid’s Wasmuth announced the publication of the
museum of costume, the Museo del Traje, expressed an interest in acquiring photographs book in the magazine Atlantis 10 (October
for their collections not long after the book was published.18 But publication also triggered 1929): 577–79, which featured two pictures
from the series.
controversy. The book had keen supporters such as José Francés, who hailed it as the “exal-
(17) “Sales in Spain normally take place at
tation of folk costume in its setting,” as a means of “national reintegration.” Francés praised
the rate of about 3,000 copies per year,
Ortiz Echagüe’s “pursuit of the racial types and costumes of the most expressive regional which is the maximum attained before the
ancestry.” According to Francés, one thus succeeded in escaping the “gray and egalitarian war, and remain steady.” José Ortiz Echagüe
civilization” in which “good habits are dying out” and “the beautiful costumes of the olden to Fernando Ortiz Echagüe, Madrid, 7
days” are being abandoned.19 December 1945, in Archivo del Museo
Francés’s nationalist zeal found a strange ally in Pere Català-Pic, a publicist and pho- Universidad de Navarra.
tographer who, although his style was very different from that of Ortiz Echagüe, stated (18) On this matter, see Javier Ortiz-
that Tipos y trajes attested to “thirty years of tenacity and sacrifice devoted to ethnologi- Echagüe and Julio Montero, “Documentary
cal investigation,” which provided evidence of the considerable usefulness of photography Uses of Artistic Photography: Spain. Types
“considered in its double artistic and documentary aspect.”20 and Costumes by José Ortiz Echagüe,”
History of Photography 35, no. 4
From the outset the book raised questions about representation and identity, questions
(November 2011): 397–98.
that were not well-received by all. For example, writing in Luz, Manuel Abril referred to (19) José Francés, “Reintegración del
the anachronistic nature of the reality portrayed by Ortiz Echagüe: “The corpse of a race, español a la fisionomía nacional,” Nuevo
at least of the era of a race, is going to be shrouded in the last examples of a garb that still mundo, 27 October 1933.
lingers on in the nation.”21 In a similar vein Fernando García Vela, then secretary of the Re- (20) Pere Català-Pic, “Una exposició
vista de Occidente, identified the “veneration of folk culture” of Ortiz Echagüe’s book as “the etnogràfica,” Mirador, 14 December 1933,
starting point [for the] decline and disappearance” of this culture.22 7. For other reviews, see Manuel Abril,
Vela and Abril were echoing the gist of Ortega y Gasset’s essay, which argues that if Ortiz “Ortiz Echagüe: Fotógrafo de la tradición,”
Echagüe’s project was justified it was not so much for his romantic exaltation of the com- Blanco y Negro, 22 October 1933; Lorenzo
mon folk (that “would have been naive or inhuman”) but for the inevitable ambiguity of their Almarza, “Exposición José Ortiz Echagüe en
los salones del Sindicato Iniciativa,” Aragón
portrayal. “Common folk, capable of wearing this clothing naively, no longer exist or almost
101 (February 1934); and Connaisseur,
do not exist,” Ortega states, and “where they still happen to remain, their disappearance is a
“Contribución de J. Ortiz Echagüe al folk-
matter of hours. They could still wear such anachronistic attire in everyday life but they have lore español,” Revista Ford 29 (June 1934).
now decided to discard it.” He concluded, “To have captured this critical, equivocal, ironic (21) Manuel Abril, “De arte popular,” Luz, 17
instant is, in my opinion, what lends Ortiz Echagüe’s work greater aesthetic quality.”23 For October 1933, 8–9.
Ortega, Tipos y trajes succeeded in documenting an extinct reality. (22) Fernando Vela,“Al margen de un libro:
Although his work perhaps lacked the ironic streak attributed to it by Ortega, Ortiz sobre arte popular,” El sol, 23 March 1930, 7.
Echagüe might well have agreed with the philosopher’s theory. He states in the book that (23) José Ortega y Gasset, “Para una ciencia
“the costumes of the olden days are uncomfortable and ill-suited to the mobility of the cur- del traje popular,” in Ortiz Echagüe, Tipos y
rent era,” and therefore “we cannot hope for anything but the preservation of the exist- trajes de España, 8.
ing ones.”24 From around 1934 he believed that “folk themes were becoming increasingly (24) Ortiz Echagüe, “El traje popular,” 38.
(25) José Ortiz Echagüe, “A Half-Century of
scarce,” and thus he turned to photographing landscape and architecture.25
Photography,” in The American Annual of
Perhaps all this is merely an indicator of how documentary endeavors such as those of
Photography 1950 (St. Paul, MN: American
Ortiz Echagüe and Curtis were already on the decline by the 1930s. Antlitz der Zeit, the first Photographic Pub. Co., 1949), 15.
selection of August Sander’s monumental collection of portraits of the twentieth century, (26) Alfred Döblin, “Von Gesichtern, Bildern
was published in Berlin in 1929. Alfred Döblin stressed in the foreword that the photographs und ihrer Wahreit,” in August Sander, Antlitz
in the book were simply “portraits and not, for example, people in regional costume” and der Zeit (Munich: Kurt Wolff, 1929), 14–15.
could thus form the basis for what he called “sociology without words.”26 Sander’s portraits Despite the new models, the attempt to
aimed to reflect the types who made up the social classes. photograph racial “types” continued in
That typical costumes were increasingly few and far between does not mean that Ortiz- books such as Das deutsche Volksgesicht
Echagüe abandoned his project. Editions of Tipos y trajes continued to be published, and his by Erna Lendvai-Dircksen (Berlin:
photographs continued to circulate. During the Civil War they were widely used as propa- Kulturelle Verlagsgesellschaft, 1932),
which was the first of the many the author
ganda both by Francisco Franco’s supporters and the Republican side and were even ex-
devoted to documenting Aryan “types.”
hibited alongside Pablo Picasso’s Guernica in the Spanish pavilion of the Paris International (27) On this matter, see Ortiz-Echagüe
Exhibition of 1937.27 Despite the controversies, the photographs in Tipos y trajes continued and Montero, “Documentary Uses,” 402–15.
to be symbols. J.O.-E.

82 83
 Spanische Köpfe — 1929

84 85
 Patronato de Misiones Pedagógicas 1934 given, and such was also the case with photographs. The only point of reference was the Ar-
chivo de Misiones Pedagógicas, which served as an all-encompassing body. Thus, Patronato
Julio Montero and José Cabeza (Madrid:
Rialp, 2005), 133–58.
[Educational Missions Trust] is a group record of group work.
The book has 47 photographs. The first is entitled Una lectora (A girl reader), and as a
(3) The original picture is number 179 in
the Álbum del Patronato de Misiones
Septiembre de 1931—diciembre de 1933 visual manifesto it ably sums up the ultimate goal of the Misiones Pedagógicas.1 This is fol-
Pedagógicas (Residencia de Estudiantes,
Madrid). The same album contains a
lowed by a series of pictures showing conversations between missionaries and audiences;
[September 1931­—December 1933] film screenings; the setting up of libraries; performances of plays, romances, and songs;
large number of cropped versions of this
photograph (numbers 180–186 and 195),
photographs Archivo de Misiones Pedagógicas open-air readings; and so on. In more than half of the images the activities have one thing in including those published in Patronato.
common: an audience. People are shown watching, looking carefully and curiously at things Picture 179 was taken by Gonzalo Menén-
Madrid: S. Aguirre impresor, 1934
outside the picture’s field of vision–which gives rise to a number of open-ended, thought- dez Pidal, who is referred to in Patro-
250 x 170 mm, 248 pages (xxiv + 192 text + 32 photographs), fold-out map,
provoking jumps in time. nato as a “Bachelor of Arts.” Alfonso Puyal,
47 photographs from the Archivo de Misiones Pedagógicas. Paperback
Three series are dedicated to looking, making this an undeniable theme in the book. The “Gonzalo Menéndez-Pidal o el cine como
first was a series made in the province of León in July 1932. According to Patronato, “No-one documento,” in Las Misiones Pedagógicas
in any of the villages had the faintest idea what a film projector was.” The screenings were 1931–1936, 389–97.
(4) Residencia 1 (February 1933). The titles
therefore a great success. The photographs were taken in a small village to which “over a
turn the photograph into a summary of
thousand people” had thronged “for the open-air evening performances.” Taken with magne-
Misiones Pedagógicas’ activities: Pequeños
sium flashes, the photographs capture expressions and reactions not so different from those montañeses oyendo el romance de la
of the audiences at the Lumière brothers’ first screenings. People “screamed with fright Loba Parda (Children from León listen-
when a train suddenly appeared and apparently started coming toward them in the film.”2 ing to the romance of the Brown Wolf),
The pictures do not show the trains, but they do show a fascinated audience. Sesión de música (Music performance),
The pictures are actually details of a larger photograph cropped to highlight the key ele- Sesión de cine en las montañas de León
ment: the looks on the faces of those in the audience.3 That the photograph was not edited (Film screening in the mountains of León),
randomly is confirmed by the fact that in 1933 five details of this image appeared in the same Viendo una película de Charlot (Watching
magazine under different titles. These were selected by the Misiones Pedagógicas’ secretary, a Charlie Chaplin film), and Viendo el mar
Luis A. Santullano, who also supplied the captions.4 The photograph of the hamlet in the prov- en una película (Seeing the sea in a film).
(5) José Val del Omar, Escritos de técnica,
ince of León showing the people’s reaction to the missionaries’ productions (although not the
poética y mística (Barcelona: La Central,
productions themselves) illustrates the “diffuse culture” that was Misiones Pedagógicas’ goal.
2010), 60. The pictures from the Granada
From then on the group of photographers would develop the model. In summer 1933 a mission are usually attributed to José Val
new series, later included in Patronato, was made in the province of Granada and captured del Omar who, according to Patronato,
the “surprised reactions of such humble folk.”5 In this case the lens focuses even more on went along “as a film maker to shoot a
the faces, so that most of the photographs are close-ups or medium shots. The angles are documentary film on that region and the
also different: whereas the León photographs are frontal, the angle of several of the Granada Mission’s activities.” Another photographer
ones is high, although in some, to add dynamism, the opposite is true. Like the photographs on the same was Modesto Medina Bravo.
taken in León, the pictures from Granada were also reproduced in the press.6 He is mentioned as “a secondary school
The next series of photographs about looking is dedicated to village theater and choir inspector,” and his photographs appeared
singing.7 Only two photographs show general views, while the rest focus on audiences, illus- in Las Misiones Pedagógicas 1931–1936.
(6) Residencia 1 (February 1934); and Resi-
trating the observation in Patronato about “the obvious success and the smiles of pleasure
dencia 4–5 (October–November 1933).
with which rural audiences receive these activities and the memories they are left with.”
(7) They were taken at performances
The study of “the public gaze” culminates in the fourteen photographs dedicated to the in1932 and 1933 in villages in Madrid,
people’s museum and taken during the 1932 Ávila and Segovia mission.8 Some photographs Ávila, Toledo, and Ciudad Real.
show works being transported or empty exhibition rooms, but most are of people looking (8) The photographer on this mission
attentively at museum pictures. Most also feature women and children seen from behind was José Val del Omar. For more informa-
and lost in contemplation. One example–one of the best pages in the book–shows two pho- tion on this series, see Horacio Fernández
tographs of people in front of works by Francisco de Goya. In the first, four women stand and Javier Ortiz-Echagüe, “Val del Omar
before The Third of May 1808, while in the second four young girls gaze at an engraving. y la documentación gráfica de Misiones
The graphic documentation included in Patronato is a demonstration of the educational Pedagógicas,” in Desbordamiento de Val
(1) Una lectora is a picture from the del Omar, exh. cat. (Madrid: MNCARS,
The Misiones Pedagógicas (Educational Missions) program was created late in May 1931, ideas of Manuel Bartolomé Cossío, founder of Misiones Pedagógicas, for whom the basic
mission to the province of Cuenca in Sep- 2010), 81–89.
shortly after the proclamation of the Second Republic. Seven months later, the organization aim of education was to awaken the ability to see. A child “possesses all that is necessary
tember 1932. Patronato’s record mentions (9) Manuel B. Cossío, De su jornada:
of its activities was under way. The book Patronato de Misiones Pedagógicas is a record of that the missionaries were “accompanied for seeing, which is the first and essential condition for knowledge; all he is waiting for is for (Fragmentos) (Madrid: Blass, 1929), 7.
the trust’s work during the first three years of its existence. by a technical photography team.” This someone to teach him how to do it,” Cossío wrote. “He looks [at things] and they do not say (10) Manuel Abril, Los niños en la pintura
The first page explains the missions’ goal: to bring two worlds that were radically far was probably Guillermo Fernández Zúñiga, anything to him because he does not know how to see them. Blessed be the day when he y la fotografía (Madrid: Aguilar, ca. 1935).
apart–urban Spain and rural Spain–closer through culture in order to span “the gulf between “Assistant teacher at the Instituto Escuela learns and reads them, even though he does not know how to read books.”9
town and village that spiritually, even more than economically, exists in our country. All Spaniards in Madrid,” who for the January 1932 mis- One application of Cossío’s ideas about visual education can be found in Los niños en
are citizens of the same nation and have the same rights, but while the knowledge and pleasure of sion to Toledo can be seen “with the cine la pintura y la fotografía (Children in painting and photography), an album of photographs
some receive constant spiritual stimuli from their cultural environment, others are plunged into and stills cameras” as the “initiator” of “the selected and annotated by the art critic Manuel Abril that contains three photographs of Mi-
the direst deprivation through isolation.” graphic documentary contributions.” For
siones Pedagógicas.10 Abril highlighted the looks and expressions on the faces of the children
The missions were formed by groups of urban intellectuals and students who traveled to more details, see Las Misiones Pedagógi-
cas 1931–1936, exh. cat. (Madrid: Residen-
in the photographs and included a photograph by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy entitled Realidad
the villages to organize cultural activities. The project was not based on formal education, fotográfica del momento (Photographic reality of the moment). This photograph features
cia de Estudiantes, 2006), 392.
which relied so heavily on rules and memorization, but on communicating an “anti-pedagog- curious children like those in the Archivo de Misiones Pedagógicas. (Here Cossío appears to
(2) For additional reports describing the
ical,” “anti-professional, spontaneous and free” kind of “diffuse culture.” “Missionaries” and audiences’ reactions to the missions, see endorse a famous observation on visual education by Moholy-Nagy, who in his book Malerei,
volunteer groups arranged plays, concerts, recitals, and storytelling sessions, set up librar- Javier Ortiz-Echagüe, “Ver cine por primera Photographie, Film of 1925 wrote that the illiterate of the future will not be those who do not
ies, played gramophone records, held exhibitions, and screened films in makeshift cinemas. vez: La experiencia de Misiones Pedagógi- know what writing is but those who do not know what a photograph is; i.e., who do not know
With Misiones Pedagógicas anonymity was the watchword. Individual names were not cas,” in Por el precio de una entrada: how to see or read images.)
used: a text might be written in the first person, but the name of the author would not be Estudios de historia social del cine, ed.

86 87
 The book contains no images of teachers in front of passive audiences but does show (11) Patronato de Misiones Pedagógicas: Patronato de Misiones Pedagógicas — 1934

people–people who are able to see and look for themselves. This confirms that the Misiones Memoria de la Misión pedagógico-social
Pedagógicas documentation was always intended for the printed page. The photographs in en Sanabria (Zamora): Resumen de los
the archive were intentionally edited; great care was taken over the layout, especially the trabajos realizados en el año 1934
(Madrid: S. Aguirre, 1935), 15–16.
reframing; and, like the sequence and the mise-en-page, they were the result of a series of
(12) María Teresa León, Memoria de la melan-
joint decisions.
colía (Buenos Aires: Losada, 1970), 97.
In 1935 Misiones Pedagógicas published a new report on its activities that was very dif- (13) In some cases, such as “Misiones
ferent in character. This second volume moves between raw documentary images and new Pedagógicas en el frente,” Mi revista 1 (15
photographs of cinema audiences and museum visitors, but as a book it lacks the unity and October 1936), they were used to illustrate
novelty of the first volume. the missions project. But they were also
The change occurred in a number of remote hamlets in the province of Zamora, where used for other more curious ends. Gonzalo
the missionaries came across “children in rags, poor women stricken with goiter, round- Alonso, in Boletín de información políti-
shouldered, broken old men, appalling housing without light or a fireplace, thatched with co-social 13 (15 September 1938), illus-
candlewood and black with smoke. Most of the villagers hungry and blighted.” The head- trated a photomontage on bombing with
on collision with that “brutal reality came as a painful shock to us all,” the story continues. the pictures of the children looking. In Mi
revista 40 (1 August 1938), Juan M. Soler
“They needed bread, they needed medicines, they needed support for a life unsustainable
took the Granada photographs printed
on their own strength alone . . . and all we had in our mission haversacks that day were songs in Patronato and said that they were film
and poems.”11 screenings organized by the Commissariat of
The missions could not work in such dire conditions. As María Teresa León wrote, “The Propaganda of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
photographs of those fascinated faces looking for the first time at such wonderful things See Jordana Mendelson, Documentar Es-
were so moving that it left the experts speechless. Look, just look at those eyes. Can you not paña: Los artistas, la cultura expositiva y
see that those ecstatic children need to be given something more than moving images.”12 la nación moderna, 1929–1939 (Madrid:
Those looks were seen far and wide, to the point that they became the symbol of the Mi- La Central, MNCARS, 2012), 160–62.
siones Pedagógicas project. During the Civil War they continued to be used–out of context– (14) On the pavilion, see Josefina Alix, Pa-
to illustrate propaganda publications.13 The Spanish pavilion at the Paris International Exhibition bellón español: Exposición Internacional
de París, 1937, exh. cat. (Madrid: MNCARS,
of 1937 featured photographs of those looks to convey a positive image of Republican Spain.14 The
1987), which reproduces the images.
pavilion included a large-scale reproduction of one of the audience images and another of
(15) On the photograph of the audience,
José Renau’s photo-murals with a group of children looking in amazement at a penguin on a see Horacio Fernández, Variaciones en
screen.15 Next to this was Una lectora (Girl reading) the first photograph in Patronato.16 The España. Fotografía y arte 1900–1980
same girl was featured on a huge scale on one of the facades of the pavilion. H.F., J.O.-E. (Madrid: La Fábrica, 2004), 96.
(16) Una lectora was also used as a racial
symbol in an issue of the German maga-
zine Die Woche (28 October 1936) on the
Spanish Civil War. In the National Socialist
context, the girl from Cuenca represented
“the Nordic face”; that is, the Aryan race.

88 89
90 91
 Madrid 1937 Italian planes “destroy whole quarters, museums, hospitals, alms-houses, schools.” This is
followed by a section with images featuring “the truth”: the destruction caused by the bomb-
designer, in which case Madrid was the
result of a team effort.
Barcelona: Ediciones del Comissariat de Propaganda de la Generalitat de Catalunya, 1937 ing, including the victims. The second section focuses on the homeless, refugees in particu- (3) “It must be acknowledged that we have
lar. The third part covers the evacuation, while the last section is devoted to the reception of no information on how the photography
Text in Catalan, Spanish, French, and English. Printed at Industries Grafiques Seix i Barral, Empresa
section worked or the contractual arrange-
Colectivizada, Barcelona, February 1937. 300 x 235 mm, 96 pages, 100 photographs, 3 hand-colored, the evacuees in Barcelona. This happy ending is nonetheless contradicted by the epilogue,
ments established with photographers and
double-page photomontages. Paperback, covers illustrated with photographs and photomontage where the story starts again with a return to buildings destroyed by bombs and civilian
news agencies. Nor are we aware of any
casualties. The sections of the story are linked by theatrical curtains on three double-page, specific study of these points.” Guerra i
hand-colored photomontages. No information is given regarding the artists.2 propaganda: Fotografies del Commissariat
Madrid contains no credits whatsoever regarding those responsible for design, text, de Propaganda de la Generalitat de
drawings, photomontage, or photographs. Such information is extremely difficult to track Catalunya (1936–1939) (Barcelona: Arxiu
down, as–owing almost certainly to the wholesale destruction of documents in Barcelona Nacional de Catalunya, 2005), 14.
in the days prior to the entry of the rebel army–the Commissariat of Propaganda archives (4) Chim’s photographs were published
no longer exist. Furthermore, the photographs from the fourteen photo albums at the Com- many times in magazines. See Regards
missariat (held in the Biblioteca Nacional until 1990 and currently in the Arxiu Nacional de 122 (14 May 1936); AIZ, 29 July 1936);
Catalunya)–also provide little information on the photographers.3 Nevertheless, many of the and Nova Iberia 1 (January 1937). They
also appeared in books; for example, Ilia
images were published elsewhere with credits or were found in other archives, making pos-
Ehrenburg, UHP (Moscow: Ogiz, 1936);
sible the identification of a large number of them. and Robert Capa, Death in the Making
For example, the two cover photographs are images by David Seymour (Chim) that were (New York: Covici-Friede Publishers, 1938).
published on many occasions. Seymour took them in April 1936 (i.e., before the beginning The negatives were published in Cynthia
of the Civil War) during a conference near Badajoz on Republican agrarian reforms.4 The Young, La maleta mexicana (Madrid: La
unknown photomontage artist featured people looking expectantly skyward with worried Fábrica, 2011).
expressions on their faces to create a cover with the power of a poster illustrating the terror (5) Pedro Barruso Barés, Diccionario Bi-
of the bombing and the potential casualties. The women and children on the cover symbolize ográfico del Socialismo español (Madrid:
the helplessness of a population exposed to the attacks of fascism, here represented by a Fundación Pablo Iglesias, 2010).
flying torpedo with a swastika printed on it. (6) The photographs by Lladó reproduced
in Madrid are held in two archives. The Ar-
The book opens with twenty photographs of buildings in central Madrid that were de-
chivo General de la Administración (AGA)
stroyed by bombs. Most of the pictures are by Luis Lladó, a lecturer and photographer at
houses a collection of 110 photographs
the School of Architecture in Madrid who was the director of the photographic archive at by Lladó that formerly belonged to the
the Ministries of Propaganda and State during the war and the official photographer of the Archivo Fotográfico de la Delegación de
president of the Republic.5 The series of images shows gutted houses, flattened workshops, Propaganda y Prensa in Madrid during the
buildings without facades, rubble-filled streets, craters at Metro underground station en- Civil War. Ten photographs from Lladó’s se-
trances, the ruins of a market, the roof of a children’s hospital in flames.6 After these pic- ries in Madrid are kept there (AGA 53095–
tures, whose only “casualties” are a traffic light in front of the post office building and a dis- 53096, 53135, 53137, 53143, 53145, 53148,
emboweled horse on a pavement, victims of “the truth” are depicted in official photographs 53151, 53235, 53365). The Arxiu Nacional
from the mortuary archives.7 These show twelve dead children with their eyes open and de Catalunya (ANC), formed from holdings
labels with identification numbers. These appalling pictures were subsequently reproduced from the Comisaría de Propaganda de la
Generalitat de Catalunya has thirteen pho-
many times in magazines and posters both in Spain and abroad.8 At the end of this section,
tographs from Lladó’s series, although no
a photomontage of three shots by Robert Capa optimistically highlights the existence of the
photographer is credited (ANC1-1-N-330,
Republican air defense, although it proved inadequate for turning back the enemy bombers.9 340, 2489, 2491–2494, 2496–2498, 2500,
The next section is entitled “Under Madrid Soil” [sic] and features platforms at under- 2503; ANC1-722-N-84).
ground Metro stations serving as air-raid shelters. The opening montage consists of a draw- (7) The ANC (1-1-N-2504–2507) contains
ing of a group of terrified elderly people, women, and children descending steps illuminated photographs of the mortuary records with
by the glow of fires. The drawing is paired with four nighttime photographs taken during the children’s names, addresses, and date
the month of November at the Sol and Gran Vía stations. One of these pictures has been at- of death, stating that they were killed “as
tributed to Hans Namuth and Georg Reisner, while the others are definitely by Capa. These a result of the aerial bombardment of 30
three photographers also took the other pictures in this section, some of whose images were October 1936.” The photographs are also in
reproduced in the international press.10 the AGA (56057–56061).
(8) Among the many reproductions,
(1) “The Government of the Generalitat of The photomontage at the beginning of the next section, “Desolation and Exodus,” con-
In November 1936 the rebel troops reached the gates of Madrid, and the battle to defend see the posters “Madrid,” Ministerio de
Catalonia, conscious of its responsibility sists of three anonymous photographs of the evacuation of the civilian population at the end Propaganda; “Asesinos,” AIDC, Valencia; and
the capital began. The long struggle involved the evacuation of civilians and even the legally in the fight to the death which fascism has of November.11 The next five photographs were taken by Capa in the Vallecas neighborhood. “Civilisation,” Jean Carlu; and the publica-
elected government to Valencia. The Republic was in dire straits, particularly with German unleashed in Spain, has created a Com- Dispensing with words, they describe the urgency of evacuation.12 These are followed by a tions “Nous accussons . . .,” Regards 148
and Italian troops supporting Franco (and so putting an end to any semblance of internation- missariat of Propaganda whose aim is the number of photographs of retreating refugees–mostly children.13 The last part of this sec- (11 November 1936); La Vanguardia, 21
al neutrality). The military operations were accompanied by air raids, for little more reason restoration of the truth.” Generalitat de tion covers a different situation: those who fled on foot from the front with their belongings, November 1936; Die Soziale Revolution,
than to demoralize the besieged. That November the people of Madrid suffered bombard- Catalunya Communique, Commissariat of abandoned by the authorities. These tragic pictures, which date from a month before the 11 January 1937; Nueva cultura, March
ment after bombardment, and the death toll was appalling. Propaganda, signed and sealed in Barce- others, were taken not in Madrid but in the province of Córdoba, and, although not as well 1937; La grande pitié des femmes et des
Madrid fought in the trenches but also on the propaganda front in an attempt to obtain lona in October 1936, reprinted in Michel enfants de Espagne (Paris: Secours Inter-
known as Capa’s falling soldier photograph, they, too, were published in numerous interna-
help from abroad. In October 1936 the Catalan government had set up the Commissariat of Lefebvre-Peña, Guerra gráfica (Barcelona: national aux Femmes et aux Enfants des
Lunwerg, 2013), 154.
tional news media.14 That 5 September Capa was not alone. Gerda Taro, Hans Namuth, and
Propaganda to “restore the truth” about the war, embarking on a program of publications Républicains Espagnols, Section Française,
(2) The photomontages have been attrib- Georg Reisner had also taken their cameras to Cerro Muriano (Córdoba).
aimed at promoting solidarity with the Republic.1 One of these publications was Madrid, a 1937); [Cas Oorthuys], Spanje (Amsterdam:
uted without justification or documenta- The fourth section opens with a brighter photomontage featuring a refugee holding a
photobook in which images tell the story. n.pub., 1937); Les atrocités des rebelles en
tion to the photographer Josep Sala, who child in her arms and smiling from ear to ear. The photograph was taken by Chim at Barce- Espagne (Paris: Comité Mondial Con-
Madrid is a document about the war on the civilian population, a visual narrative with a has also been credited with the book’s lona’s Montjuic Stadium, the reception center for evacuees.15 Completing the photomontage tre la Guerre et le Fascisme, 1937); The
beginning and an end, a story in four parts followed by an epilogue. The book opens with a design, including the photomontage cov- is a picture of two soldiers on leave in the company of nannies. They are shown against “Military”Atrocities of the Rebels (London:
brief foreword in four languages entitled “The Destruction of Madrid” and states that “Fac- ers (Lefebvre-Peña, Guerra gráfica, 210). a panoramic view of Barcelona taken from a high vantage point.16 A naive picture of the Labour Party, 1937); [Cas Oorthuys],
tious cruelty delights in the attack of the indefensive civil population” and that German and The book might have had more than one

92 93
 rearguard with no hint of a war that seems almost like something from another world, it is Fascisten verwoesten Spanje (Amster- Madrid — 1937

an image that might not even exist . . . and a sign of the propaganda drive having suddenly dam: n.pub., 1937); and Per Meurling, Den
become local and perhaps complacent. The next photographs confirm this impression of blodiga arenan (Stockholm: Universal
escape from reality: evacuees are “resting from the long-endured fatigues under Catalonia’s Press, 1937).
(9) Two of the photographs appeared in
sun,” “feed themselves at the great refectories of Barcelona” [sic], and have “a new school of
Life, 28 December 1936.
air and sun to make the evil memories fade away.” This time the photographs, which were
(10) Capa’s photographs appeared in the
also printed as serie of postcards, were by Chim and Margaret Michaelis.17 reports “La capitale crucifiée,” Regards
As the final text states, this is where Madrid should end, but a question mark hovering 152 (10 December 1936); and “Metro de
over the text (“we close the book with a terrible question”) rhetorically speculates on the Madrid,” Regards 153 (17 December 1936).
possibility of Barcelona being bombed. A bombing did take place on 13 February 1937, when Those attributed to Namuth-Reisner are in
an Italian warship fired on the city. The new, inevitable presence of “the truth” came as a ANC1-1-N-321–322, 325, 343–344, 5600.
rude awakening to the local propaganda machine and prompted the addition of four pages (11) The first evacuees arrived in Barcelona
with nine pictures of ruins and five of corpses, the only comment being a brief “Barcelona on 25 November 1936. Two of the photo-
also,” which dramatically and definitively brought Madrid back to the beginning—the com- graphs are in ANC1-1-N-334, 353.
(12) Capa’s photographs of Vallecas ap-
pletion of a sinister full circle.18 H.F.
peared in “La capitale crucifiée.”
(13) See ANC1-1-N-336, 345, 349–350, 359.
(14) L’intransigeant, 21 September 1936;
Vu 445 (23 September 1936); Nova Iberia
1 (January 1937); Nova Iberia 2 (February
1937); and La lucha del pueblo español
por su libertad (London: Press Depart-
ment of the Spanish Embassy, 1937).
(15) See La maleta mexicana, 78.
(16) The photographs of the nannies are
in ANC1-1-N-1925.
(17) The Commissariat of Propaganda
published three collections of postcards
on the subject, entitled Evacuación de un
pueblo (Evacuation of a people), Cómo
llegan los refugiados (How the refugees
arrive), and Cómo son atendidos los
refugiados (How the refugees are cared
for). Chim’s photographs appeared in Re-
gards, 26 November 1936; and La maleta
mexicana, 74, 78–79. For Michaelis’s
photographs, see ANC1-1-N-1265, 1267,
1285, 1293, 1358–1359, 1371, 1489. On
the photographer, see Margaret Michaelis,
exh. cat (Valencia: IVAM, 1998).
(18) The ANC contains a number of the
photographs, some of which are attributed
to José Brangulí (ANC-1-1-N-626, 630, 649,
654–655, 657, 661, 668, 2057; ANC1-
42-N-34552).

94 95
 Madrid ­— 1937

96 97
 Madrid — 1937

98 99
 Madrid
Baluarte de nuestra guerra de independencia
[Bulwark of our war of independence]
7.xi .1936—7. xi .1937
text Antonio Machado
[Valencia]: Servicio Español de Información, [1937]
270 x 195 mm, 16 pages (including covers), 51 photographs,
2 photomontages. Paperback, covers illustrated with photographs
During the years of the Second Republic, Antonio Machado 1) joined the Group of Intellec-
tuals at the Service of the Republic; 2) signed the Manifesto of Spanish Intellectual Writers
against the Nazi Terror; 3) was a member of the International Committee for Writers in De-
fense of Culture; and 4) signed the Manifesto of the Universal Peace Union.
Machado’s literary career and political commitment thus went hand in hand long before
the Spanish Information Service (an agency of the Ministry of State that had taken over
the Ministry of Propaganda) published a collection of quotations from his work. Written in
praise and recognition of the heroic city of Madrid and its valiant people, it was a collection
that brought separate texts together (poems, prose poems, brief comments, and political
reflections). Though all were written over a period of almost a year and within the context
of the Spanish Civil War, the only setting is Madrid, and the main theme is the exaltation of
its people’s valor.
Madrid baluarte de nuestra guerra de independencia was not long enough to be a
book, yet it is too long and ambitious to be called a mere booklet. Above all it can be de-
scribed as a graphic document. With fifty-one photographs on sixteen pages, it illustrates
100
1937
(1) The same photograph appears in Comisario
3 (November 1938): 2, next to the poem by
Machado with which Madrid begins.
(2) “Declaraciones de Antonio Machado en
la Casa de la Cultura de Valencia: Noviem-
bre de 1936,” in Antonio Machado, Prosas
completas (Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 1989),
2168–72. Sections V–VII of Madrid balu-
arte de nuestra guerra de independencia
are excerpts from Sobre la defensa y la di-
fusión de la cultura [On the defense and
dissemination of culture], which Machado
read at the closing ceremony of the Sec-
ond International Congress of Anti-Fascist
Writers, held in Valencia in July 1937.
(3) “The bodoni typeface and good typo-
graphical taste on the cover suggest some-
101
the defense, siege, destruction, and resistance of the capital over a twelve-month period.
The title refers to the beginning of the Nationalist army’s attack on the city of Madrid in
one who knew their trade well (the same
typeface used as in the Cartilla escolar
November 1936 with the support of German and Italian troops. That period also coincided
with the transfer of the Government of the Republic to Valencia, from where the aim was to
antifascista [Anti-fascist school primer],
which led us to believe that Amster was
plan the final victory. Both subjects–the offensive against the city and the reactions of the
behind this publication).” Andrés Trapiello,
Imprenta moderna: Tipografía y litera-
Committee for the Defense of Madrid and of the people themselves–are mentioned in this
document of exaltation and propaganda.
tura en España, 1874–2005 (Valencia:
Campgràfic, 2006), 241.
The foreword begins on the cover with a picture of Cybele undaunted (being divine), sit- (4) Miriam Basilio, “Esto lo vio Goya, esto
ting in a chariot drawn by ferocious lions.1 (Thus the fountain became an icon and metaphor lo vemos nosotros: Goya en la guerra civil
of defense and resistance.) Then an aerial shot taken before the war shows the Gran Vía, the española,” in Revistas, modernidad y
heart of the city. The avenue is intact and makes an attractive wartime sight. guerra, ed. Jordana Mendelson (Madrid:
The first poem is dated 7 November 1936, the day of a major air raid on the city. Machado MNCARS, 2008).
poetically describes the scene: “The sky thunders above / as still you smile with your belly (5) Juan José Lahuerta, “Resumen de
full of lead.” Above the poem is a photographic portrait of the sculptor Emiliano Barral, who estética de los bombardeos,” in Encuentros
had enlisted with the people’s militias and was active on the Madrid front, where he died on con los años 30 (Madrid: MNCARS, 2012),
321–27.
21 November that year. That same month, having been evacuated from Madrid to Valencia,
(6) The picture of the three young girls
Machado declared what can be regarded as his motto and attitude for the duration: “Every walking up the Gran Vía, nicknamed “Shell
intellectual has an immediate and imperative obligation: that of being a militiaman with a Avenue” during the war, appeared on the
cultural destiny. Today we are at the disposal of the Ministry of Public Education as militia- cover of ABC: Diario republicano de
men of the Spanish, people’s, democratic, republican State.”2 izquierdas, 9 June 1937.
Before entering fully into the tragedy with photographs of buildings in ruins and bodies (7) A variation on a photograph by Díaz
of children, text and image set aside a moment for optimism and heroism with a two-page Casariego from the cover of ABC, 5
spread dedicated to the attack on the Cuartel de la Montaña barracks of 19 July 1936. An February 1937.
abundance of photographs, mostly arranged in the margins, leave the central area free for
the poet’s words. (Although this publication includes no credits and the photographers are
not identified, the agency that printed the booklet and the likelihood that this was done in
Valencia suggest that the person responsible for the design was Mauricio Amster.)3
One of the illustrations is the print Con razón o sin ella (Rightly or wrongly) from Fran-
cisco de Goya’s Desastres de la guerra (Disasters of war) series. Both the series and the artist
formed an integral part of Republican propaganda imagery from the outbreak of the war,
and the prints were used as a symbol of the cruelty of the violence unleashed by the invading
forces. The caption reads, “Reminiscence of another war of independence in an engraving
of Goya’s,” referring to the earlier use of the Desastres to turn the “War of Independence”
(Peninsular War) against the Napoleonic troops, a precursor of the grim political struggle
more than a century later for the recovery of the freedom and rights of the Spanish people.4
In addition to works by Goya, the volume includes photomontages. One takes the form
of a low-angle camera shot of a gutted apartment block as squadrons of the foreign inter-
vention forces burst into the top right-hand corner, silhouetted against the sky. This kind
of montage was widely used in Republican propaganda, the aim being not only to cause a
sense of moral outrage but to create a dialectic between assailant and victim.5 The second
photomontage features General José Miaja, chairman of the Committee for the Defense of
Madrid, sitting majestically, with powerful hands, against a background of soldiers in forma-
tion in an outdoor location.
The episodes, presented on double pages but with different motifs on odd and even pag-
es, do not follow a strict chronological order: 1) attack on the Cuartel de la Montaña barracks
and the people’s response through enlistment in the militias; 2) bombing and destruction of
the city, with civilian casualties; 3) ruins and evacuation; 4) Committee for the Defense of
Madrid and defensive duties of the military and militias both inside and outside the capital;
5) troop stations and firing lines on the city limits, as well as key battle points; 6) the city
protected, examples of normality in daily life, as well as gestures of help and support.
In the photographs on the last two-page spread, which shows sandbags protecting mon-
uments and facades, the face of the city is not the face or ruin. Hidden behind these barriers
for protection, the fountains of Neptune and Cybele and the main entrance to the Telefónica
building suggest a prismatic, indestructible air. After almost a year the city had learned to
live with the conflict, as is confirmed by the photographs of “the municipal services that
are operating normally” and of the group of girls taking “their daily stroll despite the war.”6
The lyrics to “Puente de los Franceses,” a popular Republican folk song, were still proving
to be true: “Madrid, how well you resist, oh mother of mine, the shelling! They laugh at the
bombs, oh mother of mine, do the Madrilenians.” The song was written in November 1936
during the so-called Defense of Madrid. The back cover shows a sniper defending the city, a
reincarnation of the goddess Cybele who appears on the front cover (and is shown protected
by sandbags on the book’s final page).7
 The photographs illustrating this particular elegy to Madrid have mostly been stored in (8) Particularly at the Biblioteca Nacional (Fon- Madrid baluarte de nuestra guerra de independencia — 1937

public archives.8 As for the photographers themselves, particularly important was the work do Fotográfico de la Guerra Civil española)
of Albero y Segovia, one of the main agencies of press photographers who covered the siege and the Archivo General de la Administración,
of Madrid.9 A number of other agencies and photographers also made contributions.10 The where a large number of the photographs
belong to the Archivo Rojo (Red Archive), the
photographs themselves testify to the mobility of the photographers as well as the abun-
photographic collection created by the Com-
dance of images covering the same event or theme, with little variation in the angle, as for
mittee for the Defense of Madrid. Other exam-
example in the pictures of the ruined church of San Sebastian by Albero and Segovia, Díaz ples can be found in the Archivo Histórico del
Casariego, and Atienza. PCE/Colección Digital Complutense.
This document of propaganda and denunciation also illustrates the huge capacity for (9) Their pictures in the volume are of the
development and production of the Government of the Republic’s propaganda services, due attack on the Cuartel de la Montaña, the
not only to the support of intellectuals but also to the vast number of photographs and mate- bombing of the church of San Sebastian, some
rial resources–other weapons of war, when all is said and done–at their disposal. R.R. views of the Gran Vía, the Ciudad Universi-
taria (University Campus), the Puente de los
Franceses bridge, and in all likelihood the
photograph of the Central Army sports event
held on 26 April 1937 at Chamartín Stadium.
(10) Antifafot provided several photographs
of evacuations and evacuees in the under-
ground, wounded in hospitals and views
inside the Academy of San Fernando after
it was bombed. Mayo (the Mayo Brothers)
provided the pictures of civilian casualties—
mainly children—at the morgue.An agency
with the initials “MP” provided a group
picture of members of the Committee for the
Defense of Madrid and a view of the Palacio
de Liria staircase after it was destroyed in the
bombing.A photograph bearing the Lladó
stamp (Luis Lladó Fábregas) shows La Carrera
de San Jerónimo street after the bombing.The
same photograph was reproduced in Madrid
(Barcelona: Commissariat de Propaganda de
la Generalitat de Catalunya, 1937, see 92-99).
A photograph of the Puente de Segovia bridge
was taken by De Torre. Calle San Roque:
Evacuación (Calle San Roque: Evacuation)
was taken by Atienza; it is reproduced as a
mirror image of the original. Madrid: Cara-
banchel: Fortificaciones en las calles (Madrid:
Carabanchel: Fortifications in the streets)
was taken by Walter (Walter Reuter).

102 103
 Madrid baluarte de nuestra guerra de independencia — 1937

104 105
 Viento del pueblo [Winds of the people] 1937 paper, engaging in exercises to increase literacy among the troops, and raising the morale of the
soldiers with recitals and readings. He also closely liaised with the circle of writers stationed at
mañana (Jaén), 11 February 1937; and
Frente extremeño, 27 June 1937); “Elegía
Poesía en la guerra the headquarters of the Association of Anti-fascist Intellectuals and members of the Commu-
nist Party of Spain (PCE), which he also joined.4 Among those he met were Comandante Carlos
(segunda),” Ayuda, 6 February 1937;
“Memoria del 5.º Regimiento,” Ayuda, 13
[Poetry of the Spanish Civil War] Contreras (the nom de guerre of the Italian Vittorio Vidali), a member of the Third International
February 1937; “El niño yuntero,” Ayuda,
27 February 1937; “Las manos,” Ayuda, 20
who had been sent by the Comintern to deal mainly with matters of propaganda. Vidali was the
text Miguel Hernández companion of Tina Modotti, whose aliases in Spain were María Ruiz and Carmen Ruiz and who
March 1937; “Aceituneros,” Frente sur, 21
March 1937 (also published in La voz del
Valencia: “Socorro Rojo” Editions, 1937 worked in the management of the SRI on issues connected with nursing and medical administra- combatiente, 29 March 1937); “Jornaleros,”
230 x 170 mm, 158 pages, 18 photographs. Paperback, illustrated cover tion.5 Within this context Hernández began to contribute to the weekly Ayuda: Semanario de la La voz del combatiente, 25 February 1937
solidaridad, an openly Communist organ of the SRI. (later published in Frente sur, 8 April 1937;
Possibly because of Vidali, Hernández was appointed political commissar and was in and Ayuda, 9 May 1937); “Ceniciento
Jaén with fellow poet José Herrera Petere on 11 March 1937 to found and edit Frente sur, the Mussolini,” La voz del combatiente, 24
propaganda organ of Altavoz del Frente Sur, part of the PCE national committee’s agitprop April 1937; “Llamo a la juventud,” Nueva
division. That spring, the two left the Andalusian town of Castuera in the province of Badajoz cultura 1 (March 1937); “Andaluzas,” Frente
to work first as correspondents and later (in May) to start the twice-weekly Frente extrem- sur, 15 April 1937; “1.º de mayo,” Frente
sur, 1 May 1937; “El incendio,” Frente sur,
eño, which in turn was dependent on the Altavoz del Frente de Extremadura.6 Hernández’s
16 May 1937; “Pasionaria,” Frente sur, 13
task was clear: whether from the pages of a newspaper or the back of a truck surrounded June 1937 (later published in Nuestra ban-
by soldiers (as he is shown in photographs from the front), he was to harangue the troops, dera, 5 September 1937); and “Campesino
edify the people with his verses, shake peasants out of their lethargy, and fortify the spirit de España,” Frente extremeño, 24
of freedom among the population against oppression and injustice. Hence the poetic forms June 1937.
he chose and his insistence on using refrains and repetition in his poems, which acted as (4) Ramón Pérez Álvarez, “Miguel Hernán-
slogans and mottoes with short, forceful calls to action: “Andalusians of Jaén / proud har- dez y el Partido Comunista,” La Lucerna
vesters of olives”; “Farm laborer, awake / Spaniard, it is not too late.” 34 (March 1995): 33–35.
The wartime context must always be kept in sight when considering Viento del pueblo, (5) José Luis Ferris, Miguel Hernández:
a book consisting of twenty-five poems, ballads, and elegies with seventeen photographs, Pasiones, cárcel y muerte de un poeta
(Madrid: Temas de Hoy, 2002), 382; Javier
plus a photographic portrait of Hernández attributed to Hermann Radunz. The volume was
Ruiz Rico, Carmen Ruiz Sánchez, María:
but one cog in a wheel of images, speeches, denunciations, and poetic prose whose purpose
Una historia del Socorro Rojo Inter-
was propagandistic. A collection of previously disseminated messages, the book’s photo- nacional (Madrid: Fundación Domingo
graphs, too, taken by multiple photographers, had all been printed previously, many appear- Malagón, 2009); Laura Branciforte, El
ing in newspapers on which Hernández worked.7 Socorro Rojo Internacional (1923–1939):
The photographs were thus part of the material available to and used by, in some cases Relatos de la solidaridad antifascista
repeatedly, the PCE’s various propaganda organs. For example, the photograph of the sol- (Madrid: Biblioteca Nueva, 2011); and
dier in the trench at the end of the poem “Canción del soldado esposo” (Song of the soldier Laura Branciforte, “Tina Modotti: Una in-
husband) had been published in Frente sur to illustrate the Aragón front, then altered for a tensa vida entre Europa y América,” Studia
montage in Ayuda in a report on the fall of Teruel.8 In another case, several photographs ap- histórica: Historia contemporánea 24
peared in the same newspaper four or five months apart with different captions: one to illus- (2006): 289–309.
(6) Frente Extremeño: Periódico del
trate the fearlessness of the troops, the other exalting the country laborer. Similarly, a photo-
Altavoz del Frente de Extremadura [fac-
graph of a soldier in the trenches with a machine gun included at the beginning of the poem
simile edition] (Badajoz, Spain: Diputación
“Euzkadi” and a photograph of farm laborers tilling the fields with beasts that accompanies Provincial, Servicio de Publicaciones,
the poem “Jornaleros” (Day laborers) were both printed in Frente Sur on various occasions. 2010). Studies by Eutimio Martín and José
The true value of these images lies not only in their documentary character but in the Hinojosa Durán.
metaphors they evoke. In this respect, photographs from Viento del pueblo form an icono- (7) Concepción Torres Bejines, “Diecio-
graphic corpus illustrating the two main subjects on which the propaganda of the time was cho fotografías para Viento del pueblo,”
being concentrated: the peasant and the soldier. (And work in two places: the rearguard Revista electrónica de estudios
and the trenches.) Images of men and women plowing, reaping corn in the bumper crop of filológicos 22 (January 2012).
1937–the so-called sacred harvest–and posing with sickles raised in a gesture of triumph (8) Frente Sur 3 (28 March 1937); and
(1) In Frente Sur, 16 May 1937, in brackets Ayuda, 23 January 1938.
In September 1937, the publishers of the Socorro Rojo Internacional (SRI, International Red formed the victorious profile of an agricultural policy and propaganda campaign launched
beneath the poem “El incendio” (The fire): (9) Irme Schaber, “Comentarios sobre la
Aid) printed Viento del pueblo: Poesía en la guerra, by Miguel Hernández, in Valencia. The with 7 octubre: Una nueva era para el campo (7 October: A new era for the countryside), a
“From the forthcoming book Viento del documentación realizada por Taro acerca
book had been advertised months before in at least two newspapers.1 In an April 1937 let- pueblo soon to be published by El Altavoz booklet whose aim was the expropriation of farmland to pave the way for collectivization.9 de la defensa de la región minera andaluza,
ter to his wife, Josefina Manresa, Hernández noted that he was reading the proofs prior to del Sur.” Shortly after (6 October 1937), El Months later the slogan “Crops: the trenches of the rearguard” was devised and circulat- el frente de Córdoba,” in La Maleta Mexi-
publication. He makes no mention, however, of illustrations or photographs accompanying mono azul (the weekly news sheet of the ed with a photograph similar to the one used to illustrate the poem “El niño yuntero” (Child cana: Las fotografías redescubiertas de
the text.2 Alliance of Anti-fascist Intellectuals for the of the plow) in Viento del pueblo. The earlier photograph appeared in Frente extremeño with la guerra civil española de Capa, Chim
At least half of the poems in the book had been printed before. For example, “Sentado Defence of Culture) also gave the news. the caption “Handling a plow while his older brothers handle a gun.”10 The 7 octubre booklet, y Taro, ed. Cynthia Young (Madrid:
sobre los muertos” (Sitting on the dead) had seen the light of day scarcely a fortnight after (2) “My book is now in the pipeline. When whose graphic composition was the work of José Renau and Mauricio Amster, included the La Fábrica, 2010); and 7 octubre: Una nue-
Hernández arrived in Madrid in September 1936; it was published the day before he enlisted I finish writing to you, I’m going to read photograph that would later accompany the poem “Campesino de España” (Farm laborer of va era para el campo (Madrid: Ministerio de
with the 5th Regiment of the People’s Militia.3 The newspapers reported on his movements the proofs they’ve sent me from the print- Agricultura, November 1936), reproduced
Spain): a view from above of the battered footwear of laborers and a number of bare feet
in a period that though brief was essential for him to fully assume his role as soldier-poet. ers.” Miguel Hernández to Josefina Manresa, in Mauricio Amster tipógrafo (Valencia:
Jaén, 20 April 1937, in Obra completa,
forming a circle by a fire. There Renau and Amster superimposed the word decree, and it
In just eight months he wrote an intense and extremely declamatory body of poems running IVAM, 1997), 114–18.
vol. 3, Prosas: Correspondencia (Madrid: appeared thus in Frente sur even though the same image had been published months before
parallel to the wartime events he witnessed firsthand. (10) Frente extremeño, 1 July 1937.
Espasa-Calpe, 1992), 2,497. without a caption in Frente extremeño, where it had accompanied the same poem.11
When Hernández moved to Madrid in early September 1936, he could already boast of a A copy of the photograph with a Foto
(3) “Sentado sobre los muertos,” El mono “Altavoz del Frente Zona Sur” is stamped on the back of several copies of photographs Oliva ink stamp is in Biblioteca Nacional
modest career as a poet and writer. After a few months at the front in the Madrid mountains, azul, 24 September 1936. The other that appear in Viento del pueblo that were made around the same time. Some even bear an- (BNE), GC-CAJA/56/2/15.
consumed by a burning desire to serve and liberate the people–whether with weapons or poems to have been previously published notations in German, as in the photograph of peasant women sifting corn that accompanies (11) Frente Sur 50 (16 September 1937);
words–he joined the first “Mobile Shock Brigade.” One of his earliest assignments was to or- were “Viento del pueblo,” El mono azul, the poem “Los cobardes” (The cowards) and the photograph of a smiling peasant girl placed and Frente extremeño 2 (24 June 1937).
ganize what were called “cultural issues,” which consisted of creating an informative news- 22 October 1936 (later published in La

106 107
 near the end of the poem “1.º Mayo de 1937” (1st May 1937), both of which appeared in Frente (12) Frente sur, 27 June 1937; and Frente Viento del pueblo — 1937

sur.12 Otto Pless was in Jaén during those months, and he photographed the attack on the sur, 22 July 1937. Copies of both issues
Santuario de Santa María de la Cabeza in Andújar and the freeing of the civilian population. are in BNE, GC-CARP/246.
In his account of the siege in Frente sur, Miguel Hernández calls Pless’s camera his “combat (13) Frente sur, 6 May 1937.
(14) See BNE, GC-CAJA 88/4/2.
weapon.”13 Although cropped, the first photograph in the anthology, which leads to “Elegía
(15) Mundo gráfico, 17 February 1937,
primera: A Federico García Lorca” (First elegy: For Federico García Lorca), belongs to Pless’s
in BNE, GC-CARP/80/1/22.
series on the attack on the sanctuary.14 (16) Wij, 26 March 1936. See also Young,
Five of the seventeen photographs in Viento del pueblo are outstanding. Whether in- La maleta mexicana.
tentionally or not, they distance themselves in either form or content from the two events (17) Although no actual proof supports
mentioned above. The first is a photomontage of the laurel and pentagram–the symbol of this claim, it is supported by the situation
victory in the political struggle that preceded “Elegía segunda: A Pablo de la Torriente, co- at the time (Modotti’s closeness to Miguel
misario político” (Second elegy: For Pablo de la Torriente, political commissar). The second is Hernández through Vidali and the SRI)
a photograph (by Mayo) of the building in Calle Altamirano, Madrid, destroyed in the bomb- and by the existence of similar images
ing and featured on the cover of the magazine Mundo gráfico.15 The third is used with the in her photographic oeuvre.
(18) Some copies of Viento del pueblo
poem “Al soldado internacional caído en España” (To the international soldier fallen in Spain)
have a pink paper sticker with a text that
and is a side view by Chim (David Seymour) of a squad advancing against the light. This was
translates as, “Take care of this book with
printed in a German magazine as a top strip on a page featuring a mass held at the front and the same affection as the SRI in giving
covered by the photographer in Berriatua in February 1936.16 The fourth shows the typical it to you.”
leathery, gnarled hands of a laborer in a portrait summing up a lifetime of working the land.
In some commentaries on Hernández’s book this picture is attributed to Tina Modotti.17 The
fifth picture is a portrait of Dolores Ibárruri (“La Pasionaria”), a PCE leader and the only face
in the book to which a name is clearly given–excepting the portrait of the bronzed, weather-
beaten Hernández.
As the poet wrote in the book’s dedication to Vicente Aleixandre, “Our destiny is to end up
in the hands of the people.” As El mono azul proclaimed, thousands of copies of the propaganda
tool Viento del pueblo would be printed, and the voice of the poet during the war would be
“scattered through the trenches and hurled as propaganda into the enemy camp.”18 R.R.

108 109
 Viento del pueblo — 1937

110 111
 Valor y miedo [Courage and fear] 1938 shelter–all are drawn together in Barea’s fictional stories by the two human traits from which
the book takes its title and whose mention and presence, as embodied by the main charac-
(3) With “Campesino” and “Foto Walter, Ma-
drid” on the back. See BNE, GC-CARP/245.
text Arturo Barea ters, are accentuated as the book progresses. (4) Cartilla escolar antifascista, “confec-
The front and back covers sum up the two extremes–courage and fear–encapsulating ción y fotomontajes de Mauricio Amster,”
Barcelona: Publicaciones Antifascistas de Cataluña, 1938 2nd ed. ([Valencia]: Ministerio de Instruc-
them in images and words. The design of the front cover is phototypographic in style, where-
220 x 130 mm, 112 pages text + 13 plates, 15 photographs. ción Pública y Bellas Artes, October 1937).
Paperback, covers illustrated with photographs as the photograph on the back cover, like the thirteen photographs interspersed throughout
100,000 copies of the fifty-four-page book
the text, is bled off the edge of the page. The photograph on the front cover was taken by the were printed. The photograph by Walter
photographer Walter Reuter:1 the leatheriness of the woman’s face, her wrinkles and angular appears in the photomontage on page 7.
features, and the stiff folds of the veil over her head are reminiscent of Pedro de Mena’s mid- (5) Some of the pictures are dated 19
seventeenth-century baroque busts of Our Lady of Sorrows.2 March 1937, while others bear the stamp
The photograph on the back cover is also by Walter.3 The picture shows a thin, worn face “Laboratorio fotográfico del Ministerio de
that had already appeared in the second edition of the Cartilla escolar antifascista (Anti- Propaganda.” The series can be found in
fascist school primer) as one of the four types of heads (peasant, soldier, worker, intellectual) BNE, GC-CAJA/7/9.
illustrating the page that spells out the “Democratic Republic” slogan.4 In the expressions in (6) The photograph, which had already
both pictures, courage and fear are interchangeable. (Propaganda departments would use gone through channels at the ministry
where Barea worked, is the third by
the photographs to convey both an eternal image of long-suffering Spain and an image of the
Walter to be included in the book. BNE
people fighting for their freedom.) has three copies, each with a different
The press and censorship office where Barea worked was in the Edificio Telefónica on the stamp: “Foto Walter Madrid,”“Foto Walter
Gran Vía in Madrid. The building was extremely relevant to the autobiographical aspect of Valencia,” and “Ministerio de Estado, Prensa
Barea’s stories both in the narrative and the photographs, for this iconic building (Madrid’s Extranjera, Gabinete Fotográfico.” BNE, GC-
first skyscraper, built only ten years before the outbreak of the Civil War) is a setting for CARP/209/1.
“Servicio de noche,” is a witness in “Sol” (Sun), and is even a character in “Esperanza” (Hope). (7) “Foto Walter. Valencia” appears on the
Furthermore, the photographs before and after the story “Piso trece” (Floor thirteen) feature back of the copy in BNE, along with a note:
a low-angle view of the building’s facade. (Nowhere in “Piso trece” does Barea actually state “Escenas del frente. C a la bayoneta.” BNE,
that the action takes place inside the Edificio Telefónica, only that the building, like the Tel- GC-CAJA/56/10/2.
(8) The photograph was featured on the
efónica building, was an air-raid observation post.)
front page of the newspaper Ahora: Diario
Each story title is printed over a photograph whose purpose is to present the story visually
de la juventud 9 (January 1937).
rather than to illustrate it. No direct connection exists between the narrative action and the image (9) The BNE’s copy of the photograph
selected. Any possible identification of text with image is visual: although devoid of documentary that accompanies “Bombas en el huerto”
rigor, the images do attempt to show a graphic panorama of the war that illustrates the main char- has “Tipo campesino de Levante” on the
acters’ surroundings and gestures and the effects of the conflict on the civilian population. reverse. BNE, GC-CARP/245.
The spatial dislocation between text and image does, nevertheless, lead to some remarkable (10) In the numerous surviving pho-
coincidences in the subject matter that, without a doubt, enrich the reading. One example is the tographs taken the morning after the
story “Las manos” (The hands), which deals with the arrival at the Ministry of War of the three bombing, the facades of the houses are
rebel prisoners captured at the Battle of Brunete. The image of the faces of the three men and, to blackened by fire, and the market is a
an even greater extent, the background against which they were photographed are reminiscent bombsite full of stones and twisted metal.
Many photographers—including Mayo,
of a series of photographs taken in Valencia of unidentified Italian prisoners-of-war who had
Lladó, Torre, Albero, and Segovia—went
been captured on the Guadalajara front.5 The same can be said of “Refugio” (Shelter), a story in
to the Plaza del Carmen. See BNE, GC-
which a priest is forced to take shelter from the bombs in the cellar of a tavern in the center of CAJA/109/18. On the back of some of the
Madrid. The image selected as the illustration was of an exhausted mother with her child in her photographs is the inscription, “Mercado
arms. According to the inscriptions on surviving copies of the photograph, the pair may have del Carmen destruido por la metralla fac-
been evacuees from Malaga or refugees from Avila and Segovia.6 ciosa” (The Carmen Market, destroyed by
A further example of disparity between narrative and image is evident in “Las botas” rebel shrapnel). Two of the photographs
(The boots), which opens with a picture–again by Walter–taken at the level of the boots of bear the stamp of the “Commissariat de
soldiers advancing over a battlefield and perhaps with too great an emphasis on the sym- Propaganda, Arxiu Gráfic, Generalitat de
metry of the distribution of the men.7 The photograph is a propaganda image reflecting a Catalunya” and were included in Album 1,
(1) On the back of the copy in the Biblioteca a title published by the commissariat.
In his youth, Arturo Barea, who was self-taught, had a variety of jobs and even his own sense of aesthetics and heroism, a portrait of an army that is efficient, precise, and flawless
Nacional (BNE, GC-CARP/245) is the title (11) Ahora: Diario de la juventud, 13
business: a toy shop. After the proclamation of the Second Republic, he joined the Social- in its movements.8 Sometimes, as in the photographs of the trench in “La mosca” (The fly) or
“Campesina de Granada” (Granada peasant February 1937.
ist Association of Madrid, and on the outbreak of the Civil War he played an active role in woman) and the “Foto Walter Valencia” the peasant in “Bombas en el huerto” (Bombs in the orchard), the apparent randomness of
the attack on the Cuartel de la Montaña barracks in the summer of 1936. In the autumn he stamp. For more information on Walter images unrelated to wartime production, seems to be linked to the aesthetic, thematic and
obtained a post at the Government of the Republic’s foreign press and propaganda office at Reuter during the Spanish Civil War, see iconographic principles of the “Nueva visión” (New vision).9
the Ministry of State, where he was placed in charge of censoring the news and press office Horacio Fernández, Variaciones en España However, in some cases the photograph does fit the event described, as in “Servicio de
dispatches. In May 1937 he began making radio broadcasts at night for international (espe- (Madrid: La Fábrica, 2004); and Diethart noche.” Barea writes, “Explosions very close to the building shook all of its gigantic steel
cially Latin American) radio stations under the pseudonym “The unknown voice of Madrid.” Kerbs et al., Walter Reuter Berlin-Madrid- armor,” a reference that corresponds to a nighttime picture of the bombing of the Plaza del
Such events–along with the locations, duties, and everyday faces he encountered–infused Mexiko: 60 Jahre Fotografie und Film Carmen market, just a few meters away from the Telefónica building.10
his literary output, making it highly autobiographical, as the twenty short stories in his first 1930–1990 (Berlin: Argon Verlag, 1990).
As opposed to this kind of relationship between text and image we might cite Barea’s
book, Valor y miedo, reveal. (2) The face was featured on the front cov-
er of an issue of the magazine Regards that
description of the monument to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in the last story, “Plaza de
Although Barea wrote Valor y miedo from December 1937 to January 1938 in Barcelona España.” This moving, introspective, and rhetorical text sums up the powerlessness felt by
was dedicated to the second anniversary
(where he had moved some time before), he still felt a close connection with the events he normal citizens on seeing their city vanish behind sandbags and gives the impression of hav-
of the outbreak of the war. The headline
described. Thus “Servicio de noche” (Night duty) is preceded by a clarification regarding reads, “España: Dos años de lucha heroica ing been written while looking at a front page of Ahora, whose only subject was the bronze
the veracity of the event. Life in Madrid during the first few months of the war became the por la independencia del país” (Spain: Two statues of Don Quixote and his faithful squire in the Madrid square.11 The story highlights the
main subject and setting of these stories in which the city and its people are continuously years of heroic struggle for the country’s circulation of images, their influence on texts, and the possibility (or existence) of a constant
under attack: the soldiers, the weaponry, the trenches, the bombing, the shells, the ruins, independence). Regards 235 relationship between authors and works of propaganda. R.R.
the civilian wounded and casualties, the food queues, the siege, the evacuees, the air-raid (14 July 1938).

112 113
 Valor y miedo — 1938

114 115
 Forjadores de imperio [Empire builders] 1939 The publication took the form of a large-format folder with a cover by the painter Alberto
Duce and contained thirty-two unbound photogravure prints and a four-sheet introduction
and Franco’s Spain: A record of events held
in homage to the army, navy, air force and
photographs Jalón Ángel by the photographer and the writers José María Pemán and Federico García Sanchiz. The the provinces organized by the Zaragoza
latter wrote, “It has not been Jalón Ángel’s intention to chronicle the Movement since its in- Press Association, which took place on
text Jalón Ángel, José María Pemán, Federico García Sanchiz 14th and 15th of October 1937] (Zaragoza:
ception” nor “found a museum” in which some names would always be missing. On the other
cover design Alberto Duce Gráf. Uriarte, 1937); photographs, Jalón
hand, “He gives us a glimpse of the Generalísimo and his family in private.”
[Zaragoza]: [Ediciones Jalón Ángel], [1939] Ángel, Coyne et al. After the war, several
Twenty-eight of the “empire builders” were in the Francoist military. The other four were new series by Jalón Ángel were published,
375 x 275 mm, [4] loose sheets of text + [32] photographic plates, 32 photographs a cardinal and three civilians: one of the Caudillo’s brothers, a poet, and a lecturer who, including one on the ruins of the Toledo
printed by Huecograbado Arte, Bilbao. Folder with ribbons, hardback, illustrated cover claiming to represent the common soldier, wrote, “It would be unfair not to spare a thought Alcazar (21 postcards in leporello format
for the Unknown Soldier, to our Unknown Soldier, who is the most famous in the world.” [Madrid: Hauser y Menet, ca. 1940]).
However, their conspicuous absence from Jalón Ángel’s gallery suggests the common sol- (4) On Jalón Ángel’s portraiture, see Car-
dier remained more “unknown” than “famous.” melo Tartón and Alfredo Romero, Jalón
The portraits of the poet and lecturer are close-ups with the heads cropped by the frame. Ángel (Zaragoza: Diputación, 1985), 16.
The result is faces almost without attributes and lighting that is dramatic and designed to (5) “I made several trips during the war to
be reminiscent of the close-ups in Helmar Lerski’s photobook Köpfe des Alltags.8 But these Burgos and Salamanca, where I took hun-
dreds of photographs that were later used
cases are the exception. The rest of the series displays three-quarter portraits in which the
to preside over a good number of halls,
most important thing–together with the face, which is always static and looks straight at the classrooms and government offices.” Jalón
camera–are the specific details that distinguish each subject: the cardinal’s robes and, in all Ángel in Heraldo de Aragón, 31 October
the others, the military uniforms. 1975. According to an advertisement in
These portraits were Jalón Ángel’s favorites, as they demonstrated the photogra- ABC on 21 November 1936, the official
pher’s skill. “One has to bear in mind,” he said, “numerous details which in close-ups are portraits were on sale at Jalón Ángel’s
not seen: the position of the hands, for instance, the position of the body, and studying studio for six pesetas.
these to find the right position.” 9 Besides bearing in mind his models’ position, Jalón (6) The postcards were printed in
Ángel also rearranged and cropped the frames. This can be seen in the photograph of Zaragoza, Bilbao, and Tolosa.
General Mola, which was originally horizontal. Jalón Ángel cropped the photograph to (7) See, for example, the announcement in
Fotos 89 (12 November 1938): 2. Several
make it vertical, thus focusing the attention on the face and the hands resting on the
times between issues 14 (June 1938) and
desk. The general’s face is also retouched to correct his surly expression and give him
22 (April 1939) the magazine Sembrad ad-
a more serious air. The background, too, has been altered: gray and monotonous in the vertised a “collection of the most notewor-
negative, it is blurred in the print.10 thy personalities and builders of the new
In other pictures, retouching is even more obvious, as in Varela’s portrait: “The eyes Spain” published by Ediciones Jalón Ángel.
too pronounced and the mouth no less brilliant, with no more insignias than his medals, (8) Helmar Lerski, Köpfe des Alltags (Berlin:
with the lines of two (those awarded ‘for honor and glory’) reinforced, the belt too low, the Hermann Rockendorf Verlag, 1931).
outlines of the stomach and trousers corrected, and the hands well hidden in the subject’s (9) Jalón Ángel, quoted in Tartón and
only natural gesture.” 11 Romero, Jalón Ángel, 14–15.
In 1944 Cecilio Barberán said, “Jalón Ángel conceived of this work with a concept com- (10) For the complete portrait of Mola,
parable–within photographic conception, of course–to that of the painted portrait.”12 Jalón see Tartón and Romero, Jalón Ángel, 77.
(11) Horacio Fernández, Variaciones en
Ángel’s photographs adopted the model of the courtly portrait that appeared during the
España: Fotografía y arte 1900–1980
Renaissance and became particularly popular in Spain during the Habsburg period. In these
(Madrid: La Fábrica, 2004), 100.
paintings, as in the Forjadores de imperio series, the figures appear three-quarter length (12) Cecilio Barberán, “Arte y artistas: Los
with one hand resting on a piece of furniture, accompanied by objects that symbolize the retratos de Jalón,” ABC, 29 June 1944.
subject’s power. The objects held by Jalón Ángel’s subjects–binoculars, maps and papers, (13) Jalón Ángel, Forjadores de imperio,
a ruler, a riding crop, or a book–refer to the duties they perform and the virtues they pos- edición popular (Zaragoza: [Ediciones
sess: authority, intelligence, training, powers of observation . . . Only one of the subjects is Jalón Ángel], [1939]); 30 postcards
armed–with a revolver in his belt and a riding crop in his hand–and almost all are seated as if printed by Huecograbado Arte, Bilbao,
drawing up or reviewing documents. However, not one is set against a background suggest- in an illustrated case.
ing war. Jalón Ángel’s “traipsing” was from office to office, not from trench to trench. The (14) For example, on Mola’s death his
photographs were intended to convey the notion that generals are not only men of action portrait was published in Vértice 3 (June
(1) In an interview in Heraldo de Aragón, 1937) and later appeared in Vértice 4
In 1928 Ángel Hilario García de Jalón Hueto (known as Jalón Ángel), who for almost two but also statesmen: serious, responsible bureaucrats who had no alternative than to rally
31 October 1975 (published in ABC the (July–August 1937) together with that of
years had been taking portraits primarily of civilians, began to take portraits for his gallery of next day), Jalón Ángel recalls how he first forth from their barracks to change the course of history. Queipo de Llano. In May and June 1939,
images of soldiers. One of his first subjects was Francisco Franco, head of the General Mili- came into contact with Franco after taking In the accompanying texts, Forjadores de imperio is presented as a first installment “that under the title “Los artífices de la victoria”
tary Academy, which had opened that year in Zaragoza.1 During the Spanish Civil War, Jalón photographs of his wife and daughter. we shall shortly complete with new notebooks,” through which “the Illustrious Men of the (The architects of victory), ABC devoted
Ángel was a supporter of the Nationalist Movement. His photographs were printed in maga- “When Franco came along, I was very Nationalist Movement, an illustrious company of heroes, will parade.” No more volumes ap- many front pages to the portraits in
zines like Vértice and Fotos2 and in books such as A nuestro glorioso ejército y a la España surprised because he didn’t look like a peared, however, but Jalón Ángel did not stand idly by: he brought out a “popular edition” Forjadores de imperio: Moscardó (3 May);
de Franco,3 and he made additional portraits of Franco in Salamanca and Burgos, where he general but more like a prince because he of Forjadores de imperio in a collection of thirty postcards that included new portraits.13 For Queipo de Llano (16 May); Varela (26 May);
managed to obtain passes giving him access to other important people in the regime.4 At was so young. I was used to seeing gener- many years his pictures presided over official premises and were reprinted in magazines and Kindelán (9 June); Ponte (16 June); Martín
his Zaragoza studio and “traipsing around from trench to trench and office to office right als and they were always much older.” Moreno (28 June); Solchaga (2 July);
newspapers.14 His photographs would define the official image of the new Spain that Franco
from the beginning of the campaign,” he took portraits of the Nationalist army’s high com- (2) For example, Vértice 12 (July 1938); and Asensio (6 July); Monasterio (25 July).
Fotos 84 (8 October 1938).
and his men had taken upon themselves to govern. M.R.
mand. Some of the photographs were used as official portraits and were also reproduced on
(3) A nuestro glorioso ejército y a la Es-
postcards.5 These, especially the ones displaying the portraits of Franco and his family, soon
paña de Franco: Recuerdo de unos actos
began to circulate, reaching large numbers of people in rebel-held territory.6 de homenaje a las fuerzas de Tierra, Mar
At the end of the war Jalón Ángel made a portfolio of “the Caudillo with some of his top y Aire, y a las provincias, organizados
aides.” From mid-1938, this “joyful spectacle” was announced in the Francoist press as an por la asociación de la prensa de Zarago-
Ediciones Jalón Ángel publication that would be released the following year under the title za, y que tuvieron lugar los días 14 y 15
Forjadores de imperio.7 de octubre de 1937 [To our glorious army

116 117
 Forjadores de imperio — 1939

118 119
 Mujeres de la Falange
[Women of the Falange]
photographs José Compte
Barcelona: DEO S.A., [1939]
90 x 140 mm, 12 photographs printed at DEO S.A., Barcelona.
Photogravure. 12 postcards in a cardboard box
Before the Civil War José Compte lived in Barcelona and was an advertising photographer.
He was a partner in “Compal,” whose advertisements frequently appeared in 1930s maga-
zines.1 After the war, he returned to his line of work and joined forces with Ramón Batlles, a
photographer who had had a degree of success in the past. In June 1939 the two announced
their partnership in La Vanguardia Española: “The Estudio Batlles-Compte has resumed its
original and archive work at 64, Paseo de Gracia. Ramón Batlles, who during the whole of
the Crusade worked in liberated Spain and was able to obtain various portraits of Franco and
other personalities, has joined forces with the advertising photographer José Compte, who
is very well known for his magnificent achievements in connection with the resurgence of
the country and was head of one of the Nationalist propaganda departments.”2 From then on
the name Batlles-Compte would appear on studio portraits faithful to the conventions of that
genre and in magazine ads in keeping with the norms of modern advertising.3
By the 1960s Compte was without a partner and had become a member of the Club de
la Publicidad (Advertising club), chairman of a residents’ association, and an acclaimed por-
trait photographer, particularly of brides. One picture in a newspaper of the time shows him
in a radio interview: a decent-looking chap with a pencil mustache, wearing a loose-fitting
suit and suspenders. No doubt he was trying to look smart, but with his tie too long and his
trousers so short, he achieves the opposite effect.4
1939
(1) «Compal» es la combinación de dos
apellidos, Compte y Palatchi. Cfr. Praha,
París, Barcelona: modernidad fotográfica
de 1918 a 1948, cat., Madrid: La Fábrica,
2010, p. 303.
(2) La Vanguardia (28.6.1939).
(3) Ejemplos de anuncios firmados «Batlles-
Compte» en Fotos (12.11.1943), Hola 31
(31.3.1945) y La Vanguardia (4.6.1953).
También hacen una exposición conjunta
en la galería Biosca de Madrid; cfr. ABC
(19.5.1950 y 20.5.1950).
(4) El retrato, como «el fotógrafo de las
novias», en La Vanguardia (2.7.1957).
José Compte Argimón fallece en Barcelona
en 1987, v. necrológica en La Vanguardia
(23.7.1987).
(5) Destino 92 (3.12.1938). Compte es
descrito como un «excepcional maestro
en la fotografía y el reportaje artístico»
Although the three years of civil war were a break (albeit short) in his career, they were
also his big opportunity as a photographer. In 1937, together with Antonio Rivière, another
que en «repetidas ocasiones ha ofrecido
gentilmente para las páginas de nuestro
Barcelona advertising agent, he organized an exhibition entitled Primer documento nacional
(First national document), which traveled to “all the liberated [provincial] capitals of Spain”
semanario algunos de sus mejores trabajos».
Antonio Riviére es el fundador de la agencia
and the following year continued in the Moroccan protectorate.5 In 1938 he also worked in
de publicidad Arpón en 1930, a la que
continúa la agencia Arco a partir de 1951.
Burgos and San Sebastián with Dionisio Ridruejo (then director-general of propaganda of
También es socio del Club de la Publicidad,
the rebel government), who described Compte in the “direct propaganda” section as part que preside en los años sesenta.
of “a curious Catalan duo: the advertising expert Antonio Rivière–from an important family (6) Dionisio Ridruejo, Con fuego y con
of industrialists–and the photographer Compte, who was an excellent artist. Both prepared raíces. Casi unas memorias, Barcelona:
publications and campaigns, and it was some time before I was able to bring them into the Planeta, 1976, p. 132.
new work plan.”6 A year later “Foto-montaje J. Compte” signed the design of a brochure on (7) El Alcázar, Bilbao: Editora Nacional,
the Alcazar at Toledo and also published an article in Y, the journal of the women’s section abril 1939.
of the Falange.7 By then he was head of the photography section of the National Propaganda (8) «Consejo Nacional de la Sección Femenina»,
Service, and when the rebel army entered Barcelona he was tasked with confiscating the 16 fotos, Y Revista para la mujer 13
photographic archives of the Generalitat, political parties, the editorial offices of newspa- (febrero 1939), pp. 17-19.
(9) Centelles: las vidas de un fotógrafo,
pers and magazines, publishers, and photographers and their agencies.8
1909-1985, Barcelona: Lunwerg, 2006,
Compte’s main work can be seen in the photogravure pages of the magazine Vértice, p. 28. Pep Parer, «El Fons fotogràfic de la
especially from September 1938 to March 1939. (All the requisitioning during this period nissaga dels Merletti: mig segle de fotope-
must have left him with little free time to work on his own photographs, which were very riodisme», Butlletí de la Societat Catalana
different from those normally found in the press.) His shots were always taken from a short d’Estudis Històrics 14 (2003), p. 120.
distance and slightly from above. He preferred close-ups, based his compositions on broken (10) Sobre Vértice, cfr. Revistas y guerra
diagonals, and his angles are almost always low. 1936 1939, cat., Madrid: Museo Reina
Vértice 10 carried advertisements for Compte’s series “Guerra en el mar” (War at sea) Sofía, 2007. Las fotos firmadas Compte en
in full color on the cover. This series consists of photographs of weapons and seamen who los números 14 (septiembre 1938: «Plástica.
look as if they have just stepped out of a spruced-up version of Battleship Potemkin. A color La belleza fotográfica», 6 fotos); 15 (octubre
1938: 6 fotos); 16 (noviembre 1938: 2 fotos
photograph on the end of the campaign in Catalonia also appears on the cover of the Febru-
+ «Plástica», 6 fotos); 17 (diciembre 1938:
ary 1939 issue with a photomontage signed “J. Compte” and featuring anonymous soldiers
7 fotos + «Plástica», 5 fotos); 18 (enero 1939:
with generals of the general staff on a superimposed map (a synthesis that Jalón Ángel was cubierta + 16 fotos); 19 (febrero 1939:
never able to complete). cubierta); y Vértice 20 (marzo 1939: 12 fotos).
Photographs appear in all issues of Vértice–Revista Nacional de Falange Española y de
las JONS (National magazine of the Traditionalist Spanish Phalanx and the Assemblies of the
National Syndicalist Offensive)–and most serve the interests of the themes they illustrate.
However, a few of the images are purely decorative, often taken from German publications,
their sole purpose being to give the reader a respite from military exploits. These images
were often included in a section called “Plástica: La belleza fotográfica” (Art: Photographic
beauty), which Compte edited several times.9
The “Plástica” section of December 1938, entitled “Hermandad de la ciudad y el campo”
(Brotherhood of town and countryside), has five photographs. The first appears to be the
result of a crash course in modern photography. The perspective is forced from the bottom
up to highlight a theme as monumental as that in the pictures in Germaine Krull’s Métal, an
apotheosis of the beauty of technology that with Compte is more like a celebration of the
countryside and wood. The image is set out diagonally with the dynamism systematically
used in the nueva fotografía (new photography). The order is both geometric and rhythmic,
as in the photographs in Albert Renger-Patzsch’s Die Welt ist schön. And so on and so forth:
objects are fragmented, the background is opaque, no vanishing points nor traces of a ho-
rizon are shown.
The picture contains a smiling blonde girl in a light-color headscarf. Her sleeves are
rolled up, and she wears a dark apron embroidered with the Falangist yoke and arrows sym-
bol. Behind her another girl with an equally smiling face holds a pitchfork. The caption ex-
plains, “This city girl has brought her delightful urban ways to landwork. See her here: her
smile is balanced with the two prongs of the pitchfork. The pot-bellied pitcher rests on her
hip with a sweet, well-centered grace.”
The four other photographs display similar types, costumes, and photographic methods.
Only one has a title: Escena maternal al socaire de un carro castellano (Maternal scene by the
side of a Castilian cart), although the title was replaced with Muchachas del Falange, madres
de mañana (Falange girls, the mothers of tomorrow) when the photographs were presented as
part of a set of twelve postcards entitled Mujeres de la Falange (Women of the Falange).
Compte published this set of postcards in Barcelona in 1939. The pictures date from the
previous year, however, and were almost certainly taken in the summer in a Castilian or pos-
sibly Basque village of which no more than the corner of a stone wall can be seen (and that in
only one of the photographs), the camera having been held at ground level. As if in a nonstop
filming session, the same five models are “cast” throughout the series. The most noteworthy of
these is the blonde in the headscarf, who appears in eleven of the photographs. Two bullocks

120 121
 with their drovers, a motherless child, and a masterless dog show up as “extras,” and a bare (11) Jordana Mendelson, Documentar España.
minimum of props–farming equipment and a flag–is used. The set is no more than a stretch Los artistas, la cultura expositiva y la nación
of land with a neutral backdrop and a flat sky. moderna, 1929-1939, Madrid: ediciones de La
In the second picture Compte created a tableau vivant with the yoke, a Roman salute, Central, Museo Reina Sofía, 2012, p. 231.
(12) Los «18 Puntos» se publican con fre-
and a flag in the background. “With their arms raised in the Fascist salute, they physically
cuencia a partir de otoño de 1936.
embody the Falange flag,” Jordana Mendelson writes. She interprets the image as a theatri-
(13) José Compte, «Ofréndate con alegría a
cal representation of agrarian harmony and social cohesion, “the staging of a happy rear- una tarea», cartel del Servicio Nacional de
guard, free from social conflict.”10 Propaganda. Repr. en Rafael Abella, La vida
In addition to the brotherhood of town and countryside, these pictures adhere to the cotidiana en España bajo el régimen de
“18 Points of the Falange Woman,” the eighteen commandments that can be summed up as Franco, Barcelona: Argos Vergara, 1985, p. 323.
one: the submission of women to men, who are owed total obedience.11 A photograph with (14) Los velos, delantales y camisas arre-
the curious title Cumpliendo con gracia femenina la ruda tarea (Performing heavy work with mangadas aparecen en la cubierta del
feminine grace) is consonant with the last of the eighteen anti-feminist commands, which almanaque Sección Femenina Falange
states that women can influence men only through their “exquisite femininity” and must “ful- Española Tradicionalista y de las J.O.N.S
fill ignoredly and in silence.” Another picture, Por España, adelante... (For Spain, forward. . .), 1940, «realizada por orden [...] por la Auxi-
liar Central de Prensa y Propaganda Clarita
illustrates point eleven perfectly: “Endeavor always to be the wagon wheel.” The same is the
Stauffer», 320 páginas, 157 ilustraciones.
case with a poster of the second photograph whose text is a variation on point nine: “Work Sección Femenina Falange Española
joyfully and without hesitation.”12 Tradicionalista y de las J.O.N.S 1940,
However, Mujeres de la Falange is not just a case of doctrinal illustration. For example, Agenda para el año 1941, [366] páginas,
No te corresponde la acción (Yours is not to act) is at variance with photographs by Compte 183 ilustraciones.
in which his models pretend to be working, although that particular caption was an excep-
tion for the duration of the war, and any action taken was of necessity “Para cuando ellos
regresen...” (For when the men return. . .). The photographs are ambiguous, even frivolous,
especially Vanguardia de la paz... (The vanguard of peace. . .), in which models swing their
hips as they parade down a catwalk of dry earth with sticks over their shoulders in what
looks more like a joke in bad taste poking fun at the Republican Armed Militias.
Several of Compte’s pictures seem more parodic than sincere, and his sense of humor
might not have been completely appreciated by the leaders of the women’s section. The
pictures that appeared in Mujeres de la Falange are not to be found in official publications
such as the diaries for 1940 and 1941 (which are full of photographs, some with the same
costumes).13 Whatever the case, Mujeres de la Falange’s portrait of women during wartime
differs significantly from that presented by the other side with its solemn photographs of ac-
tive women, equal to men even to the point of using weapons. Another civil war plays out in
these competing images of the free women of loyalist Spain and the Mujeres de la Falange
depicted by Compte as responsible mothers and submissive, obedient, determined, patri-
otic, and–most unbelievably–ever-cheerful wives. H.F.

122 123
 Mujeres de la Falange — 1939

124 125
 Momentos [Moments]
photographsJoaquín del Palacio
text Álvaro Bartolomé
Madrid: author’s edition, 1944
230 x 220 mm, 54 pages, 25 photographs. Paperback, cover
illustrated with photographs, 1,000 numbered copies
During the postwar years, when little was being published, Álvaro Bartolomé and Joaquín
del Palacio teamed up to bring out Momentos. Bartolomé was a poet with a certain presence
in literary magazines of the 1940s, and a few of his poems had been published before the
war.1 As he stated some time afterward, his first book came out clandestinely in Republican
Madrid: “I still remember the day that Joaquín del Palacio and I went to collect this strange
edition: the binder, a legendary craftsman, was calmly engrossed in telling us countless
stories and details about his trade while mortar shells exploded around us, making the walls
creak.”2
Del Palacio–later in his career he was better known as Kindel–was a photographer. Noth-
ing is known about his activity before the war. He explained his choice of photography as a
profession in an interview: “My father was a painter. My brother and I inherited his passion,
but I didn’t inherit his skills. Or perhaps it is idleness that has inclined me toward this easy
form of painting, which is what photography is. The technique is very simple, yet even so I
detest it. I love the intuitive and spontaneous side of photography, I hate all the preparations
and technical part.”3
During the postwar period del Palacio photographed architecture and tourism. His pic-
tures appeared in Apología turística de España, a book designed to promote tourism in Spain
published by Rafael Calleja in 1943 and featuring the work of photographers connected with
126
1944
(1) Por ejemplo, Álvaro Bartolomé y José
María González, «Himno de las juventudes
católicas de España», en La Flecha 9
(diciembre 1932-enero 1933). Cfr. Julio
Rodríguez, Historia de la literatura
fascista española, vol. I, Madrid: Akal, 2008,
p. 546. Por otra parte, uno de los poemas
de Momentos está fechado en 1936.
(2) Álvaro Bartolomé, Poesía, Madrid:
edición del autor, 1939.
(3) Álvaro Bartolomé cit. en Luis Ponce de
León, «La poesía clandestina en el Madrid rojo»,
La Estafeta literaria 20 (30.1.1945), p. 21.
(4) Kindel cit. en Luis Ponce de León,
«Dos libros bien vestidos. De León XIII
poeta a J. del Palacio fotógrafo», La Estafeta
literaria 20 (30.1.1945), p. 21.
(5) Rafael Calleja, Apología turística de
España, Madrid: Dirección General de
Turismo, 1943. En los años siguientes
127
what had been the National Tourist Board under the Republic, such as Sybille von Kaskel,
Cecilio Paniagua, and the Marquis of Santa María del Villar.4
Kindel hace las fotografías de varios folletos
y carteles de propaganda turística, entre
Momentos is the result of the “close collaboration” between the two men. The foreword otras publicaciones como la colección
states, “Álvaro composed timid poems in the corners, and nobody suspected. I used to get Cuadernos de arte del Instituto de cultura
hispánica o el ensayo de Luis de Hoyos,
up at the crack of dawn to take the odd solitary photo. They found out; they praised us and
La Alberca, monumento nacional
here we are, blind with vanity.” (Although the text appears to be written by del Palacio, his
(Madrid: Selecciones Gráficas, 1946),
authorship is humorously denied by Bartolomé, who states that the book is the work of a en el que también hay fotos de José
certain “Don Álvaro del Palacio.”)5 Ortiz Echagüe.
Momentos was conceived from the outset as a whole, and this unity is reinforced in the (6) Luis Ponce de León, «Charla con, de,
design of the book, which uses a simple, effective layout. The text and photographs are por, sobre dos colaboradores íntimos.
linked by theme. The book consists of twenty-four poems accompanied by the same num- Álvaro Bartolomé y Joaquín del Palacio»,
ber of photographs. Each pairing appears on a double-page spread, with the poem on the La Estafeta literaria 20 (30.1.1945), p. 21.
even-numbered page–in large print, with wide margins–and the photograph on the odd- (7) Cfr. Kindel Fotografía de arquitectura,
numbered page, with full bleed and predominantly vertical framing. cat. Madrid: Fundación COAM, 2007.
(8) Ponce de León, «Dos libros bien vestidos».
Del Palacio achieved balanced pictures by employing simple devices and reducing com-
(9) Es posible que algunas fotos sean del
positional elements to a minimum. Geometry plays an important role in the photographs.
Retiro madrileño, ya que Kindel ha hecho
Shadow is used to define and highlight volumes, and the compositions have marked vanish- una serie sobre el parque, publicada en
ing points (reinforced by elements such as railway tracks and street pavements) that are el folleto El Retiro (Madrid: Dirección
generally located above the horizon line. This, coupled with the use of slightly high-angle or General de Turismo, 1946). Dos de estas
low-angle shots, accentuates the sensation of depth. fotos aparecen en la Apología turística
The strict composition of the photographs in Momentos (which foreshadows the mastery de España antes citada.
of del Palacio’s series on architecture published in professional magazines in later years)6
indicates a formal ambition, which he discusses with a certain amount of insecurity in an
interview about the book: “Perhaps photography is entitled theoretically to be granted the
full dignity of the fine arts; but there is no reason to do so in practice, for so far it has barely
been cultivated with a true spirit of art.” 7 In his opinion photography is thus less free than
painting (“In his canvas the painter can omit a telegraph pole or add a cloud or invent a tree.
The photographer cannot.”), although he concedes that perhaps those disadvantages are
not really so important: “The photographer’s work is sometimes done for him: he discovers
an unsuspected beautiful landscape, presses the button and that’s it. But other times the
work originates from inside, inspiration comes from within, and the things portrayed are
only means of expression, elements that are arranged as previously conceived. Therefore, I
believe that an artist’s sensitivity can achieve plates that are valid as genuine works of art.”8
Both the poems and the photographs are presented as a means of expressing various
states of mind. Solitude, nostalgia, and absence are conveyed by the photographs, under-
pinned by the intimate tone of the poems. Deserted settings follow one another through-
out the pages: people with no name or history, uninhabited cities, more or less hospitable-
looking landscapes and parks. The images show many more trees than people, as human
figures–some priests and a group of children–appear in only two photographs.
The image of rebirth implicit in the first poem in the book–the almond tree that defies
winter’s cold, even though it will most likely end up frozen–suggests a possible metaphor of
the postwar context in which the project took shape. However, as the book progresses–the
next photograph shows a train pulling away–the desolate tone is heightened by abandoned
villages, seascapes, autumnal parks, and cemetery walls, places whose exact location is
not made clear in the photographs, perhaps in order to emphasize the book’s structure: a
dramatic crescendo that culminates in the final double pages, where unease, worry, and the
premonition of death are powerfully present.9 Poems that allude to death, war, and sorrow
are accompanied by pictures of ruins and wintery trees. The last photograph, which also
appear on the cover and title page shows mutilated trunks–more mineral than plant–against
a somber, unsettled sky. This photograph evokes the petrified landscapes of artists of the
school of Vallecas, such as Alberto Sánchez, or the earlier metaphysical paintings of Carlo
Carrà, who was so fond of bare trees. Without leaves, silhouetted like crosses against a
leaden sky, the lopped trunks that Bartolomé calls “twisted carrion” look like inert bodies.
The image also suggests a landscape after battle (a real one if, as seems to be the case, del
Palacio’s photograph depicts the Casa de Campo in Madrid, which was a battlefront for
more than two years). M.R.
 Momentos — 1944

128 129
 Rincones del viejo Madrid 1951 news reel.4 The closing ceremony of the exhibition paid tribute to the patriarch of the Alfon-
so family and his long career as a reporter and portraitist. The same day, Francisco Casares,
el marqués de la Valdavia, Ángel Torres del
Álamo, Enrique Chicote, Maximiano García
[Corners of old Madrid] secretary of the Madrid press association, gave a talk in which he described the origin of the
series in epic tones and proposed that it be published by the city council.5
Venero, Juan Pujol, Afrodísio Aparicio, Cecilio
Barberán, Francisco Ramos de Castro y en la
(Nocturnos) [(Nocturnes)] And so, the end of December 1951, as Casares comments in the preface, saw the comple-
clausura, Francisco Casares. El mismo diario
da cuenta dos días más tarde de la concurrida
tion of the printing of Rincones del viejo Madrid (Nocturnos), featuring the forty-one photo-
photographsAlfonso graphs taken by Alfonso with the help of his sons. The book takes the reader-flaneur on a
asistencia de personalidades a la exposición,
lo que constata la rehabilitación del fotógrafo
text Francisco Casares walking tour of Madrid de los Austrias. Each photograph is preceded by its own title page (ABC, 16.2.1951). Otros comentarios de
drawings Ángel Esteban containing a caption and a drawing by Ángel Esteban set inside a coat of arms with lam- época: Emilio Romero, «Alfonso moviliza
Madrid: Artes Gráficas Martorell, 1951 brequins and insignia. The book is carefully edited and printed on top-quality paper; it was su mundo fotográfico», Pueblo (3.3.1951);
280 x 240 mm, [186] pages, 41 photographs printed in photogravure. Paperback chosen by the Spanish National Book Institute as one of the fifty best edited books in 1951.6 Francisco Casares, «La noche en los rincones
Casares’s text is descriptive and contains not the slightest allusion to the period or to del viejo Madrid», Fotos 732 (10.3.1951);
politics; it credits the Alfonso family with having captured the romantic spirit of the story by Francisco Serrano Anguita, «El Madrid de los
“having worked at night, so that the appearance and character attest more strongly to all the Alfonso» Madrid (19.12.1958). El reportaje
ineffable, singular, unique, irreplaceable romanticism of Madrid of the past.” As in a guide- (NO-DO 427B) se emite el 12.3.1951.
(5) «El Ayuntamiento, celoso paladín de las
book containing snippets of history, customs, and anecdotes, Casares compiles information
bellezas de Madrid, de sus tradiciones, de
about a glorious past and the remote dwellers of the buildings, recreated by Ángel Esteban sus características, tiene el deber de con-
in his pen drawings of cloak-and-dagger knights and knaves, the ghostly inhabitants of an feccionar en los talleres municipales esta
uninhabited city.7 obra: La noche en los rincones del viejo
In Rincones del viejo Madrid (Nocturnos) historical Madrid is presented as an architectur- Madrid. Para cada fotografía puede haber
al backdrop frozen in time. “Stones, crosses, arches, forecourts, grand entrances, fountains, un soneto, un romance o una página en
flights of winding steps, narrow alleyways, lattice windows, railings, old shrubs, nobles’ prosa, de un poeta, de un cronista, de un
coats of arms–all this unique ensemble with which exotic airs and modernist trends were escritor.» Casares, La noche en los rinco-
unable to do away continues to exist, with all its character as if in an absence plagued by nes del viejo Madrid: discurso de clausura
nostalgia.” This interpretation, as poetic as it is reactionary, is suggested by the almost total pronunciado por Francisco Casares en
la exposición de fotografías de «Alfonso»
absence of people, with the exception of the occasional solitary figure who appears from
y sus hijos el día 2 de marzo de 1951,
time to time, helping compose the photograph.
Madrid: Imprenta Provincial, [1951]. En la
The format of the book is generous, and the layout of the pictures is classic, with pho- clausura también intervienen Ramón de
tographs on the odd-numbered pages, framed by a spacious passe-partout. Whereas the Castro y Alberto Insúa (ABC, 3.3.1951).
photographs exhibited in the studio were gelatin bromide–a highly sensitive technique that (6) ABC (20.3.1952) da cuenta de la conce-
was fast to process and ideal for developing negatives–those reproduced in the book are sión del premio antes de reseñarlo como
gravures, photomechanical prints that create varied halftones and emphasize the blacks, «exponente del carácter típico de nuestros
which are always deep and matte. viejos barrios», ABC (20.4.1952).
The photographs show a frozen, deserted city, sealed off. Not a single light appears in (7) Ángel Esteban ilustra con escenas
the windows of the houses. Lighting is reduced to the humble, omnipresent streetlamps that semejantes otro libro ese mismo año: José
create ragged shadows and sharp angles, recalling the expressionist sets of films like The Montero Alonso, Gonzalo de Córdoba, el
Gran Capitán, Madrid: Boris Bureba, 1951.
Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920). Plazuela de la Morería, an unreal picture full of
(8) Brassaï, Paul Morand. Paris de nuit.
triangles of lights and shadows that draw ghostly lines and a complete range of grays ending
París: Arts et Métiers graphiques, 1933.
in the dense, impenetrable blacks of the finest photogravure, is but one example. (9) «[He] logrado resolver, con la acertada
Rincones del viejo Madrid (Nocturnos) belongs to a tradition of urban photobooks begun colaboración de los chicos, los distintos
in 1933 by the photographer Brassaï and the publishers Arts et Métiers Graphiques.8 Paris y complejos problemas de orden técnico
de nuit features a few photographs that are similar in composition, but the light is different que se me presentaron en la noche para lo-
and the streets are full of life, which never comes to a halt. Unlike the long exposures of grar los valores de los primeros términos y
Rincones, Brassaï’s pictures feature figures photographed against the light and with mag- la profundidad en la perspectiva, solamen-
nesium lights.9 The figures’ poses are reminiscent of those in Bill Brandt’s photobook about te, y sin más iluminación que la natural de
During the first forty years of the twentieth century, the firm Alfonso constantly appeared (1) Alfonso [Sánchez García], El Álbum los faroles del alumbrado.» Alfonso Sánchez
nocturnal London, which takes readers on a tour from the outer to the inner part of a city
in the captions of photographs published in newspapers and magazines in Spain. Founded de la Guerra de Melilla, Madrid:Tipografía García cit. en Francisco Casares, «Alfonso,
de El Imparcial, 1909, 10 fascículos de portrayed through its inhabitants and, above all, their gazes–a far cry from the abandonment
by Alfonso Sánchez García and continued in the 1920s by his sons Alfonso, Luis, and Pepe fotógrafo», Fotos 740 (5.5.1951).
25 fotografías. and sadness conveyed by the Alfonsos’ photographs.10
Sánchez Portela, the firm left a mark on photojournalism in the written press, postcards, (10) Bill Brandt,André Lejard. Londres de
(2) El expediente de su depuración se But the photobooks of Brandt and Brassaï are from the prewar period, and Madrid is nuit. París:Arts et Metiers graphiques, 1938.
and even photographic publications such as El Álbum de la Guerra de Melilla (Album of the conserva en el Fichero general de la sección uninhabited not by chance and much less for aesthetic reasons. The lights and lively atmos- (11) Cecilio Paniagua, «Madrid a las 7»,
Melilla War).1 político-social, fondo Delegación Nacional phere of nighttime Madrid were a theme explored in photographs taken by Cecilio Paniagua Las cuatro estaciones 1 (primavera 1935).
At the end of the Civil War, Francisco Franco’s regime confiscated the Alonsos’ journal- de Servicios Documentales, del Centro in 1935 and by the reporter Jaime Pato in 1953.11 What Rincones del viejo Madrid (Nocturnos) Repr. en Horacio Fernández, Variaciones
ists’ licenses, preventing them from publishing photographs in the press.2 This limited them Documental de la Memoria Histórica. portrays, however, despite its seemingly aseptic appearance, is the dismal outlook of post- en España, Madrid: La Fábrica, 2004, p.
to studio portraits, with which they endeavored to maintain their public presence through Más información en Publio López Mondéjar, war Spain: a repressive dictatorship accompanied by an economic autarky that did not abol- 62. Jaime Pato, Mundo Hispánico 61
studio exhibitions that would not be objectionable to–and, hence, might gain them renewed Alfonso cincuenta años de historia de España, ish food rationing until 1952. Reading between the lines, we find that the Alfonsos’ book (mayo 1053), pp. 29-31.
favor with–the new regime. An early exhibition of portraits of General Moscardó was held Barcelona: Lunwerg, 2002, pp. 94 y ss. (12) Dámaso Alonso, «Insomnio», en Hijos
is not a neutral document but a sinister backdrop and funeral oration that could well be
in April 1940 and, failing to achieve its aims, was followed in 1947 by an exhibition of pho- (3) Diego San José, Estampas nuevas del de la ira, Madrid 1944. Obras completas,
Madrid viejo: lugares, leyendas y patrañas
accompanied by the following lines by Dámaso Alonso: “Madrid is a city of more than one
tographs of Madrid, some of which were published in a book, Estampas nuevas del Madrid Madrid: Gredos, 1993, p. 251.
de la antigua Villa y Corte, traídas al tiempo million corpses (according to the latest statistics). / At times in the night I turn over and sit
viejo (New pictures of old Madrid).3 up in this niche where for 45 years I’ve been rotting away, / and I spend long hours hearing
de ahora, 8 fotografías de Alfonso [Sánchez
The 1947 exhibition marked the beginning of a series of nocturnal photographs of the García], Madrid: Gráficas Cinema, 1947. the hurricane moan, or the dogs bark, or the moonlight softly flow.”12 M.R.
oldest districts in the city, known as Madrid de los Austrias (Habsburg Madrid). The photo- (4) La inauguración se anuncia la víspera en
graphs were presented in a new exhibition at the studio on 15 February 1951 with the title La ABC (14.2.1951) junto con un ciclo de con-
noche en los rincones del viejo Madrid (Night in the corners of old Madrid). The show was ferencias a lo largo de los meses de febrero y
well received by the press and was even shown in a Noticiarios y Documentales (No-Do) marzo a cargo de Francisco Serrano Anguita,

130 131
 Rincones del viejo Madrid — 1951

132 133
 Rincones del viejo Madrid­— 1951

134 135
 Barcelona
photographsFrancisco Catalá Roca
text Luis Romero
Barcelona: Editorial Barna, 1954
290 x 230 mm, 30 pages text + 105 plates + 3 12-page supplements
in colored paper with translations in French, English, and German, 101
photographs. Illustrated cloth, dust jacket illustrated with photograph
In 1954 Francesc Català-Roca published two books, Barcelona and Madrid. Two years earlier
he had brought out another book of photographs, La Sagrada Familia, and in 1953 he had
held his first solo exhibition at the Sala Caralt in Barcelona. This show, in which his pho-
tographs were not framed but were full bleed and greatly enlarged, attests to his concern
with how to exhibit his work.1 By then Català-Roca was a professional photographer who
contributed to publications such as Revista and the Destino publishing house, for which he
produced tourist guides (the first of these was Madrid, which also featured a text by Juan
Antonio Cabezas).2
Fresh from the experience of producing an urban book, Català-Roca pondered how to
approach the city he lived in, because “Barcelona was a lot to take on.”3 He was not just
passing through. He knew the time had come to tackle a city he had been photographing for
years. The result was a group of more than one hundred pictures of urban life, which begins
with a panoramic view of the city, two-page and full bleed. This view is followed by another
of the city center seen from Montjuic, this time framed by two trees and the industrial chim-
neys of the Poble-Sec district. (The second picture is also full bleed, but it occupies only the
odd-numbered page; the facing page is left blank except for a short caption. This scheme
prevails throughout the rest of the book.)
136
1954
(1) “He held that photographs had to be large,
full bleed, without any type of artifice.” Joan
Artigas, quoted in Català-Roca: Obras maes-
tras (Madrid: La Fábrica, 2010), 175.
(2) The Revista weekly would be short
lived, lasting only three years. Luis Romero
also worked on this publication. The com-
mission for the Barcelona book may have
stemmed from the relationship between
Romero and Català-Roca.
(3) Francesc Català-Roca, Impressions d’un
fotògraf: Memòries (Barcelona: Ediciones
62, 1995), 129.
(4) Ibid., 158.
(5) Henri Cartier-Bresson, Images à la
sauvette (París: Éditions Verve, 1952).
Published in English translation as Henri
Cartier-Bresson, The Decisive Moment
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1952).
137
The route followed is neither strictly geographical nor chronological. Rather, a series of
loose snapshots is intended to give an idea of city life. Català-Roca did not consider himself
(6) “A cycle has drawn to a close which we
might describe as ‘avant-garde,’ another has
an artist but rather an “observer”: he regarded photography as a “subtractive system, in begun with Cartier-Bresson.” Català-Roca,
which one must ‘grasp, take’ from reality, unlike painting, which is ‘additive.’” He explained, quoted in “En el taller de los artistas: Con
Catalá Roca,” Destino, 22 November 1958, 40.
“I do not take photographs, I capture them. One only has to be prepared to capture them at
(7) Català-Roca, Impressions, 132.
the right moment.”4 This system was not far removed from what Henri Cartier-Bresson had
(8) Ibid., 156.
called the “decisive moment” in his book of the same name published two years earlier.5 For (9) Català-Roca, quoted in “En el taller de
Català-Roca, that book marked the start of a new period in the history of photography.6 los artistas,” 40.
Although more modest in its size and quality of printing, Català-Roca’s Barcelona follows (10) The magazine Afal, for example,
Cartier-Bresson’s scheme of presenting collections of photographs in which each picture is claimed that Català-Roca was Klein’s
unique and exclusive, not subordinate to the whole. A few of the photographs in Barcelona immediate precedent: “There were a few
are directly related to the aesthetic of the “decisive moment,” such as the one entitled Los precedents—what doubt can there be!—of
niños juegan (Children playing), where the playing children are contrasted with the wall of this wide-ranging interest: that of Francesc
a demolished house that still bears the traces of its former rooms. In El cruce de la Diagonal Català-Roca in the no longer extant Sala
con el Paseo de Gracia (Junction of the Diagonal with Paseo de Gracia), a cyclist coincides Caralt, a few years ago.” Anaxágoras, “La II
de TMM: Una muestra de arte vivo,” Afal 21
with a woman who emerges from the shadow of the obelisk in the center of the picture. In
(November–December 1959).
other cases the photographer’s interest is centered not on the people but on the architec-
ture, as in the photograph that contrasts the former Military Hospital with a rationalist build-
ing, the Dispensari Antituberculós (Tuberculosis Dispensary) designed by Josep Lluís Sert
in the 1930s. “Cities are not the result of the effort of a single era, but the sum of efforts of
many generations,” the text reads.
The passage of time is also expressed in the pictures of Barcelona. (One of Català-Roca’s
dreams was to produce a book of photographs entitled La piel de Barcelona [Barcelona’s
skin], “which would show the passage of time through the city’s façades.”)7 A good example
of this is Los niños juegan, which shows a facade covered in scars; or Un patio en la calle
Moncada” (A courtyard in Moncada Street), which features an abandoned barrel, an uneven
staircase, a wall full of flaking and damp patches, and a Gothic window that is not found in
tourist guides.
The photographs mostly show the central areas of the city where sculptures and histori-
cal buildings abound. However, Barcelona is not just a guide to monuments: the people are
usually the main focus, and a few of the photographs have no defined subject. For example,
Otro aspecto (Another aspect) shows a narrow street almost from overhead. A man carrying
a sack is dwarfed by his much larger shadow. The place is unrecognizable; it could be “any of
those old streets of Barcelona whose name most Barcelonans do not know.” The result is an
abstract image that recalls the vertical viewpoints of modern photographers such as Umbo,
László Moholy-Nagy, and Alexander Rodchenko.
Català-Roca incessantly sought significant viewpoints, as in La Vía Layetana (Layetana
Avenue) and its close-up of the horse-drawn carriage with buses and cars in the background,
a combination of old and new. In some pictures the cobblestones seem to predominate over
the people, who are relegated to the background, as in La Vía Layetana a la altura de Jun-
queras y Condal (Layetana Avenue, at the level of Junqueras and Condal) or El organillo (The
barrel organ), which recalls Brassaï’s Paris de nuit.
Català-Roca’s Barcelona is a pluralistic city; it includes children and elderly people, rich
and poor, monuments and new buildings, opera and popular entertainments. Català-Roca
viewed photography as a means of describing: the photographer records an image full of
details, which is good if it “succeeds in ‘explaining’ well, very well, a situation, a person, a
landscape,” and making them interesting to the viewer.8 “The result of the photograph,” he
claimed, “should be the same as that of a written narrative, that is of literature, as the situa-
tion a photographer explains or can explain is also images of real life, everyday or fictional.
The writer does this through writing, through printed words. A photographer, through the
picture.” In Català-Roca’s opinion, photography and literature are thus inseparable media:
“What words describe photography places on view.”9
Català-Roca’s Barcelona came out two years before William Klein’s New York started the
fashion in photography for producing photobooks on city life. Català-Roca thus heralded
what was to come.10 A.S.
138 139
 Les fenêtres
[The windows]
photographsLeopoldo Pomés
text Rainer Maria Rilke, translation Gerardo Diego
design Ricard Giralt Miracle
Barcelona: Editorial RM, [1957]
205 x 140 mm, [20] pages of text + [9] plates + supplement with the poems in French (one sheet
folded into [8] pages), 11 photographs. Hardcover, dust jacket illustrated with one photograph,
glassine cover, 2,700 numbered copies
In 1955 Leopoldo Pomés held an exhibition at a Barcelona gallery on the recommendation of
artists from the Dau al Set group and Club 49 intellectuals, the local circles then most ac-
tive in promoting new art.1 The photographs–portraits and landscapes–surprised press and
public alike. “Leopoldo Pomés is an extraordinarily young artist,” Sebastià Gasch wrote in
Destino magazine, the main cultural reference of the time. “And it is amazing to think that the
terrible, cruel–even sensational–photographs that have cast him into the limelight in Span-
ish photographic art were created by a young lad of twenty-three.”2
Among the visitors to the exhibition were photographers who wagged their fingers at
the imperfections in the copies and criticized the liberties taken by Pomés, particularly the
circle of white paper he had inserted into a night scene to act as a full moon–definitely the
most “frightful” thing about the whole exhibition. Other visitors with fewer prejudices and
unfettered by the dogmatism of the initiate took a closer look, however. So it was that the
poet and editor Joan Teixidor found the photographs both romantic and expressionist: “His
excessive blacks demarcate the terrible night that draws the gaze into the void of the pro-
tagonists in his silent stories. People and expressions stand out against peeling backgrounds
and partitions with the oily quality of a Dubuffet canvas. A romantic soul who invents moons
where they do not exist, the artist takes pleasure in a form of expressionism that is very
characteristic of his whole generation.”3
140
1957
(1) See Club 49: Reobrir El Joc, 1949–71,
exh. cat. (Barcelona: Centre d’Art Santa
Mònica, 2000).
(2) Mylos [Sebastià Gasch], “Con Leopoldo
Pomés,” Destino 934 (2 July 1955): 26.
(3) Joan Teixidor, quoted in Juan Perucho,
“Con Leopoldo Pomés en la encrucijada
de su verdadera vocación,” Destino 1411
(22 August 1964): 30.
(4) Néstor Luján, “El arte poético de la fo-
tografía de Leopoldo Pomés,” Destino 927
(14 May 1955): 36.
(5) Destino 928 (21 May 1955): 36.
(6) Mylos “Con Leopoldo Pomés.”
(7) Italo Svevo, La conciencia de Zeno (Bar-
celona: Seix Barral, Biblioteca Breve, 1956).
(8) Rainer Maria Rilke, Les fenêtres: Dix
poèmes de Rainer Maria Rilke illustrés
de dix eaux-fortes par Baladine (Paris:
Officina Sanctandreana, 1927).
141
Néstor Luján, who soon after was appointed editor of Destino, believed that the most
important aspect was somehow hidden from view. What he saw were “photographs taken
(9) Leopoldo Pomés to author, 14
February 2014.
with an enigma of poetry [in which Pomés] shows us a poetic world, infuses it with his laws
and rules, maintains its reality, and forces into view, alive and ground-breaking, its mystery,
(10) Ibid.
(11) Daniel Giralt-Miracle, quoted in José
its authenticity, its accent.”4
Luis Martín Montesinos, Ricard Giralt
Miracle: El diálogo entre la tipografía y
The purported cruelty, which was no more than a result of Pomés’s technique, was not
el diseño gráfico (Valencia: Campgràfic,
incompatible with a poetic interpretation of the photographs: “Pomés demonstrates the ex- 2008), 207.
tremely intense poetry that can be achieved with just black and white used through that (12) M. Fernández Almagro, “Rilke—Gerardo
device called the camera that so lacks any inclination toward poetry.”5 Diego,” La Vanguardia, 22 April 1958.
Pomés accepted the poetic interpretation, but he would not agree to such a dismissive
insult to the camera, attributing it to “a group of fellows whose only concern is to find a new
type of developer to reduce the amount of grains in their emulsions.” As Gasch said, “In still
and film photography it is absolutely essential not to allow oneself to become enslaved by
technology but rather to use it as a medium and take advantage of its many resources for
achieving the poetry in the image.”6
The exhibition bore fruit. The publisher Carlos Barral asked for a photograph for a book
jacket, and Pomés gave him a vertical photograph of a pavement in autumn with a girl walk-
ing away from the camera while doing a balancing act on the curb in high heels.7 Yet another
poem, perhaps a little cryptic.
Not long afterward a financier named Ramón Julià founded the publishing house Editions
RM, his aim being to produce “exquisite, quality and atypical books.” Editions RM was run
by the painter Luis Marsans. For its first book it chose a collection of ten poems by Rainer
Maria Rilke translated by Gerardo Diego.8 In charge of design was Ricard Giralt Miracle,
whose firm, Instituto de Arte Gráfico Filograf, also printed the book. To illustrate the poems,
the publisher commissioned the photographer who best combined technique and poetry,
Pomés. He accepted the assignment but insisted on doing things his own way. “For me il-
lustrating poems with parallel images is an error of concept. Marsans suggested I take the
pictures and he didn’t force me into anything.”9
The photographs, consonant with the title, are all of windows. The first, on the front
cover, is almost white and becomes whiter still thanks to the misty transparency of the glass-
ine cover. In an unprecedented combination of Piet Mondrian and Henri Matisse, the image
contains precise lines and arabesques. After this, Pomés’s subtle range of grays darkens
page by page, as does the text, which ends with lines such as “so great and cold a farewell.”
Some of the photographs are taken from an interior and show windows with net curtains
through which leaves as subtle as those in Japanese prints can be sensed more than seen. In
the rest, the windows do not look out but are the subject of the gaze: opaque forms hiding
secrets, enigmas of poetry, as Néstor Luján called them. All are closed, except for one that
is slightly open and allows a glimpse of a mysterious-looking draftboard. Little air circulates
in these pictures.
Les fenêtres is no more than a plaquette with ten poems and ten pictures separated from
the text and used by Giralt Miracle to interpret the “living geometry” of Rilke’s windows.
Five of them (six, including that on the cover) are full-page illustrations, while the others are
framed in different ways, including one like a painting that might be by Mark Rothko. Others,
such as the ones viewed from below, are at the top of the page, while the most distant is at
the bottom. The most vertical one is tightly cropped and, unlike the others, is on the edge
of an even-numbered page.
Pomés described his work with Giralt Miracle as “an unforgettable experience. With him
I did a crash course in good design. He is the most talented and sensitive professional I’ve
ever met. Every time he had a proof he called me and we stood and enjoyed them together.”10
As has been pointed out, “Pomés was so thoroughly captivated by [Giralt Miracle’s] way of
looking at the pictures, the suggestions he made regarding the framing, his way of combin-
ing them and the depth of his gaze, that thereafter they were the best of friends.” 11
However, despite Giralt Miracle’s painstaking work and the subtlety of Pomés’s photo-
graphs, the book was poorly distributed, and sales were negligible. Despite the success of
the exhibition, Les fenêtres aroused little interest and only the odd remark; for example,
Melchor Fernández Almagro’s almost passing reference to “Those other [Windows] of Rilke’s
which Gerardo Diego brought to our attention with his recent translation–very carefully at-
tired in typeface and body text–with poetic photographs by Leopoldo Pomés.”12
Perhaps 1957 was not a particularly good year for books like this one. Nevertheless, Po-
més, who still has most of the copies, gave a much simpler explanation for its commercial
failure: we should blame not the more or less hermetic poetry of the images but the lack of
interest of an editor who, disappointed by the verbose translation, left the books to rot in
the warehouse. H.F.
142 143
 Neutral Corner
photographs Ramón Masats
text Ignacio Aldecoa
design Luis Clotet, Oscar Tusquets
Barcelona: Lumen, Palabra e imagen collection, 1962
225 x 215 mm, [76] pages (44 greenish-gray paper for text + 32 white paper for
photographs), 30 photographs. Hardback, illustrated covers, plastic dust jacket
Neutral Corner, the second title in the Palabra e Imagen series, defines the style of the col-
lection. Its designers, Lluís Clotet and Oscar Tusquets, give shape to a model in which group
decisions are made and image and text enjoy equal status: the latter does not merely illus-
trate the former, nor does the former merely comment on the latter.
A very high standard. Ramón Masats’s photographs have all the elegance and drama of
black and white (above all black), as well as the “authenticity” and “human sense” of the finest
reportage, like that which Masats began publishing in the weekly Gaceta ilustrada in 1957.1
Ignacio Aldecoa set about writing only after seeing Masats’s photographs and composed
fourteen intense vignettes based on them–fourteen “rounds” between which is only the thir-
ty-eight-line text titled “A Minute’s Peace.” Using the same concise style that shuns excessive
lyricism or a merely documentary tone–that of his tale “Young Sánchez,” for example–Al-
decoa accompanied the photographer as he took his shots.2 Like the text, the photographs
strike a critical and epic note, as befits a subject that combines squalor and legend.
Clotet and Tusquets agreed on the design with Masats, who left the details up to them.
“Despite the great respect we professed for Masats’s photos, we dared to propose rather
risky things to him: trimming the cover photo to a circle, devoting a double-page spread to
a small photo, repeating photos in much smaller format, arranging a positive and negative
print beside each other symmetrically and, in a show of boldness, enlarging the black back-
144
1962
(1) “No other art can capture the
moment so genuinely. Reportage is
thus the product of our era. It must be
carried out with a deep human sense
and without mystifications in the tech-
nique or framing.” E. V. P., “Coloquio con
Masats como ganador del V Trofeo Luis
Navarro,” Boletín de la AFC, June 1958, 89.
(2) Ignacio Aldecoa, “Young Sánchez,” in
Santa Olaja de acero y otras historias
(Madrid: Alianza, 1968), 115–48.
(3) Oscar Tusquets Blanca, “Ramón
Masats, un testarudo genial,” in Ramón
Masats: Contactos (Madrid: Ministerio
de Cultura/Lunwerg, 2006), 17.
(4) Ibid.
(5) Although the total number of
photographs in the book is thirty,
several of these are used more than once.
(6) Blanca, “Ramón Masats,” 19.
145
ground in the upper part of the final and dramatic knockout in order to heighten the effect
of a fall.”3 Masats allowed his careful framings to be altered. “Not to preserve the framing
(7) Gerardo Vielba, “La expresividad
de Masats,” Afal 30 (May–June 1961).
of the negative at all was anathema, but we had our reasons: all these liberties are justified (8) Joyce Carol Oates, with photographs
by the relationship between image and text. Did the latter not speak of boxers who fought by John Ranard, On Boxing (New York:
Doubleday, 1987).
their own shadow? Well we pitted the boxer against his symmetry in negative, fighting his
shadow.”4
The designers drew on the model they themselves had established in the first volume of
the collection, Libro de juegos para los niños de los otros (Book of games for other people’s
children). Neutral Corner and the other titles in the Palabra e Imagen series had the same
square format and used two types of paper.
Twenty-two of the photographs (plus the one on the cover) are arranged by Clotet and
Tusquets into a simple, rational sequence consisting of four pages of text followed by four
of illustration.5 The first page of each quartet brings the preceding text to a close, the next
two form a double-page spread, and the fourth begins a new text block. The double-page
spreads are all different; for example, the number of photographs and the size and color of
the margins vary. As a result, most of the pages are different, yet the sequence has an order
and rhythm thanks to the small photographs that begin each of the eight chapters and con-
nect directly to the chapter’s text. The book is peppered with brilliant touches, such as the
double-page spread in which a boxer doing push-ups is shown facing one who is resting
after exercise, or the features that appear again and again, such as the white of the towels
amid the darkness. Above all are the opposites: back/front, hot/cold, movement/stillness,
physical strength/mental concentration.
About the covers, Tusquets said, “Wasn’t the book called Neutral Corner? What better
justification than to choose a photo of the neutral corner for the cover? But the photo of
an empty corner of the ring would not have much appeal even if taken by Masats, and very
few people would understand how it related to the title. But they would understand it if we
printed a black square opposite the inner title page. We perforated this square, which for us
is a clear allusion to the square ring seen in plan view, with a white disk situated in a corner,
and we also cut down the cover photo to a circle–that is, the circle seen in plan view inside
would be seen in perspective on the cover. . . . And so everything would be justified.”6
Clotet and Tusquets were students of architecture, were twenty years old, and had few
prejudices. Fortunately, they also had the work of Masats, a master of what is the finest
generation in the history of photography in Spain. His talent for conveying a spontaneous
and unsettling quality in the situations he photographs infuses his pictures with a vitality
and beauty that are difficult to define, but–as Laura Terré points out–they are imbued with
freshness (something both unheard of and simple; as photographer Gerardo Vielba notes,
“Masats feels and senses . . . and shoots. That is all”).7
Three of the photographic sections in Neutral Corner deal with a gymnasium and the
other five with a boxing match, following a narrative and photographic sequence that runs
from the beginning to the end of the match. The tone of the photographs changes as the
series advance. The first shows the sadness, banality, and mediocrity–not to mention fail-
ings–of the gymnasium. These are cold photographs, taken in an environment in which find-
ing something interesting does not seem an easy task. They have a critical but not cutting
streak. They are respectful of the apprentice boxers, shot from an appropriate distance and
using the deepest possible contrast in order to create a deep black, almost without details,
that is highly effective at concealing faces and expressions.
In the second series, a fight sequence, the photographs become darker and darker un-
til the final one in which an operating-theater light illuminates the–necessarily tragic–out-
come. The gloomy darkness of this series seems to foreshadow Joyce Carol Oates’s apt
description of boxing: “Nothing that seems to belong to daylight, to pleasure.”8
During the fight Masats’s camera is sometimes positioned on the canvas or between the
ropes. At other times it is next to the spectators, down in the pit. And sometimes it moves
higher up, above the scene, providing changes of viewpoint. As the rounds progress, the
lens closes in on the boxers’ heads and reveals facial expressions and glistening, swollen
muscles. The camera records both the swiftest moments, such as the loser’s rapid fall, and
the slowest, as in the frozen image in the last picture.
Masats’s lens glides among the shadows of the ring like a bird–or a cinema camera. The
twenty pages of the fight resemble a cinema montage taken from films such as Somebody
Up There Likes Me (Robert Wise, 1956). However, the montage in Neutral Corner is devoid
of something that is never absent from cinematic boxing scenes: the spectators, who in this
case are reduced to the book’s possible readers.
Contemporary reviews were more or less appreciative of the photographs, the text, and
design, but perhaps not so much the overall product, which in this case is much more than
 the sum of its parts: “The first thing about this book that draws one’s attention is its presen- (9) Ricardo Doménech,“Libros,” Triunfo 44 Neutral Corner ­— 1962

tation, which is truly original and aptly chosen. It consists, on the one hand, of a collection (6 April 1963). Similar in style is Carlos Luis
of photographs, most of them impressive, on the subject of boxing; and on the other, of texts Álvarez’s review in Blanco y Negro 2,682 (28
which, if not quite tales, are sketches of situations, notes that are half-critical, half-lyrical.”9 September 1963), which concludes,“Alde-
coa’s work is excellent.And even more so that
Masats seems to go down better than Aldecoa. “Greater rapport between the task of
of Masats. He is a photographer with a reli-
the writer and that of the photographer would be desirable,” one demanding critic notes.
able eye, a master of the lens.And, altogether,
“In this volume the reader feels more attracted by the expressive force of Masats’s photo- a nice book.An elegant book.”
graphs, where one sees the tragedies of this fight, its successes and its defeats without (10) Sergio Vilar,“Noticia y crítica sobre los
having to be told.” 10 libros de una nueva colección editorial,”
Preferences had changed by the time Neutral Corner was republished in 1996 as a literary Papeles de Son Armadans 83 (February
tribute without Masats’s photographs, which were by then considered anachronistic illustra- 1963). Other reviews from the period in-
tions in a masterpiece of “short prose” in which “economy of expression” prevailed over “ver- clude those by S. in La Estafeta literaria 253
bal craftsmanship.”11 Perhaps, but Aldecoa’s concision might also have been due to the struc- (1962); José Ramón Marra López in Insula
ture of the book, the order of the design, the narrative logic of the pictures, the beauty of 204 (1963); and Félix Grande in Cuadernos
the black-and-white photographs, and, above all, a talented team that worked well together. Hispanoamericanos 173 (May 1964).
(11) Miguel García Posada, foreword to Neutral
“They were truly creative books, in which we could do what we wanted,” Masats later
Corner, 2nd ed. (Madrid:Alfaguara, 1996).
said with a certain amount of nostalgia. “Aldecoa was a friend, he took me around boxing (12) Ramón Masats, quoted in Laura Terré,
circles in Madrid, I took the photos and he wrote the account. There are other books that Historia del grupo fotográfico AFAL
are commissions: based on the concept of attractive photos, pleasant photos. You can do 1956/1963 (Sevilla, Spain: Photovisión,
interesting things, but it’s a different concept.”12 H.F. 2006), 417.

146 147
 Neutral Corner ­— 1962

148 149
 Toreo de salón [Bullfighting practice]
Farsa con acompañamiento de clamor y murga
[Farce accompanied by clamor and street music]
photographsOriol Maspons, Julio Ubiña
text Camilo José Cela
design José Bonet, Oscar Tusquets
Barcelona: Lumen, Palabra e Imagen collection, 1963
225 x 212 mm, [84] pages (60 greenish-gray paper for text + 24 white paper for photographs,
with 4 fold-outs), 30 photographs. Hardback, covers illustrated with photographs
In the summer of 1961, the Índice magazine published a monographic issue on bullfighting,
featuring pictures by well-known photographers, including at least four by Oriol Maspons
and Julio Ubiña. One of the captions announced, in passing, that the photographs “are from
the book Los torerillos, being prepared by Lumen publishers, of Barcelona, with texts by
Camilo José Cela.”1 This was the first public announcement of Cela’s collaboration with Lu-
men’s Palabra e Imagen collection. Concerned that his book was being “spoiled” before it
came out, Cela clarified in Papeles de Son Armadans that he would indeed be bringing out a
book shortly but that it would be entitled Toreo de salón and, “unlike four of the photographs
that will illustrate it, it is strictly unpublished.”2
Despite the novelist’s misgivings, the 1961 Índice monograph was not the first time
Maspons and Ubiña’s photographs of the apprentice bullfighters had appeared in print.
They were first published in 1958, in Gaceta ilustrada, in an extensive report on Manuel
Mateos’s Barcelona bullfighting school.3 The first of Maspons and Ubiña’s photographs in
the report shows Mateos, aka “El Extremeño,” during a theory classes devoted to “teach-
ing the geometry of bullfighting.” The class took place from eight to nine o’clock in the
evening in different taverns, depending on the day of the week, and continued with Sunday
afternoon practices in the Plaza del Sol in Montjuic. (The final pictures are the most dy-
namic, with El Extremeño zealously pretending to be a bull.) Two years later Maspons and
150
1963
(1) Índice de artes y letras 163–165
(July–September 1962).
(2) Camilo José Cela, “Aclaración,” Papeles
de Son Armadans 82 (January 1963).
(3) Rafael Manzano, with photographs by
Oriol Maspons and Julio Ubiña,“A las 8, lec-
ción de toros,” Gaceta ilustrada 94 (26 July
1958): 19–23.
(4) Francisco Alemán, “Fotografía y tauro-
maquia: Pretexto para una faena,” Afal 26
(September–October 1960).
(5) Dominique Aubier, with photographs by
Francesc Català-Roca, Ramón Masats, Oriol
Maspons, Julio Ubiña et al., Fiesta brava
(Rome: Luciano Landi Editore, 1961).
(6) Camilo José Cela to Oriol Maspons,
Palma de Mallorca, 4 February 1962, in
Archivo de la Fundación Camilo José Cela.
(7) Camilo José Cela to Esther Tusquets,
Palma de Mallorca, 1 July 1962, in
151
Ubiña recovered some of these pictures for Afal, then the most advanced publication on
the Spanish photography scene.4 Afal selected thirteen of Maspons and Ubiña’s pictures
Archivo de la Fundación Camilo José Cela.
(8) Christoph Rodiek, Del cuento al relato
and arranged them in a double-page spread in the manner of a photo-essay, accompanied
by a text in which Francisco Alemán compared the practice of photography and bullfight-
híbrido: En torno a la narrativa breve de
Camilo José Cela (Madrid: Iberoamericana,
ing. (He also included timetables and other practical information about El Extremeño’s
2008), 94.
bullfighting lessons, encouraging a documentary reading of the photographs.) Part of the
series appeared again in 1961, this time in Fiesta brava, an anthology of bullfighting pho-
tographs to which photographers such as Francesc Català-Roca and Ramón Masats also
contributed. 5
The chance to publish the photographs in a book signed by Cela was a means of achieving
greater dissemination, but it also entailed a new approach to the reportage. Faced with the pho-
tographs of El Extremeño’s pupils, Cela chose to write commentaries on each of the pictures,
making up stories about the characters. “You send me the photos and I’ll invent tales about
them,” he wrote to Maspons.6 The writer originally aimed to travel to Barcelona “to see my char-
acters in their element,” although in the end he did not consider this necessary.7
The book states that the photographs are valued not as a representation of real, specific
events but “for their artistic and documentary worth as living images of toreo de salón [bull-
fighting practice],” and, “furthermore[,] Camilo José Cela’s texts do not bear any relationship
to the people who are photographed, nor are they intended to allude to them.” The “informa-
tive” nature that the photographs had had in the pages of Gaceta ilustrada thus completely
disappeared: the pictures became part of a literary setting–lifelike, perhaps, but never real.
This is clear throughout the book, which is structured in four parts that make up a more
or less linear narrative. The book begins with an introduction, accompanied by a picture of
one of the taverns where the classes are taught, followed by a first chapter with descriptions
of the school’s materials. The second chapter is a portrait gallery. The third is a commentary
on a dialogue between the apprentice bullfighters and is paired with a photographic se-
quence showing one of them talking. The book ends with its most dynamic series of images,
that of the bullfighting lessons.
Taking this scheme as a basis, Cela’s “method” consists in making sardonic and outra-
geous comments about the photographs. In some cases he parodies the person portrayed,
as in the text entitled “Puer Tarraconensis” (Boy from Tarragona), in which he attacks the
young bullfighter from the very first line: “They call this boy, dark as a green moon, with the
face of a village whore or randy nursemaid, El Niño de Tarragona.” The device of switching
abruptly from scholarly commentary (“dark as a green moon” is a quotation from Federico
García Lorca) to straightforward insult contrasts with the neutral appearance of the image.
The opening line is followed by a ridiculous biography of the character, who is said to have
come across in Cambrils “a Scandinavian girl who is hot stuff and asked for his hand in mar-
riage. . . . What a woman Don Camilo!” The fictitious and absurd nature of the tale is evident
and is underlined by the allusion to the writer himself, who thus sneaks into his own story.
The same is true of the photographers, some of whose work can be seen in a photograph of
a wall mounted with other photographs of the series. This photographic self-quotation–similar
to Cela’s literary variety–also suggests the absence of boundaries between reality and fiction.
As Christoph Rodiek states, Cela’s histrionic notes satirically mimic the “trivial commen-
tary on the photograph” found in other photobooks’ more descriptive and straightforward
conventional captions.8 In parallel fashion, Maspons and Ubiña’s photographs ooze humor
and hint emphatically at certain trivial though significant details, opting for a casualness
that seems to clash with the aesthetic of conventional photographers’ studios that aim for
an idealized photograph.
Cela’s comments are directed against this implicit idealizing photographer in “De pro-
fundis,” which shows an aspiring bullfighter leaning on a table–very much in the manner of
a traditional studio portrait but for the fact that a pair of shoes rests on the table and the
floor is covered in cigarette butts. Cela writes, “Lavativa [Enema], out of habit, is portrayed
in the posture of a bridegroom or soldier. The portraitist said to him, ‘lean on the pedestal
table. And don’t worry about the shoes, they won’t come out in the picture.’ But they did.
The portraitist obviously didn’t take the measurements properly.” And then: “Lavativa, who
is very hygienic and well-groomed, sought a whitewashed wall for his portrait. There are half
a dozen cigarette butts on the floor. ‘Don’t worry about the cigarette ends, they won’t come
out in the picture,’ said the portraitist. But they did. The portraitist was obviously half blind.”
The details ironically captured by Maspons and Ubiña (who are not the targets of Cela’s at-
tack) contrast with a hypothetical idealized photograph that would have included such ugly
details only owing to a blunder by the photographer.
To be understandable, the tale requires a reader who is aware of the details of the pictures.
The tale is directly and necessarily linked to the images, with which it does not establish a
 “transparent” relationship but–on its own terms, borrowing the aesthetic of the grotesque– (9) Camilo José Cela, prologue to El bonito Toreo de salón ­— 1963

might be described as follows: “The mirror must have certain wrinkles that deform the images crimen del carabinero y otras inven-
reproduced, marking them indelibly.”9 ciones (Barcelona: José Janés, 1947), 11.
The mordancy of Cela’s comments on the photographs aroused the fears not only of (10) Camilo José Cela, quoted in Esther
Tusquets, Confesiones de una editora poco
Lumen, the publishers, but also the photographers, who had taken the photographs with
mentirosa (Barcelona: RqueR, 2005), 48–49.
the consent of the subjects, with whom they had struck up friendships. Cela reacted vehe-
(11) Aquiles Pujol [José María Casademont],
mently to these fears, writing to Esther Tusquets, “If ‘Puer Tarraconensis’ is a friend of Oriol “Toreo de salón, un nuevo libro de Editorial Lu-
Maspons, why did [Maspons] not remember in time?” 10 In the end, the subjects were asked men,” Imagen y sonido 5 (November 1963): 13.
to sign a contract that provided legal cover for the publishers in the event of complaints. (12) Ero, “La calle y su mundo: Cela,” La
The precautions worked, and criticism went no further than paper. Some reviews were Vanguardia, 9 January 1963, 26.
even quite favorable. José María Casademont, for example, praised the “freshness and (13) Fernando Molinero, “Toreo de salón,
. . . village poet’s naturalness” that come across in the photographs.11 The Catalan press de Camilo José Cela, Oriol Maspons y Julio
reported on readings given by Cela, where “the audience had a marvelous time.” 12 Oth- Ubiña,” Triunfo 89 (15 February 1964): 74.
ers, however, considered Cela’s approach frivolous. Fernando Molinero, writing in Triunfo, Other reviews include Julio Manegat, “Cela
regretted that Cela, an admirable writer of prose, should have shown himself in Toreo de y Delibes en la colección Palabra e Ima-
gen,” El noticiero universal, Suplemento
salón to be “impervious to everything, oblivious to the deepest concerns of our era.” 13
literario, 12 May 1964; Tomás Salvador,
The text even earned Cela a seven-day conviction and an hour of “correctional prison” “Toreo de salón–Izas, rabizas y colipoterras
in the humorous weekly La codorniz, which every week sentenced a famous person to its por Camilo José Cela,” Ondas 276 (1st
“paper prison.” The magazine acknowledged Cela to be “one of the finest humorists the fortnight June 1964): 11; and Miguel Dolç,
country has today,” but condemned Toreo de salón, “considering that this literary cocktail “Una segunda época en Camilo José Cela,”
on the basis of employees of funeral parlors, enemas, groping, imitators of stars etc. is a La Vanguardia, 10 October 1967.
sad symbol of what some understand ‘black humor’ to be.” 14 J.O-E. (14) “La cárcel de papel: Sentencia dictada
contra Camilo José Cela,” La codorniz
1,205 (19 December 1964).

152 153
154 155
 Los Sanfermines 1963 the Sanfermines. Taking as a model The Family of Man–the major exhibition organized by
Edward Steichen in 1955–the layout of the show allowed the photographers to experiment
(7) “Gonzalo Juanes opina sobre la exposición
Masats,” Afal 30 (May–June 1961). For
[The San Fermín festivities] with pictures in different sizes and formats, an opportunity Masats took full advantage of.
By this time he must have thought that his work on the Sanfermines was sufficiently mature,
the series shown at the Athenaeum, see
Masats, exh. cat. (Madrid: Cuadernos de
photographs and design of the sequence of photographs Ramón Masats as he published it twice that July: in the Sunday Suplemento gráfico dominical of the daily
Arte del Ateneo, 1961).
(8) “Terré’s work on holy week, that of
text Rafael García Serrano newspaper Ya and in Mundo hispánico.4 In both cases his photographs were accompanied
Miserachs on the Costa Brava and Masats’s
Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1963 by a text by Rafael García Serrano. extremely meaty feature on the San Fermín
286 x 225 mm, 277 pages, 152 photographs. Illustrated The Aixelà show was an effective means of making him known to critics, who hailed him festivities in Pamplona are merely part of
cloth boards, dust jacket illustrated with photographs as a promising reporter. “Some of his photos of the San Fermín festivities are anthological,” what, in the immediate future, will each be
Arturo Llopis wrote in Destino.5 “For anyone who has seen his photographs,” Afal’s critic books on each of the subjects dealt with.”
stated, “it goes without saying that he is a gifted reporter in the purest sense of the word.”6 Anaxágoras, “La II de TMM.”
Similarly, when the Madrid Athenaeum staged an exhibition of works by Masats, including (9) “My contributions to the Lumen publish-
some of the pictures of the Sanfermines, Gonzalo Juanes referred to him directly as “un- ing house were much later, although many
questionably the great reporter of San Fermín.” 7 people put it afterwards in the chronology,
Masats had been toying with the idea of publishing a book with the Sanfermines pictures but because of the date of publication.Those
of Lumen were published much more quick-
since 1959, although he would continue to work on the theme for some time.8 He likely com-
ly, but this was my first book.” Ramón Masats,
pleted work the following year and began to embark on the publishing process with Espasa- quoted in Jaime Fuster Pérez,“El roble en el
Calpe. However, the project was delayed, and in the meantime he brought out Neutral Cor- páramo: La trayectoria fotográfica de Ramón
ner with Lumen in 1962. Although conceived at an earlier date and regarded by Masats as his Masats” (PhD diss., Universidad Politécnica,
first book, Los Sanfermines did not see the light of day until January 1963.9 Valencia, 2007), 320.
Because the texts are signed by the same author, Serrano, Los Sanfermines might be (10) The book received some attention
taken as an offshoot of the features published in Ya and Mundo Hispánico.10 However, the from critics. See A. L., “Dos libros de litera-
arrangement of the texts is not the same. In Mundo Hispánico they form not a clear narrative tura y fotografía: Rafael García Serrano y
but rather a group of significant pictures of various moments in the running of the bulls, or Ramón Masats Los Sanfermines, y Miguel
encierro. In contrast, the Espasa-Calpe book establishes a much more linear narration of the Delibes y Oriol Maspons, La caza de la
perdiz roja,” La estafeta literaria 263
celebrations’ progress.
(13 April 1963); and Carlos Luis Álvarez,
The book’s structure is chronological, like a synthetic account of an ideal day during the
“Los Sanfermines, por Ramón Masats y
Sanfermines (the festivities actually last nine days). First the eve, with pictures of the prepara- Rafael García Serrano,” Blanco y Negro, 27
tions: final purchases, the sale of scarves, and the rocket that goes off at Pamplona city hall. April 1963. For a more recent perspective,
Then nighttime, with drinking and merrymaking. The encierro itself features the most dynamic see Eugenia Cerda, “Ramón Masats, Los
pictures in the book. The following morning, the saint’s procession. Finally, the afternoon at Sanfermines,” in Spanien im Fotobuch:
the bullring. Each chapter begins with Serrano’s text in Spanish, followed by English, French, Von Kurt Hielscher bis Mireia Sentís, ed.
and German translations, which serve to separate one chapter from the next. Michael Scholz-Hänsel (Leipzig: Plöttner
When choosing this scheme, Masats might have had in mind Guerre à la tristesse, a 1955 Verlag, 2007).
book on the same subject published with photographs by Inge Morath, who also used a (11) Dominique Aubier, with photographs
five-part chronological scheme.11 The two books are similar up to a point. The first chapter of by Inge Morath, Guerre à la tristesse
(Paris: Delpire, 1955).
both deals with stocking up on provisions before the celebrations, and both books contain
(12) “En el taller de los artistas: Ramón
similar pages that focus on children.
Masats,” Destino, 4 April 1959, 32.
Both books also include a small selection of pictures by local Pamplona photographers who (13) “The photograph must show human-
specialized in encierros. In Masats’s book, of the twenty-two photographs that make up the ity, be a human document, truthful and
chapter on the encierro, more than half are by photographers such as José Galle and the studio without distortion.” E. V. P., “Coloquio con
of Zubieta and Retegui. In Guerre à la tristesse almost the entire encierro section is composed of Ramón Masats, ganador del V Premio Luis
images by the same photographers. Some photographs even appear in both books. Navarro,” Boletín de la AFC, June 1958, 89.
That the two books illustrate the most famous part of the festivities with pictures taken (14) Among other places, it was shown at
by local photographers is significant. Masats preferred to focus on portraits and on mar- the Madrid Athenaeum in 1961; it was later
ginal aspects of the festivities. As a photographer, he believed that a picture should provide published in the monograph on bullfighting
(1) Gabriel Cualladó, quoted in of the magazine Índice de artes y letras
Those who frequented the Royal Photographic Society of Madrid in the late 1950s remember “information.” At the same time, he stressed, “inarguably the main thing is not the subject
Fotógrafos de la escuela de Madrid: 163–165 (July–September 1962)
the impact caused by Ramón Masats when he appeared with his photographs of the San Fer- that is photographed but the photographer himself. The huge difference there is between a
Obra 1950–1975 (Madrid: Museo and in Nueva lente 200 (August 1968).
mín festivities under his arm. Gabriel Cualladó, for example, recalled, “Masats came to Ma- Español de Arte Contemporáneo, purely documentary photograph and a true work of art lies in the subjective interpretation
drid wishing to make a name for himself in the field of professional photography. As a calling 1988), 16. he gives or fails to give.” 12
card he brought the reportage he had made at the Sanfermines. I remember that that day we (2) “En el taller de los artistas: Ramón Los Sanfermines does not claim to be a journalistic account of a particular year’s festivi-
went to a café to have a closer look at his work. I was impressed by the great beauty of those Masats,” Destino, 4 April 1959, 32. ties but a personal vision. Accordingly, rather than spectacular but clichéd scenes–like those
pictures. They reminded me very much of what I had so far seen of [Henri] Cartier-Bresson.” 1 (3) Ignacio Barceló, “Ramón Masats, that Zubieta and Retegui hung in the window of their studio in Pamplona–Masats sought the
Masats was then a young twenty-five-year-old who had come to the capital to engage in ese fotógrafo inquieto,” Arte fotográfico “human document”: the child who has fallen asleep during the religious ceremony, the man
photojournalism. After frequenting the salons and photography competitions in Barcelona, 79 (July 1958): 592–600. drinking from a wineskin in the midst of a crowd, the person resting his foot on a dog in an
he had decided to turn professional. He started out working for Gaceta ilustrada and sub- (4) “Siete de julio, San Fermín,” Ya:
empty street.13 Masats also captured humorous scenes, such as the portraits of the drunkards
sequently contributed to other media such as Arriba, Ya, and Mundo Hispánico. “I know of Suplemento gráfico dominical, 5 July 1959;
and “Pequeña guía de los Sanfermines,”
at night and the last photograph in the book, featuring a “Drink Coca-Cola” ad that sums
no great photographic work,” Masats claimed in 1959, “that does not entail the unavoidable up the contrast between the “authenticity” of the celebrations and the invasion of U.S. pop
Mundo hispánico 136 (July 1959): 7–11.
need to be published in a magazine or newspaper. It thus fulfills its true mission.”2 culture. Masats even produced outstanding photographs of inevitable and hence well-worn
(5) Arturo Llopis, “La exposición de TMM,”
Masats had been working on Los Sanfermines since 1956 and had already shown parts Destino, 28 March 1959; later reproduced subjects; for example, the bull lying prostrate in the middle of the ring, a sword stuck in its
of it in public. In July 1958, the magazine Arte fotográfico brought out a portfolio of eight in “TMM en Aixelà,” Afal, March–April 1959. side–a photograph that would become one of the most widely disseminated of the series.14
photographs from the series.3 A year later, in March 1959, the exhibition Terré, Miserachs, (6) Anaxágoras,“La II de TMM Una muestra Masats himself designed the layout of the book’s sequence of photographs. He followed
Masats was held at the Aixelà in Barcelona, and each of the photographers presented a de arte vivo,” Afal 21 (November– the scheme used earlier by William Klein in Life Is Good and Good for You in New York
series: Ricard Terré on holy week; Xavier Miserachs on the Costa Brava; and Masats on December 1959).

156 157
 (1956) and Roma (1960).15 Klein’s books are outstanding for the formal freedom of their design: (15) “Cartier-Bresson has lost the scepter, Los Sanfermines — 1963

large pages with full-bleed photographs; pages where a large photograph is set opposite smaller and it has been taken up by Robert Frank,
ones; others where the illustration is laid out in a vertical column, leaving most of the page blank. William Klein and Bruce Davidson.” Ramón
Masats attempted to achieve a dynamic and flexible design, although he did not have Masats, “Photokina 60,” Afal 27 (Novem-
ber–December 1960). A review of Klein’s
the same freedom. Espasa-Calpe established certain requirements, such as translations and
book appeared in Afal. See Gonzalo Juanes,
color photographs, for commercial reasons. In Masats’s opinion, the former made the breaks
“Anotaciones sobre New York,” Afal 24
between chapters too long, slowing down the rhythm, and the latter, included at the last (May–June 1960).
minute, spoiled the book’s aesthetic coherence. (16) [Carlos Pérez Siquier], “Narración
Even so, the sequence of the photographs of Los Sanfermines marks a clear attempt to por imágenes,” Afal 34 (January–February
supersede the convention of starting photobooks with a text, followed by a single photo- 1962). One of the examples of narrative
graph per page. The sequence is full of short, almost cinematic narratives: the crowd em- mentioned in this text is Los Sanfermines.
bracing one another followed by a full-page photograph in which one raised hand stands out (17) Ramón Masats, quoted in Laura Terré,
above all the rest; or the people shown watching on one page, while on the facing page is Historia del grupo fotográfico AFAL 1956–
shown the San Fermín procession (a device that is repeated in the pelota match, where the 1963 (Seville: Photovision, 2006), 296.
(18) Gonzalo Juanes, quoted in Laura
vertical series of pictures is a direct reference to Klein’s New York).
Terré, “¡Ramón Masats, la bomba!” Ramón
With Los Sanfermines Masats made an attempt at “storytelling in pictures,” an idea that
Masats: Fotografías (Barcelona: Lunwerg,
was much debated in the circle of Afal during those years and entailed the recognition that 1999), 12.
“the loose photograph, the solitary picture, has greatly lost its importance” compared to
narrative series, which require “putting together several pictures that give an account of the
progression of an event.”16 Photographs function in this manner in exhibitions, magazines,
and books. Masats’s book is a clear example of the trend: “There comes a time when a still
photograph is not sufficient for a photographer who pursues a narration. It begins with laying
out the page, with the sensation of movement. . . . The photographer gradually gains ground
from the formatter: you need one picture to be followed by another picture, and another . . .
and what if I had put this photo here, bigger . . . or smaller? The photographer begins to real-
ize that some photos are a consequence of others. . . . It is the need for montage that is part
of the photographer’s work.”17
These concerns led Masats to the cinema. The intermediate stage was books like Sanfer-
mines, a masterwork that Gonzalo Juanes hailed as “the most personal photographic work
that has been produced in Spain in the past twenty-five years.”18 J.O.-E.

158 159
160 161
162 163
 Izas, rabizas y colipoterras
Drama con acompañamiento
de cachondeo y dolor de corazón
[Drama accompanied by joking and heartache]
photographs Juan Colom
text Camilo José Cela design Cristián Cirici, Oscar Tusquets
Barcelona: Lumen, Palabra e Imagen collection, 1964
225 x 215 mm, 92 pages (60 greenish-gray paper for text + 32 white paper for photographs),
with 2 fold-outs, 34 photographs. Hardback, covers illustrated with photographs
“I am seriously concerned about the Izas book,” Esther Tusquets wrote to Camilo José Cela in
January 1963.1 Toreo de salón (Bullfighting practice) had come out that month, and preparations
were underway for Cela’s second book for the Palabra e Imagen collection. At the suggestion of
Oriol Maspons, the new project was to be based on the photographs of the Barcelona district
known as the Barrio Chino, which Joan Colom had been photographing since 1958.
Colom used a particular method to take his photographs: he carried a hidden camera so
that the people portrayed were not aware they were being photographed, and his shots were
not framed. “A basic thing for me was to take photographs without looking through the view-
finder,” he stated.2 He thus achieved exceptionally spontaneous photographs without poses. At
the same time, the photographs had obvious technical flaws: many were underexposed, and
the photographer had to make a special effort in the laboratory to achieve satisfactory results.
Colom defined his work as an attempt to “describe a neighborhood, an environment, with
a spirit of respectful faithfulness.”3 His photographs show streets full of outcasts who were
fascinating to a writer like Cela. The series was first presented in public at the Aixelà in Barce-
lona in 1961 in an exhibition that later traveled to many other venues, among them the Royal
Photography Society in Madrid. Thanks to these exhibitions and publication of the photographs
in magazines, Colom’s work became one of the most commented-on photography projects of
the period.4
When he received the photographs, Cela took charge of making the selection. He estab-
lished the sequence and gave it an odd title: Izas, rabizas y colipoterras. Instead of choosing
a representative sample from the series, he decided to limit the selection to photographs that
referred to prostitution. “Cela chose only part of my work for his book,” Colom complained.5 In
this sense, the resulting book is more the work of Cela than of Colom.
164
1964
(1) Esther Tusquets to Camilo José Cela,
Barcelona, 25 January 1963, in Archivo
de la Fundación Camilo José Cela.
(2) El carrer: Joan Colom a la sala Aixelà,
1961 (Barcelona: MNAC, 1999), 120.
(3) Ibid., 121.
(4) E. Gassó Grau, “Juan Colom y sus fotos
de reportaje,” Arte fotográfico, June 1960;
Gabriel Cualladó, “Colom,” Boletín de la
RSF (Madrid), December 1961; José María
Casademont, “Fotografías de Juan Colom
en la sala Aixelà,” Arte fotográfico, August
1961; “Juan Colom, fotógrafo de la realidad,”
Afal 34 (January–February 1962); Aquiles
Pujol [José María Casademont], “Fotografía
social,” Arte fotográfico, July 1962; and
Joan Colom, “Ladies of Spain,” Photography
2, no. 6 (September 1964).
(5) El carrer, 121.
(6) Tusquets to Cela, 25 January 1963.
(7) Camilo José Cela to Esther Tusquets,
Palma de Mallorca, 15 February 1963, in
Archivo de la Fundación Camilo José Cela.
(8) Francisco Umbral, Cela: Un cadáver
exquisito (Barcelona: Planeta, 2002), 110.
165
Producing the book was a thorny affair. In her letter to Cela, Tusquets explains her fears
about the handling of such a “dangerous and delicate” issue as prostitution: “It would be intol-
(9) Pierre Gamarra, Ombre et lumière
d’Espagne (Paris: Les Editeurs Français
erable for this book to be considered scandalous–for the ‘very strong’ things it says–or enter-
taining.” She concludes they must “do everything possible to ensure that on finishing the book
Réunis, 1961), 13. For additional informa-
tion about these measures, see Jean-Louis
[readers] are left feeling like you did after seeing the photos and say, as you did, ‘how sad!’ I
Gereña, La prostitución en la España
contemporánea (Madrid: Marcial Pons,
would like the reader to be left feeling anxious and ashamed. I would like the book to be harsh
and serious.”6
2003), 440–44.
(10) “The book had gone through the censors
Cela applied the same method used in Toreo de salón: photographs would be the basis for a in a slightly irregular way owing to Cela’s
collection of apocryphal biographies. His aim was to write a text with a “moralizing and violent
air,” along the lines suggested to him by Tusquets.7 Unlike Toreo de salón, Izas is not based on a
friendship with Fraga (it was Cela who
passed it directly to the minister, skip-
narrative scheme but is structured around the biographies of the characters, who are presented ping all the red tape.” Esther Tusquets,
as supposed “types” belonging to the different kinds of prostitutes. The starting point is a line of Confesiones de una vieja dama indigna
verse from the Antwerp edition of the Cancionero general (an anthology of poetry published in (Barcelona: Bruguera, 2009), 117–18.
the sixteenth century) referring to different names for prostitutes, from which the book’s title is (11) “Report of the Censor, P. Álvarez
taken and which Cela cites in one of those displays of playful erudition of which he was so fond: Turiezno, on Izas, rabizas y colipoterras,”
Madrid, 28 June 1963, in Archivo General
“Of all the whores I had Toledan women, from Valencia, Seville and other places Yças, Rabiças and
de la Administración, Alcalá de Henares,
Colipoterras Hurgamanderas and Putaranças.” From here onward everything continues under the Sección Cultura (03), 21/1468, expediente
appearance of scientific classification, with a satirical intent underlying the apparent order. 3251/63.
The book establishes a clear sequence; it begins with a triple portrait that might be equated
with the triple classification of prostitutes into izas, rabizas, and colipoterras and continues
with a girl peeping out from behind a door with a sign advertising sandwiches–“Bocadillos
variados”–as if beckoning the observer. This is followed by a few photographs of shops selling
sheaths and rooms for hire and, finally, the main body of text consisting of five chapters on the
main types of prostitutes established by Cela.
This scheme is evident in the two indices that are included at the end of the book. One is
conventional and the other iconographical, comprising two circumferences consisting of circu-
lar cut-outs of all the photographs in the book, accompanied by their page number. This index
of photographs, in the manner of a Dantean circle, is the brilliant invention of the book’s design-
ers, Cristian Cirici and Oscar Tusquets.
The taxonomic interest is merely a pretext. Cela often merely lists the characteristics of the
particular case shown in the photograph, as if it represented a generic type. Take, for example,
“Chamicera comiendo pipas” (Chamicera eating sunflower seeds), featuring a woman dressed
in a bright flower-patterned dress spitting out sunflower-seed husks. Cela establishes a general
classification based on this purely anecdotal detail: “Chamiceras, like macaws, feed on sun-
flower seeds. . . . The technique of spitting out the remains is not easy and there are chamiceras
who spend years and years practicing to achieve a refined or, at least, proper style. Paulina,
a chamicera who eats sunflower seeds, has been training for a long time.” The text, designed
to sound neutral and descriptive, in fact invents a supposed “type” on the basis of a particular
photographic detail.
Cela thus combines satirical and arbitrary descriptions that contrast with the documentary
and straightforward nature of Colom’s photographs and always refer to details that are visible
in the pictures: the “Chamicera” eats sunflower seeds, and the “exotic whore” smokes–the one
who “wears a silver lamé skirt and smokes in the street, like foreign women.” Because the texts
are directly based on the photographs, it makes no sense to describe Izas, as Francisco Umbral
did, as a “brilliant book in which the photos are superfluous.”8
After the comment about the “exotic whore,” Cela adds that “she is a great friend and pro-
tector of yours truly and once, when times were hard, she spoke to the censors in defense of
some swallowed-up pages of mine.” The passage highlights two additional salient features of
the book: one, the explicit reference to the author in the tale (a trope also found in Toreo de
salón); and, two, the direct reference to the subject of censorship, essential to a book of this
kind, but a delicate matter during those years.
Prostitution was officially abolished in Spain in 1956. This particularly affected areas
like Barcelona’s Barrio Chino, where a large number of brothels were closed down, lead-
ing many prostitutes to obtain permits to work as waitresses in order to be able to solicit
custom “near the counters” of bars.9 Therefore, to speak of prostitution in Spain in the
early 1960s was a delicate matter that justifies the moralizing air with which Cela infuses
his text. He had been a censor in the 1940s and was well aware of the problems censorship
could pose, and he personally saw to getting the book approved. (Esther Tusquets stressed
that its approval was made possible only by Cela’s friendly connections, although he does
not seem to have had much difficulty.10 The censor, an Augustinian and professor of ethics
called Saturnino Álvarez Turiezno, issued a report describing the book’s realistic effrontery
as “displeasing.” He nevertheless conceded, “I do not believe that it can be taken as incita-
tion to evil.” 11)
 The only objection made to publication of the book was a photograph considered too pro- (12) Camilo José Cela to Carlos Robles Izas, rabizas y colipoterras ­­— 1964

vocative, which was eliminated, and the cover illustration, which had to be replaced by one Piquer, Palma de Mallorca, 15 June 1963,
that was more neutral. Although the censors’ intervention forced the designers to redesign the in Archivo General de la Administración,
cover, the result was one of the most original covers of the Palabra e Imagen collection. Instead expediente 3251/63.
(13) Ibid.
of one large photograph it featured four strips of contact prints of Colom’s photographs with
(14) Tusquets, Confesiones, 118.
blank spaces between them in which information about the book was included. Using a strip of
(15) La codorniz 1,186 (9 August 1964):
small-format pictures was a means of minimizing the effect of the overly explicit content, but it cover.
also reveals Colom’s methods and the work of the designers, who cropped and included inside (16) Umbral, Cela: un cadáver exquisito,
some of the photographs that were shown in full on the cover. 110; and Ricardo Doménech,“Literatura y
Cela’s excitement at having the book approved is attested to by the letter he wrote to the moral,” Triunfo 113 (1 August 1964): 71.
director-general of information at that time, Carlos Robles Piquer: “I do not know who the cen- Other reviews include Julio Manegat,“Cela
sor of Izas could have been. . . . Nor do I need to know and merely ask you to thank him on my y Delibes en la colección Palabra e Imagen,”
behalf for the healthy criterion he applied. If he is a clergyman, my contentment is even greater. El noticiero universal, Suplemento literario,
I have never believed, like padrecito Baroja, that “clergy and tax collectors” were to blame for 12 May 1964; Tomás Salvador,“Toreo de
all Spain’s ills–I am not so naive–and always thought, perhaps in balanced contrast, that it was salón—Izas, rabizas y colipoterras por
Camilo José Cela,” Ondas 276 (1st fortnight
sacristans, inquisitors and constipated people who were a danger to the country. How wonder-
June 1964); and Miguel Dolç,“Una segunda
ful, dear Carlos, and how difficult it is to be a Christian and a liberal!12” época en Camilo José Cela,” La Vanguardia,
“My intention is violent, I am well aware, but chastising. I wished to write some pages that 10 August 1967.
would shame us all,” Cela wrote in the same letter, using the arguments he had explained to (17) “De cuando un personaje se rebela
Tusquets. “One does not fight against the scourge of prostitution with silence, but with the contra el autor,” Por qué: Semanario na-
truth.”13 However, his intention does not appear to have been to combat prostitution. He wrote cional de sucesos y actualidades 191 (20
in Izas that “to ban whores is as naive as it would be to ban the cancer virus (assuming that May 1964). For further information, see J.
cancer is caused by a virus).” Bonet, “A Cela le reclamarán un millón de
The last part of the book, which Cela calls a “jubilee of pomp and vanity,” deals with the de- pesetas por siete fotografías,” Solidaridad
crepitude of the most elderly prostitutes. If, as Esther Tusquets wished, the book might prompt nacional, 6 May 1964.
(18) For statements made by both Cela and Co-
readers to exclaim, “How sad!” these descriptions, which bring the book to a close with an air of
lom, see Jaime Estévez,“Un libro de escándalo,”
baroque vanitas, turning its humor an even darker shade of black, are the most likely to do so.
Por qué: Semanario nacional de sucesos y
Despite the problematic nature of the subject, the book enjoyed considerable commercial actualidades 208 (16 September 1964).
success: “It was Lumen’s bestseller.”14 Such was its resonance that, without explicitly mention- (19) Joan Colom, quoted in El carrer, 121.
ing it, the humorous weekly La codorniz published a cover illustration by Herreros in which (20) José María Casademont, “Fotografías de
several of the prostitutes portrayed by Colom are recognizable.15 However, the book did not go Juan Colom en la Sala Aixelà,” Arte fotográfico
down well with everyone. While some openly defended Izas–Umbral, for example, regarded it 116 (August 1961): 701.
as the culmination of a tradition, the “ecstasy of the grotesqueness of Solana and Valle”–others
condemned it for being inhumane: writing in Triunfo, Ricardo Doménech criticized Cela’s inabil-
ity to “tackle the subject in its full dimension and complexity,” instead making of it a “dirty joke”
that could appeal only “to people of the most dubious humor and coarsest sick-mindedness.”16
Even so, the main problem was neither censors nor critics but the women portrayed in the
photographs. Unlike Maspons, who struck up friendships with the people featured in Toreo de
salón, Colom had taken photographs of people without their consent (and in this he wished
to distinguish himself from photographers like Brassaï or Henri Cartier-Bresson, who had em-
braced similar subjects). But this method proved troublesome in the long run. A copy of the
book fell into the hands of one of the women portrayed as a characteristic Iza in a fold-out
of five photographs. On seeing it, she decided to file a complaint against the writer, the pho-
tographer, the printer, and the publishers. The woman, Eloísa Sánchez de Gadeo, had studied
typewriting, claimed to work as a waitress in the Tucumán bar, and was daughter of the recently
deceased Carmelo Sánchez de Gadeo, director of the San Miguel de los Reyes prison in Valen-
cia. She told the press that Cela’s text was “repulsive” and that Colom’s photographs had been
“taken treacherously.”17 (The author of the article reporting these statements ended up siding
with Cela, even titling the article “Concerning when a person rebels against the author,” which
suggests the same Pirandellian confusion of reality and fiction that is found in the book.)
Cela eventually appeared before the court in Palma de Mallorca and stated he was unaware
that the photographs in question referred specifically to Eloísa Sánchez, whom he claimed not
to know. Colom, in contrast, found himself forced to give confusing explanations of his relation-
ships with the women portrayed.18 The experience left the photographer so embittered that he
ceased to show his photographs publicly. (Colom had never agreed with Cela’s partial selection
of his work, which in his opinion undermined the “respectful faithfulness” to which he aspired.)19
Be that as it may, his reportage on the Barrio Chino is now considered a landmark in the
history of Spanish photography. “In a panoramic view of our photography, [the work] of Juan
Colom undoubtedly marks the culmination of a series of earlier phenomena and, probably, the
beginning of another series of phenomena to come,”20 José María Casademont wrote in 1961.
Casademont could not have predicted that the publication of a book three years hence would
be both Colom’s springboard to fame and the end of his career as a photographer. J.O.-E.

166 167
168 169
 Viejas historias de Castilla la Vieja 1964 in ruins and the last inhabitants witnesses to a culture that will irremediably die out with
them, as no hands remain to take the baton.”5 The broad range of rural vocabulary in his
(8) Ramón Masats, quoted in Laura Terré,
Historia del grupo fotográfico AFAL 1956–
[Old stories of Castile the Old] novels–so he claimed–would “very soon [need] some clarifying notes as if they were written
in an archaic or esoteric language, even though they have simply set out to show the life of
1963 (Seville: Photovisión, 2006), 417.
(9) Romberg is referred to as a photogra-
photographsRamón Masats nature and of the men who live in it and designate the landscape, animals and plants by their
pher in 100 españoles y Dios (Barcelona:
Nauta, 1969) and in the 1970s was a
text Miguel Delibes real names.”6
designer at Seix Barral and Planeta.
design Hans Romberg, Oscar Tusquets
And if literature is a means of documentation, photography is a perfect complement. (10) Aquiles Pujol [José María Casademont],
In March 1962 Delibes wrote to Esther Tusquets, “I find it interesting to immortalize today’s “Viejas historias de Castilla la Vieja
Barcelona: Lumen, Palabra e Imagen collection, 1964
Castile in a beautiful book, a Castile that is slipping away from us day by day.” 7 de Ramón Masats,” Imagen y sonido 12
225 x 215 mm, [56] pages in greenish-gray paper for text + [28] pages in white paper for
The photographer chosen for this documentary assignment was Ramón Masats, who (June 1964): 2. The book received other
photographs, 26 photographs. Hardback, covers illustrated with photographs, publisher’s leaflet
had already collaborated with Palabra e Imagen on Neutral Corner (1962) and had recently criticism, chiefly from literary circles. See
published Los Sanfermines (The San Fermín festivities) with Espasa-Calpe (1963). As with Tomás Salvador,“Viejas historias de Castilla
Delibes and Pla, the work was carried out in a coordinated manner by the photographer and la Vieja por Miguel Delibes,” Ondas 276
the writer, although they worked independently. “Esther Tusquets came,” Masats would later (1st fortnight June 1964); L. P.,“Viejas histo-
recall, “showed me Delibes’s text and told me she wanted me to illustrate it. I sought out rias de Castilla la Vieja, Miguel Delibes,”
Destino 1,405 (11 July 1964); Ricardo
Delibes, who defined the leeway I was to have.”8
Doménech, “Viejas historias de Castilla
Masats traveled to Valladolid twice in 1962: once with Delibes to visit the sites and then la Vieja, de Miguel Delibes,” Triunfo 111
on his own to take the photographs. The result, published as Viejas historias de Castilla la (18 July 1964); Bartolomé Mostaza, “Una
Vieja, is an extraordinary ensemble. The series begins with some practically deserted land- profunda interpretación de Castilla,” Ya, 16
scapes that recall the “nonfigurative” photographs Masats published in Afal. However, unlike September 1964; Francisco Umbral, “Viejas
in Pla’s etchings, Masats’s pictures are soon filled with people, villages, and houses. historias de Castilla la Vieja, Ed. Lumen,
The design is by Oscar Tusquets and Hans Romberg, the latter a designer and photog- Barcelona, 1963,” Punta Europa 99–100
rapher who is possibly responsible for the book’s more classical appearance in comparison (1964); and José R. Marra-López, “Miguel
to the previous volumes of Palabra e Imagen and, above all, for the greater care with the Delibes: El libro de la caza menor, Barce-
typesetting and binding (sewn sections, as was customary for publishing of the period).9 lona, Destino, 1964, y Viejas historias de
Castilla la Vieja, Barcelona, Lumen, 1964,”
The arrangement of the photographs is not merely a linear relationship between image
Ínsula 221 (April 1965).
and narrative. In some cases the image is directly linked to the text; for example, the refer-
(11) Pujol [Casademont], “Viejas historias
ences to the overhead cables in the third chapter are portrayed literally in Masats’s photo- de Castilla la Vieja de Ramón Masats,” 2.
graphs. But this is not always the case. The text does not follow a clear linear sequence, and (12) Tusquets, Confesiones, 57.
the photographs were not commissioned to exemplify the text. What Masats presents in (13) Miguel Delibes, “Castilla negra y Cas-
Viejas historias is neither a sequence of photographs similar to a film storyboard nor a story tilla blanca,” La Vanguardia, 24 July 1964.
illustrated with photographs. (14) Delibes, preface to Obra completa, 17–18.
José María Casademont, for whom Masats’s book was a revelation, immediately realized
what it was about. Casademont regarded Viejas historias as “the exact embodiment of what
a photographic narrative should be.” 10 Delibes’s book is the account of a life told through
seventeen short stories of people, landscapes, or things that are directly or indirectly related
to the main character. Each has a certain amount of autonomy, but none could exist without
the rest. In Casademont’s opinion, this is the method on which Masats would have based his
work, which is not so much a set of stills (like printed film narrative) as a sequence of au-
tonomous pictures with their own “expressive values” that should nonetheless be considered
“alongside and in mutual relation to the rest of the photographs in the set.”11
Miguel Delibes was commissioned to write Castilla (Castile; the story was later titled Viejas (1) Miguel Delibes, Castilla: Dieciocho Esther Tusquets also noted this independence between text and photographs. She
historias de Castilla la Vieja) by La Rosa Vera, an editorial project of Jaume Pla, who had grabados al buril de Jaume Pla (Barce- thought that “Viejas historias de Castilla la Vieja is very handsome, the photos splendid. But
been publishing books of prints since the late 1940s.1 Pla had made a series of etchings on lona: La Rosa Vera, 1960).
in them Masats conveys, or at least so it seems to me, a gloomy image of Spain’s Castilian
the uninhabited landscapes of Castile and asked Delibes to write an accompanying text. (2) J. M. Espinàs to Miguel Delibes, Barce-
plateau as a backwater, which, I believe, contrasts with the nostalgic and endearing view
Josep Maria Espinàs, who acted as intermediary for the commission, explained to the writer lona, 13 June 1960, in Miguel Delibes-Josep
Vergés, Correspondencia, 1948–1986 (Bar- that comes across in the texts.”12 Delibes, however, did not share this viewpoint and reacted
that the idea was to produce a series of “literary interpretations of Castile, just as the etch- vehemently to the comments on the harshness of the photographs that were voiced at the
celona: Destino, 2002), 186.
ings are visual interpretations.”2 Delibes wrote a series of stories that populated the desolate (3) Miguel Delibes, foreword to Obra time. Anyone living in Castile, he stated, can see how “year after year, not only is Castile’s
landscapes of the etchings with tales and characters, a somewhat peculiar working method completa, vol. 2 (Barcelona: Destino, 1966), rural backwardness not addressed or kept at bay, but is increasing.”13 And, he concluded,
for a writer. “This is the first time I have approached nature through artifice, the work of 17. On the origins of this tale, see Alfonso if this is what things are like, “why should I conceal them? Why should my friend Masats
another artist,” he wrote. “So it was not Pla who illustrated my texts, but my texts that il- León, “Delibes y la ilustración: Una relación have to seek out something that does not spontaneously greet his eyes? Why create a white
lustrated Pla’s etchings.”3 de ida y vuelta,” in Patria común: Delibes legend?” In Delibes’s view, Masats had portrayed Castile crudely yet humanely: “His photo-
Castilla tells the story of Isidoro, an emigrant who returns to the village he had aban- ilustrado (Valladolid: Fundación Miguel graphs capture all the greatness and the misery that distinguishes my region.”14
doned forty-eight years earlier in order to try his luck in the New World. The basic theme is Delibes, 2012), 22–24. Viejas historias de Castilla la Vieja thus establishes a particular type of relationship be-
the contemporary problem of rootlessness and the need to connect with nature. However, (4) Miguel Delibes,“Castilla la negra y Castilla
tween text and image within the Palabra de Imagen collection. The photographs neither “il-
the book is not bucolic or idealizing. According to Delibes, the story’s thesis was “that noth- la blanca,” La Vanguardia, 24 July 1964.
lustrate” nor form a sequence in the manner of a photographic story, nor does the text refer
(5) Miguel Delibes, Castilla, lo castellano y
ing fundamental has changed in desolate Castile in the past century.”4 directly to the pictures; rather, the pictures form a series of autonomous entities that take on
los castellanos (Madrid: Austral, 2008), 22.
Delibes considered this short story to be the best he had written. Therefore, when Esther new meanings when viewed as a whole. J.O.-E.
(6) Miguel Delibes, El sentido del progreso des-
Tusquets, following the success of La caza de la perdiz roja (The Hunt of the Red Partridge), de mi obra (Barcelona: Destino, 1975), 77–78.
proposed bringing out a second book for the Palabra e Imagen collection, Delibes suggested (7) Miguel Delibes to Esther Tusquets,
republishing his text–not just to give it greater dissemination but because it had a special March 1962, quoted in Esther Tusquets,
relationship with pictures from the outset. Confesiones de una editora poco
By the early 1970s Delibes would write with the nostalgia of someone who was aware mentirosa (Barcelona: RqueR, 2005), 57;
that his work consists in capturing in literature a Castile that was “deserted, with its hamlets emphasis in original.

170 171
 Viejas historias de Castilla la Vieja ­­— 1964

172 173
 Barcelona blanc i negre
[Barcelona black and white]
photographsXavier Miserachs
text Josep Maria Espinàs, Joan Oliver
design Albert Ràfols Casamada
Barcelona: Aymà, 1964
335 x 315 mm, [256] pages, 371 photogravures printed at Heraclio Fournier, Vitoria. Cloth-bound,
dust jacket illustrated with 16 photographs, 3,500 copies. Versions of the first edition in Spanish
(Barcelona blanco y negro, 3,500 copies) and French (Barcelona en blanc et noir). Spanish edition:
case illustrated with photographs (350 x 320 mm), leather and cloth binding, plastic dust jacket
In 1960 Xavier Miserachs was a twenty-three-year-old photographer who frequented pho-
tographers’ associations. Contact with the Afal group had led him to consider taking up
photography as a means of living.1 As Miserachs later acknowledged, back then that meant
working for the media: “Like many photographers of my generation, I have always believed
that the best support for my work, the one that could lend it the most prestige, was having
it reproduced in printer’s ink on the pages of magazines and books.”2 He made the leap in
1961 when he opened his own studio and began to work as a reporter. He was interested in
“street photography, the pleasure of wandering around trying to convey what seemed to me
to be characteristic and significant about a place.”3
In 1962 he was invited to take part in the 11 Spanish Photographers in Paris exhibition and
took photographs in the French capital. By then he had a project in mind–a photobook–on
his own city, Barcelona: “On returning to the city, I carried on working in the street. I had
been trying unsuccessfully for some time to convince publishers to produce a photography
book on the city, when [the Fontanella publishing house] proposed I illustrate a work about
it.”4 But the publishers were aiming for “a work structured by a historian,” whereas Miserachs
had in mind “a strictly photographic book, free in style and content.”5 The project ground to
a halt when Fontanella went bankrupt, and it was not resumed until a couple of years later.
A chance encounter with Rafael Serra, manager of the Aymà publishing house, led to the
174
1964
(1) “It was at the end of those years [1950s]
when a few magazines worthy of being
called as such and when the advertising
agencies saw in foreign magazines photog-
raphy’s fabulous ability to present many
commercial products in an attractive way.
A new path was opening up for all of us
who were seriously interested in photog-
raphy: professionalism.” Xavier Miserachs,
“Sobre el Trofeo Luis Navarro,” Imagen y
sonido 19 (January 1965): 15.
(2) Xavier Miserachs, Criterio fotográfico:
Notas para un curso de fotografía
(Barcelona: Omega, 1998), 92.
(3) Ibid., 190.
(4) See M. Dolors Tapias Gil, “Barcelona
blanc i negre de X. Miserachs y el repor-
taje urbano en la Barcelona de los años
sesenta” (PhD diss., University of Barce-
lona, 1991), 159.
175
work’s resurrection. Serra immediately took an interest in Miserachs’s work and made him
a proposal: Miserachs could work with absolute freedom, the texts would be by the poet
(5) Miserachs, Criterio fotográfico, 191.
(6) Xavier Miserachs, Fulls de contactes:
Joan Oliver and the writer Josep Maria Espinàs, who would comment on the photographs,
while the layout would be designed by the painter Albert Ràfols Casamada.6 The result was
Memòries (Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1998),
241–42.
published in September 1964 with the title Barcelona blanc i negre.
(7) On the crediting of Casamada, see ibid., 242.
(8) Miserachs, Criterio fotográfico, 191.
The inside flap of the book jacket features a picture of all the authors gathered around a
(9) Tapias Gil,“Barcelona blanc i negre,” 176.
pile of Miserachs’s photographs. The photographer is described as a young man of twenty- (10) Miserachs, Criterio fotográfico, 191.
six who “views photography as a means of information and social communication and judges (11) Oriol Maspons reports Miserachs’s re-
the importance of art in accordance with its validity as a document.” The book has a large action on seeing The Family of Man: “The
format with 371 pictures that explore the city in its topographical and human forms. The first impression it caused me was huge. What I
photograph is of a crowd. The print, with its sharp contrasts, reduces the people to blurred suspected might exist was that which was
black patches in which only the faces can be made out. This is followed by an introductory there in front of me. Photography served
sequence with children, details of monuments, shantytowns, panoramic views, immigrants, that purpose. . . . To tell, communicate,
young people chatting in the street, cars, and it ends with another crowd boarding a train explain, broaden the knowledge of others
and cars in a car park. We have arrived in the city. through one’s own experience.” Oriol
Maspons, “Cómo hacen sus fotografías
At this point, Barcelona blanc i negre is divided into two chapters: one on architecture,
Terré, Miserachs y Masats,” Arte fotográfico
entitled “Barrios y suburbios” (Districts and suburbs), and another on its inhabitants, “Los 64 (April 1957): 294; emphasis in original.
barceloneses,” which ends with a calendar of festivities, “Calendario de fiestas.” The first (12) Miserachs, Criterio fotográfico, 192.
chapter is a stroll through the city: a varied route not only past tourist attractions or land-
mark spots but through peripheral and industrial areas. Even the parts dealing with the most
touristy areas of the city do not center on the monuments; rather, they reveal a broader real-
ity of graffiti-covered walls, advertising posters, shop windows, buildings under construc-
tion . . . and always people of all ages and social classes.
The chapter ends with crowds in the football (soccer) stadium. This leads into the second
chapter, which also features architecture, although the route focuses on the city’s inhabit-
ants: girls, members of the bourgeoisie attending the opera, music bands, monks, gamblers
at the casino, gypsy children, soldiers, crowds watching processions or taking part in open-
air dances. In short, Barcelona blanc i negre is a stroll through the city that focuses on the
life that pulsates in its streets much more than on its history.
A flexible page layout makes this tour dynamic, with a host of full-bleed pictures
of different sizes and a design that varies on practically every page. In this respect, al-
though the credits attribute the design to Casamada, Miserachs probably had his say in
the matter too.7 He later confessed that he based Barcelona blanc i negre on the model
of William Klein (who published his photobooks on New York in 1956 and Rome in 1960),
whom he admired for his “highly original way of hinting at cities by focusing attention
on the signs provided by their peoples and spaces, his shunning of commonplaces and
archetypal themes.” 8
This influence not only affects the themes explored. Miserachs’s book also evidences
many of the devices of the flexible and series-based page layout of Klein’s books: miniature
photographs beside large and full-bleed ones, some cropped vertically to adapt them to the
page space and others arranged almost entirely in sequences, almost film-like.
Owing to his training as a painter, Casamada was well aware of the aesthetic aspect of
the layout: he balances densities and prints the photographs full bleed to create the sensa-
tion that they “come out” of the book, as if they have no limits. However, photographically
speaking, the book does not respect the pictures separately: the idea is for conceptually
unrelated pictures to share a double-page spread, and thus frames and orientations are
adapted to achieve something that is aesthetically acceptable.9
The sharp contrast of the images–which achieves brilliant whites, deep blacks, and grays
with a marked grain–is also reminiscent of Klein. This results in pages where, according to
Miserachs, “the ‘Klein pattern’ is evident, nothing happens, the picture seems to be taken
at random, people appear though one does not know why they are there or why I included
them in the photo.” In these more “subjective” photographs the series is the determining
factor: “representation is up to the reader, who would hardly make the effort if he saw them
in isolation, outside the context of a book.”10
Some of the pictures have a more classical format, which Miserachs attributes to a sec-
ond influence, Edward Steichen’s The Family of Man exhibition, regarded as a paradigm of
what was then called “humanist” photography.11 For Miserachs, the fundamental influence
of this exhibition lies in the photographs in which “there is a theme” that explains “why I
pressed the camera button” and which “refer to ideas that can be summed up in concepts
like ‘commerce,’ ‘social class,’ ‘work,’ ‘leisure,’ ‘underdevelopment.’ They are ‘good photos’–
modesty apart–which the reader will understand on their own, which do not need, although
neither do they shun it, to be included in a global discourse. They are those produced under
the mental pattern of The Family of Man.”12
 And so for Miserachs Barcelona blanc i negre was an attempt to reconcile the two trends (13) This model was continued in Barcelona blanc i negre — 1964

that marked the Afal group to which he belonged: so-called subjective photography–whose Europe, such as in the World Exhibition
representatives were Klein and Otto Steinert–and humanist photography, the best example of Photography on the Theme What Is
of which is the Steichen exhibition.13 On the basis of these two poles Miserachs pursued Man? (Hamburg: Gruner, 1960), organized
by Karl Pawek.
“unsuccessfully, a curious and probably impossible synthesis.”14
(14) Miserachs, Criterio fotográfico, 192.
When looking back, Miserachs tended to be highly critical of his work, but Barcelona
(15) Eduardo G. Rico, “Barcelona blanco
blanc i negre is one of the most successful urban photobooks. The Triunfo magazine, for ex- y negro,” Triunfo 139 (30 January 1975).
ample, describes it as a work of art, “not because its photos are of undeniable quality–which (16) José María Casademont, “Barcelona
they are–but because, through them, [Miserachs] provides us with an in-depth view of a blanco y negro de Xavier Miserachs,”
reality.”15 In the opinion of photography critic José María Casademont, who regularly wrote Imagen y sonido 17 (November 1964).
about photobooks in the Imagen y sonido magazine, Miserachs’s Barcelona is one of the first (17) Juan Perucho, “La Barcelona de Xavier
examples in Spain of a “book to look at.” The book does feature a text, but the story is told Miserachs,” Destino 1,423 (14 November
chiefly through the pictures. Therefore, Casademont adds, Barcelona blanc i negre “should 1964): 59.
be set apart . . . as the most ambitious” work produced in Spain to date.16 (18) R. Pelegero, “Barcelona blanc i negre,”
The book’s limitations were perceived more clearly outside photography circles. Juan Destino 1,425 (28 November 1964).
Perucho recognized in Destino that “the photographs of Barcelona blanc i negre are magnifi-
cent, and in them Xavier Miserachs once again evidences his high quality.” However, Peru-
cho “[did] not believe it to be a book that gives the full dimension of Barcelona, or even from
a particular angle. Miserachs’s book ought to be entitled Els barcelonins, because it is really
about the Barcelonans.” This, Perucho notes, is not necessarily a flaw, but it has a danger,
which is “depersonalization. How are we to know that that boy playing football outside a
large functional building under construction is doing so in Barcelona and not in Milan?” 17 Pe-
rucho is not the only one to point this out. Shortly afterward another critic stressed the “wish
to transform [and the] intention not to succumb to the easy option of the commonplace and
of the ‘typical.’ And Miserachs has fully achieved this, too much perhaps. Because the com-
monplace is also part of the city in which he was born.” 18 A.S.

176 177
178 179
 Barcelona blanc i negre ­­— 1964

180 181
 Nuevas escenas matritenses 1965­—1966 Camilo José Cela published a short story with a photograph by Enrique Palazuelo in the
magazine Destino in November 1958.1 This was the first installment of a project entitled “Fo-
(1) Camilo José Cela, “Nuevas escenas
matritenses: I.- Nicasio Alcoba en la calle
[New scenes of Madrid] tografías al minuto” (Up-to-the-minute photographs), a collection that ended up comprising
sixty-three stories: the Nuevas escenas matritenses (New scenes of Madrid). All the stories
de las Huertas,” Destino 1,108 (8 November
1958): 37.
Fotografías al minuto were illustrated with photographs by Palazuelo, and the first were published in Papeles de
(2) Papeles de Son Armadans, nos. 86–87
(May 1963–June 1963) and 89–94 (August
Son Armadans–the Palma de Mallorca–based literary review of which Cela was editor in
[Up-to-the-minute photographs] chief–in May 1963.2 Exactly one year later Alfaguara–the publishing company owned by
1963–January 1964). In addition to the
magazine edition, there were separate
photographs Enrique Palazuelo the writer–brought out the first complete series in two versions (one for bibliophiles). A runs of fifty copies.
further six were published over the course of the following year-and-a-half, each comprising
text Camilo José Cela nine stories by Cela and eleven photographs by Palazuelo. Finally, fifty-four scenes entitled
(3) Semana, nos. 1328–1381 (31 July
1965–6 August 1966).
Madrid: Alfaguara, 1965–1966 “Ventanillo abierto al aire de cada semana” (Window on the air of each week) were published (4) Based on the date on a poster that
280 x 170 mm, 77 photographs, paperback, illustrated covers. Seven volumes, each with 11 in successive issues of the popular magazine Semana, marking the end of the complicated appears in one of the photographs from
photographs and 10 plates outside text: first series (May 1965), 77 pages, 2,000 copies; second first edition of Nuevas escenas matritenses, a book truly aimed at all kinds of readers.3 the project, preserved by the Fundación
(November 1965), 87 pages, 3,000 copies; third (April 1966), 85 pages, 4,000 copies; fourth (May Camilo José Cela, Palazuelo took the
Palazuelo–who took the photographs, all of them from the 1950s–was a naval lieuten-
1966), 87 pages, 3,000 copies; fifth (July 1966), 87 pages, 4,000 copies; sixth (August 1966), 79 pages, photographs around 1957.
ant, but his true passion was the sailing boat in which he enjoyed making great journeys.4
4,000 copies; seventh (October 1966), 79 pages, 4,000 copies. Bibliophile edition in seven volumes, (5) Papeles de Son Armadans 86 (May 1963).
each with 11 photographic plates outside text, 370 x 260 mm, 73 + 85 + 83 + 85 + 85 + 77 + 76 Indeed, he traveled so much that people lost track of him. For example, in May 1963 Cela
(6) Texts on the front and back inside
pages, cloth, 100 signed and numbered copies described him as a “lone sailor whose current fortune is unknown to us,” although he reap- covers of the fourth, third, and fifth series,
peared some time later in Buenos Aires, where he lived until his death in 1996, at the age of probably written by Cela himself.
seventy-three.5 (7) The Fundación Camilo José Cela holds
The notes on the flaps of the standard edition–the Alfaguara, which came out in a vertical some 250 period copies of Palazuelo’s
format that posed problems for the editing of the photographs but attracted considerable work, and a further fifty are preserved in
attention in shop windows–present him as an explorer: “Enrique Palazuelo strolling around the Museo Fernández Blanco in Buenos
Madrid–an incredible Madrid where time stood still, oblivious and forgotten–has captured a Aires, bequeathed in 2009 by Mabel and
changeless, daunting world in his up-to-the-minute photographs.” Palazuelo is also presented María Castellano Fotheringham.
as a traveling photographer who “has captured in his artisan photographer’s plates a life (8) Enrique Palazuelo to Camilo José Cela,
Buenos Aires, 27 October 1966, in
subjected to the past, isolated, joyful and fearful [and who proposes] hearing with new ears,
Fundación Camilo José Cela.
seeing with different eyes what we believed to have been seen and heard forever.”6
(9) Palazuelo to Cela, Madrid, 21 May
The common theme is a city hidden within another city–a city that had been rebuilt fol- 1968, in Fundación Camilo José Cela.
lowing the ravages of the siege during the Civil War and was changing so much and growing (10) Palazuelo to Cela, Madrid, 30 April
so fast that it would be unrecognizable as soon as Palazuelo completed his work. 1968, in Fundación Camilo José Cela.
These are street photographs, all with a lively atmosphere and full of people making
the most of the good weather–like Palazuelo himself, who did not take photographs in win-
ter–to live in and off the street. Palazuelo took at least 300 of them, and they make up a
wide-ranging corpus of documents.7 They pay no attention to historical relics: none are of
monuments or museums. Nor do they show the novelties of modern Madrid (the newest and
most prosperous areas of the capital) or deal with the usual hackneyed subjects (exposure
of reprehensible situations or tourist attractions).
Palazuelo did not photograph policemen, injustices, squalor, bullfights, Holy Week proces-
sions, or flamenco dancing. On the contrary, he merely takes his camera on a stroll through
backward districts–more peripheral than central–with their old shops, taverns that were never
fashionable, and areas of waste ground where an open-air dance is held one day and a market
the next. These are the settings where he finds the humble people he portrays in his photo-
graphs–mostly lively children and serene old folk but also musicians, peddlers, conscripts, beg-
gars, stallholders, domestic workers, charlatans . . . types and trades that would soon become
extinct. He photographs the objects sold from the pavement in the Rastro flea market and the
idlers who gaze at shop windows, who have had one drink too many, or who while away the af-
ternoon on a stone bench or bar terrace. These are endearing genre scenes devoid of any critical
or aesthetic intent. Photographs full of details, perfectly documentary, in line with the trend set
by the catalogue of the traveling exhibition The Family of Man.
In the mid-1960s Palazuelo wanted Cela to publish an urban photobook in the style of
Charmes de Londres (London charms, 1952), which features photographs by Izis and poems
by Jacques Prévert and was described by Palazuelo in a letter to him as “The best book of
photos I know of about a city.”8 Three years after the publication of Nuevas escenas ma-
tritenses, he again approached Cela-the-editor rather than Cela-the-writer: “I hope you don’t
decide not to do the album on Madrid. It won’t cost you anything. A small introduction and a
short sentence for each photo on a blank page beside each one: it would look good.”9 In his
opinion, the album should resemble that of Izis, or perhaps photobooks such as Robert Dois-
neau’s La banlieue de Paris (The outskirts of Paris, 1949) or Victor Palla and Martins Costa’s
Lisboa cidade triste e alegre (Lisbon, sad and joyful city, 1959), which were closer to his own
style. Palazuelo reckoned the book would be a success: “How’s the book of photos of Madrid
going? I’ve found a few more photos here that could be added. Booksellers tell me that lots
of people are looking for a book of this sort on Madrid and there aren’t any. I saw one called
“Barcelona in black and white” or something like that. You could do something similar, only a

182 183
 bit smaller. I find my photos curious now. Walking round Madrid I see that it’s not the same (11) Camilo José Cela, Viaje a La Alcarria, Nuevas escenas matritenses ­­— 1965 — 1966

anymore; nor are the buildings, or the air. It’s close, but distant. It’s more interesting now photographs by Karl Wlasak (Madrid: Re-
than it was before.” 10 vista de Occidente, 1948). Some chapters
But Cela paid no heed. His collaboration with Palazuelo was already in the bookshops, were published, along with Wlasak’s pho-
tographs, in the magazine El Español (see
and it was a far cry from the typical books with photographs on odd-numbered pages and
issues from 22 June 1946, 29 June 1946, 6
short sentences on even-numbered ones.
July 1946, 13 July 1946). The photographs
No, Nuevas escenas matritenses was a different matter; it marked the end of a series reappear later in an edition published
of experiments with pictures that Cela began in 1948 with Viaje a La Alcarria (Journey to by Alfaguara, Puerto Seguro collection, in
La Alcarria), a travel book illustrated with fifty photographs by Karl Wlasak. Although they 1966. On the history of the book, see the
provide a certain amount of information, the photographs in Viaje a La Alcarria bear hardly monographic issue of El extramundi 46
any relation to the text.11 They are thus nothing special and are used fairly conventionally, (2006), which also reproduces the photo-
but they soon had another effect on Cela, who “did not grasp the deepest meaning of the graphs, copies of which from the period
landscape until, back in the city, he repeated the excursion through Wlasak’s photographs.” 12 are held in the Fundación Camilo José Cela.
The quotation is from an article entitled “Elogio de la fotografía” (In praise of photog- (12) Camilo José Cela, “Elogio de la foto-
raphy). In it Cela lists the photographers he admires (the Marquis of Santa María del Villar, grafía,” Arriba, 13 January 1948.
(13) Ibid.
Cecilio Paniagua, Augusto Ignacio Vallmitjana, Nicolás Muller) and shares a few thoughts
(14) Published in Destino from October 1952
about the extreme subjectivity of the medium and its possibilities, which depend on the to March 1953, they were later incorporated
photographer’s gaze and not on his technique: “That photography is the photographer’s eye into Cela’s book El gallego y su cuadrilla
and not the camera lens, his hand and not the button, the meaning he wishes to give to what (The Galician and his gang).Two of these
is portrayed and not what is portrayed ‘per se’ is an assumption that seems obvious to us.” 13 tales were reproduced in the photography
Shortly afterward Cela published Doce fotografías al minuto (Twelve up-to-the-minute pho- magazine Afal 8 (March–April 1957).
tographs), stories telling of how a traveling photographer gave him a dozen portraits with (15) “Hybrid text that encompasses the
their related anecdotes: that is, fictional photographs and equally fictional commentaries reproduction of a snippet of contemporary
that the writer transformed into new fictions.14 The next step–making up stories from real reality (photo of a person in his social
photographs—is the origin of Nuevas escenas matritenses. milieu) and the apocryphal biography of
that person (text).” Christoph Rodiek, Del
Christoph Rodiek calls this a “Celian picture story”: the procedure of bringing together
cuento al relato híbrido: En torno a la
image and word in a narrative accompanied by a documentary photograph as the basis for a
narrativa breve de Camilo José Cela
tale whose content is arbitrary and depends solely on the writer’s imagination.15 In the “Ce- (Madrid: Iberoamerica/Vervuet, 2008), 7.
lian picture story” the subjects and people that appear in the pictures are transformed into (16) “There is no need for descriptions, be-
the fictional subjects and characters of the story, which is no longer true to the content of cause Cela incorporates the photo into the
the picture, nor is it descriptive–rather the opposite.16 next and narrativises it freely.” Ibid., 128.
Palazuelo’s photographic documents and Cela’s literary fictions share the same time (the (17) “We might say that the Madrid stories
1950s) and the same space (certain places in Madrid), but in all other respects they differ. are a sort of subgenre of unauthorized,
The texts tell of events that are not shown in the photographs and thus provide them with a that is ‘surreptitious,’ picture story. Cela in-
context (which, although invented, can make up for the shortcomings of the photographs, geniously and arbitrarily ‘reads’ each of the
which are always deprived of a before and an after). The pictures and the texts are thus read photos in Palazuelo’s documentary series
as if fragments of lost picture stories. What
in different, interdependent ways: the picture is needed to understand the text, but the text,
Cela does is reconstruct those picture
once read, modifies the image, which from then on can be read as fiction, as if it were a
stories in the form of sketches or verbal
scene from a film or a picture story.17 syntheses.” Ibid., 132.
Palazuelo’s photographs are documentaries; Cela’s texts, fictions. The photographer (18) Ibid., 131.
does not alter what he finds; he cannot separate the image from its reference. The writer, (19) Camilo José Cela, Fotografías al
however, uses one experience to create another. For Cela, image and word must go hand in minuto, photographs by Enrique Palazuelo
hand, but the former is inferior to the latter, as the imagination surpasses reality. As Rodiek (Madrid: Sala Editorial, 1972), 7.
notes, “Two ultimately incompatible worlds overlap: historical reality, documented by the
photo, and the imaginary world, invented by Cela. This blend of the real and the fictional is
a transgression.”18
Cela takes for granted that literature ennobles photography. Or rather: art prevails over
that which is merely life. Above and beyond the ultra-Spanish names and other caricatures
for which he is known, in these scenes of Madrid Cela finally shuns Stendhal and Ramón del
Valle-Inclán as models and crosses over to the world of technical images. Instead of observ-
ing reality directly, he uses photographs, though not feeling under any obligation to respect
their content.
When Cela republished Nuevas escenas matritenses, he retitled it Fotografías al minuto;
it was a more modest photobook that, instead of scenes, featured “film rolls.” And it began
with the following notice: “To my mind the title I am giving them now is apt for the goods I
am offering, as Enrique Palazuelo and I–he for his part and with his arts and I for my part and
with mine–walked around 1950s Madrid attempting, with different tools, to seek the same
thing: the quiet or tumultuous, resigned, agitated, and astonished pulsating of street life, that
miracle which God produces each morning–and luckily for us all–never tires of doing so.” 19 H.F.

184 185
 Nuevas escenas matritenses — 1965 — 1966

186 187
 Nuevas escenas matritenses — 1965 — 1966

188 189
 Costa Brava Show 1966 and methods as a reflection of the concerns of the directors of the French nouvelle vague:
naïveté, candid shots, freshness, lack of prejudice, and a certain existentialist despair.
dreamed of.The master’s book reproduces
photographs taken from 1945 to 1957 and
Xavier Miserachs
photographs and photographic sequence The Costa Brava was the testing ground for his style, and the results were shown at the shows an unspoiled Costa Brava with almost
second Terré-Miserachs-Masats exhibition in April 1959. Of the twenty-four photographs wild nature areas and small villages where
text Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, the people still used primitive methods to
Miserachs exhibited, eleven were of the Costa Brava, and all but one of these were selected
Peter Coughtry [Salvador Pániker], Josep Pla to be published in Kairós’s book.
make a living from fishing and agriculture.
(4) In the interviews to promote Costa Bra-
Barcelona: Kairós, 1966 The context of the Ampurdán initially helped Miserachs convey the vitality and force va Show, Miserachs makes no references to
270 x 225 mm, [190] pages, 155 photographs printed in photogravure by of his feelings, with the sea as an allegory for a way of understanding life: untamable and the amateur photographs of previous years
Heraclio Fournier, Vitoria. Hardback illustrated with photograph, 3,000 copies simple but risky. However, the vitalist approach of his first foray into the Costa Brava turned and explains the project with professional
into harsh criticism during the summer of 1963, which he spent systematically photograph- seriousness: he speaks of a preestablished
ing villages and landscapes. He was now following a script for the book and had discarded script and structure, as well as an intention
his earlier, private, romantic vision. He was no longer a teenager, and the territory he photo- to denounce the property boom, tax fiddling
graphed was no more a paradise.4 in hotel businesses, uncontrolled agglomera-
Fast forward to 1966. By then Spain ranked third in the world in revenues from tourism. tion, mass tourism, and so on.
(5) Reporters who produced guidebooks
Many reporters earned part of their income from books, guides, and posters produced by
include Català-Roca (Barcelona: Destino,
the Ministry of Information and Tourism, including several illustrated guidebooks on the
1945; Madrid: Ediciones Cid, 1958), Josip
Costa Brava.5 But Miserachs decided to offer his project to a publishing company: he wanted Ciganovich and J. Mateu Morenilla (León:
to work freely, without the restrictions suffered by the photographers who illustrated tourist Everest, 1970), and Antoni Campañà and
guides. He wanted to emulate the best reporters of Magnum, to give his work the move- Puig-Ferran (Barcelona: Autor-Editor, 1980).
ment, casual air, and chaotic appearance of people grouped around an everyday scene. He Lumen published another with drawings
wanted to produce not a run-of-the-mill guidebook but a photobook (then called a “photog- by Cesc (Barcelona: Lumen, 1963). By then
raphy book”). The first publishing house to express interest was Fontanella and, although Oscar Tusquets was good friends with
no contract had been signed, in the summer of 1963 Miserachs received 77,200 pesetas.6 Miserachs, so why did he not bring out this
In the end, however, an economic crisis prevented it taking on such a costly project. After book with Lumen for the Palabra e Imagen
approaching Aymà, Miserachs ended up signing a contract with Kairós, recently established collection? Perhaps the reason was its pre-
dominantly visual nature. The text is lim-
by Salvador Pániker. Sales were fair (good for the Spanish edition but not for the English and
ited to captions, and, despite their literary
German versions).
aspirations, they lack sufficient weight and
The arrangement of the photographs provides a script for the text rather than vice-versa. independence to achieve Lumen’s desired
Everything indicates that Miserachs laid out and gave shape to the book, which was con- equilibrium between text and pictures.
ceived as a storyboard of life in the Costa Brava, structured into three sections: the natu- (6) Equivalent to about €15,850 today. This
ral paradise as a tourist attraction; the fair, where everything can be bought and sold; and shows that Miserachs was paid well for his
Cadaqués, the reserve he considered a “world apart.” 7 This last chapter turned out to be the publishing projects and that he was paid
most highly regarded by critics of the period. The reportage features numerous views, from before starting on the photographs. A very
tiny details to a sweeping panoramic shot of the sea. Miserachs produced a film-like narra- substantial amount was spent on advertis-
tive, and he criticized previous attempts precisely for being overly picturesque and super- ing and promoting the book.
ficial.8 Many of these photographs were taken with powerful telephoto lenses that allowed (7) Even in 1958, when he sent a group of
photographs of the Costa Brava to Afal,
Miserachs to stylize the landscape expressively, as recommended by Andreas Feininger and
Miserachs had in mind the idea of publishing
Otto Steinert in their manuals on photographic theory.9
a book with a precise order in the narrative
The section on the fair features reportage that resembles a sequence for an illustrated sequence and the photographs printed full
magazine. The picture of a group of Palamós fisherman pushing the boat into the sea evi- bleed, without white frames.
dences the young Miserachs’s admiration for these men’s strength, the wisdom of shared (8) Roberto Saladrigas,“La Costa Brava de
community work, and the courage he wishes to show by running after them to take the last Miserachs,” El correo Catalán, 19 August 1966.
photograph of the boat. That traditional trades and fishing practices still survive in these vil- (9) “Framing decontextualizes the image from
lages invaded by tourism seems incredible, the text states. In the next group of photographs the setting.The use of a long-focus view flattens
Miserachs demonstrates the vitality of the traditional trades, comparing them to the means the perspective and causes the overlapping
of living that were then beginning to catch on–from work in bars and guesthouses to the sale of the different planes.Total reductionism, ob-
(1) As a guide he took with him a recently tained with a deliberately contrasted print, rein-
In February 1958, while he was still studying medicine, Xavier Miserachs wrote to his friend of souvenirs, all organized around tourism. To heighten the impression of ridiculous kitsch
published book which had impressed forces the dark lines of the stone walls.” Xavier
Carlos Pérez Siquier in Almería to say he was thinking of going to Cadaqués on his mosquito Miserachs exaggerated his style and titles the series “Pop-Art.”10
him: Carnet de Route by the Swiss Werner Miserachs, Criterio fotográfico: Notas para un
motorcycle, taking with him as luggage only a sleeping bag and the Leica F3 he had just re- Bischof; published by Conzett & Huber Despite his interest in landscape, the Costa Brava that most attracted Miserachs was curso de fotografía (Barcelona: Omega, 1998),
ceived as a Christmas present. And so he went to photograph the Costa Brava during Easter in 1957, it was designed as visual annota- cosmopolitan and rapidly developing to accommodate the avalanche of tourists and illustri- 77.The photograph Viñedos de Cadaqués
week.1 He returned with a few reels of film with which he was fairly satisfied, although he tions made by a lone traveller in his diary. ous foreigners who had established their retirement homes there and were stamping their (Vineyards of Cadaqués), photograph 108 of
sensed that much more was to be done. He wanted to put together a book and planned to Bischof’s inspiration made him sensitive to character on the houses and the places they frequented, altering customs and modifying the Costa Brava Show (and reprinted in Criterio
return in the summer. But when Francesc Català-Roca’s Costa Brava was published in July, capturing the spontaneous and to loving landscape and the interpretation of beauty that had prevailed prior to their arrival. fotográfico), had also been shown in large
Miserachs complained about his back luck: “It’s the best edited Spanish book I’ve ever seen! human beings whatever their condition. A glance at the contact sheets used in editing the photographs reveals Miserachs’s fast and furi- format in the Sala Aixelà in 1959.
It was printed by Fournier in Vitoria, with matchless photogravure. Even so I’ve spoken to (2) Luis Romero and Francisco Catalá Roca, (10) “As in the well-known case of the chick-
ous ways. He was intent only on capturing the moment, barely stopping to compose when framing
several publishers and have made the decision to bring out MY BOOK.”2 Costa Brava (Madrid: Cid, 1958); and Xavier en and the egg, I could not say whether
the shot. However, on the editing table he was strict. The contacts are marked to be reframed: he
Miserachs wanted to provide a new approach to the Costa Brava, adding a touch of spec- Miserachs to Carlos Pérez Siquier, July 1958, pop art inspired the photo or decided
in Archivo Carlos Pérez Siquier; emphasis in
deleted the areas he did not want to come out, following his custom of not adjusting the frames in
tacle and a touch of the grotesque in order to combine the artistic expression characteristic it. Probably both. The deterioration that
original. Miserachs’s emphatic “MY BOOK” the viewfinder so as to have a large enough field to be able to crop them on the editing table.
of William Klein’s language with the show of mass tourism.3 Before launching into the bur- tourism was beginning to cause in coastal
(vehemently underlined and in capitals) When he photographed a landscape, Miserachs did not avoid cars, lampposts, highways,
lesque spectacle, however, the book begins with the genuine excitement of Miserachs’s first places is shown in this photograph from the
evidences the challenge he faced in choos- tourist posters, or chaotic signposts. In this he differed from most other photographers who book Costa Brava Show in the pop art style
contact with the subject during his teenage years, his discovery of the beach and the land- ing a subject that would not cease to be recorded the beauty of the country for tourist guidebooks. For Miserachs, everything was that enjoyed great success in the period.”
scape as a backdrop to friendship, as a hiding place for life’s secrets, as a place for outdoor compared with Català-Roca’s masterful book. photogenic provided it was genuine. This is the diorama of the life of someone who wished Miserachs, Criterio fotográfico, 218–19. The
adventures to which a city boy generally has no access. These photographs bear the stamp (3) Català-Roca’s book bears little resem- to experiment beyond the limits of the conventional, of conservatism, of repression. L.T. photograph in question is titled Tossa 1965.
of his late-1950s style, by which he was known to his Afal friends, who regarded his subjects blance to the roadmap the young biker had

190 191
192 193
 Costa Brava Show ­­— 1966

194 195
 Los cachorros [The cubs]
Pichula Cuéllar
photographsXavier Miserachs
text Mario Vargas Llosa
design Oscar Tusquets
Barcelona: Lumen, Palabra e Imagen collection, 1967
225 x 210 mm, 108 pages (72 greenish-gray paper for text + 36 white paper for photographs), 42
photographs. Hardcover, covers illustrated with photograph, accompanying publishers’ leaflet
With a cover by Oriol Maspons, Mario Vargas Llosa’s novel La ciudad y los perros (published in Eng-
lish as The Time of the Hero, 1963), winner of the Premio Biblioteca Breve, was published by Seix
Barral in 1962 and made a name for the author in Spain. Two years later Esther Tusquets came into
contact with Vargas Llosa and asked him for a text for the Palabra e Imagen collection–an idea that,
she recalled, “captivated” the Peruvian writer.1
Vargas Llosa had several ideas in mind when he received the commission: “I had been haunted by
the idea ever since I read in a daily newspaper that a dog had emasculated a new-born in a little vil-
lage in the Andes. Since then I had dreamed of writing a story about this curious wound which, unlike
others, time would progressively open instead of closing. . . At the same time I was toying with the
idea of a short novel about a ‘neighborhood’: its personality, its rites, its liturgy. The problems began
when I decided to merge both projects.”2
The writing process was tortuous. Painstaking and perfectionist, Vargas Llosa took a long time to
submit the manuscript. He wrote on 10 February 1965, “I have a finished text that does not yet con-
vince me. But however barely legible it may be, I will send it to you to show the photographer.”3 But
this was not so. He returned to the subject on 2 March: “Do you remember I told you I was not happy
with the text I had? I ended up binning it and I believe that I have come up with a good idea this time:
the story of Pichulita Cuéllar.”4 He did not send in the final text until 11 February 1966.
Los cachorros (published in English as The Cubs, 1989) tells the story of a boy from a well-to-do
family. A pupil of the Champagnat school in Lima, he is active and sporty but marked by a terrible ac-
cident: one day the school’s Great Dane escapes from its cage, bursts into the boys’ changing-room,
and attacks the boy, who has just finished playing sports, castrating him while he is in the shower.
This brutal accident will color the life story of the character, whom his schoolmates start to call “Pi-
chulita” (a slang word for “penis”; styled as “P.P.” in the English translation). From this point onward
1967
(1) Esther Tusquets, Confesiones de
una editora poco mentirosa (Barcelona:
RqueR, 2005), 59. This testimony is
extended in Esther Tusquets, “Casi
cincuenta años después,” in Mario
Vargas Llosa, Los cachorros (Madrid:
La Fábrica, 2010).
(2) Mario Vargas Llosa, preface to
Los jefes: Los cachorros (Barcelona:
Seix-Barral, 1982).
(3) Mario Vargas Llosa, quoted in
Tusquets, Confesiones, 60.
(4) Ibid.
(5) This can be seen in “Entrevista:
Un nuevo realismo,” Destino 1,546
(25 March 1967), which includes a
portrait of Vargas Llosa and Miserachs
by Oriol Maspons.
(6) Xavier Miserachs, Criterio fotográfico:
Notas para un curso de fotografía
(Barcelona: Omega, 1998), 114.
(7) Julio Ortega, La contemplación y la
fiesta: Notas sobre la novela latinoameri-
cana actual (Caracas: Monte Ávila
Editores, 1969), 141. On Vargas Llosa’s
Pichula Cuéllar’s life fluctuates between the need to be accepted and the certainty of his castration.
At first he throws himself into sport and partying in order to feel he is one of the crowd, but with the
book, see Wolfgang A. Luchting,“Recent
Peruvian Fiction: Vargas Llosa, Ribeyro,
advent of adolescence his friends start going out with girls, and he no longer fits in. His fondness for
dangerous activities grows, and he is eventually killed in a car accident. Meanwhile the rest of his
and Arguedas,” Research Studies 35, no. 4
(December 1967); L. A. Díez, ed., Asedios
friends lead normal, bourgeois lives on which time seems to have no effect: although Cuéllar dies
a Vargas Llosa (Santiago, Chile: Editorial
Universitaria, 1972); and Milagros Ezquerro,
without maturing, the rest are now like their parents, with summer residences and children who
“Analyse de Los cachorros de Mario Vargas
study at the Champagnat school, adults who are starting to “get fat and have grey hair, potbellies.” Llosa,” in Mélanges à la mémoire de A.
The cycle appears to be repeating itself all over again. Joucla Ruau (Aix-en-Provence: Publica-
The finished manuscript was handed to Xavier Miserachs, who was to be responsible for the pho- tions de l’Université de Provence, 1978).
tographic part. (Miserachs thus worked with the finished text, and, although he occasionally met up Some considerations by Vargas Llosa
with Vargas Llosa, he did his part independently: the story takes place in Lima, but Miserachs lived in himself appear in Ricardo Cano Gaviria,
Barcelona and Vargas Llosa in Paris and later in London.)5 El buitre y el Ave Fénix: Conversaciones
Miserachs did not wish to illustrate the story literally and chose to work in Barcelona. He did con Mario Vargas Llosa (Barcelona:
not attempt anything like the documentary task Delibes strived to perform for Viejas historias de Anagrama, 1972).
(8) Mario Vargas Llosa, Cartas a un joven
Castilla la Vieja (Old stories of Old Castile). Instead he sought to provide symbolic rather than
novelista (Barcelona: Ariel, 1997), 61.
documentary illustration, intended to broaden the meaning of the text without binding it to a
(9) Alfredo Matilla,“Vargas Llosa, Mario, y
particular setting–or at least that is what may be deduced from the explanation he gave for the Miserachs, Xavier, Los cachorros: Pichula
cover photograph, which features an authoritarian priest amid a group of children in a perfect Cuéllar,” Asomante 3 (1968): 102. Other
line. According to Miserachs, the photograph “introduces the reader more powerfully to the cli- reviews include Alfonso de la Torre,“Los
mate of an authoritarian school run by clergy where pupils were required to be obedient, like the cachorros o la castración generacional,”
one suggested by the text.”6 Expreso 5 (1967);“Entrevista: un nuevo rea-
Even so, the photographs faithfully accompany the text: disciplined life at a Catholic school; the lismo,” Destino 1,546 (25 March 1967); and
Great Dane that castrated Cuéllar; the empty shower, the crime scene; Cuéllar’s sporting activities Julio Ortega,“Sobre Los cachorros,” Cuader-
and partying; the girl he likes; his lethal accident. In this respect, although not quite a succession of nos hispanoamericanos 225 (1968).
stills, Los cachorros is something of a photo-story as it follows a narrative sequence linked to the text. (10) Censor’s report on Los cachorros, Madrid,
20 February 1967, in Archivo General de la
Julio Ortega reads the tale as a sort of comic strip, owing to its abundant use of onomatopoeia and
Administración, Alcalá de Henares, Sección
other devices. Ortega writes, “Truculent, risible, the tale of Pichula Cuéllar can be read as a comic
cultura (03), 21/17941, expediente 1414/67.
story owing both to the fast pace of its scenes and its equally risible and satirical use of scenes which (11) Tusquets, Confesiones, 63.
are commonplaces of adolescence. These typical settings here suggest caricature, pastiche.”7
Vargas Llosa’s tale stands out for its experimentation with a narrative voice that, from the open-
ing line, is constantly changing: “They were still wearing short pants that year, we weren’t smoking
yet, they preferred soccer to all the other sports and we were learning to surf, to dive from the high
board of the Terraces Club, and they were devilish, smooth-cheeked, curious, very agile, voracious.”
This is a multiple viewpoint, as if of a collective character. As Vargas Llosa explained, “I told a story,
Los cachorros, from the spatial viewpoint of a collective narrator-character, the group of neighbor-
hood friends of the main character, Pichulita Cuéllar.”8
Miserachs’s voice can also be interpreted as one of the many that make up this collective narra-
tive. As Alfredo Matilla pointed out in 1968, although the photographs follow the text they are not
documentary illustrations, because they open up a broader perspective: “The relationship between
voice and image in the novel is likewise found in Miserachs’s image-voice relationship. Because what
is extraordinary about these photos is how they capture (like a mirror) the world of Vargas Llosa’s
narrative, but with the difference that it is a Spanish, European world.”9 The tale thus takes on a
more universal significance precisely because of the photographs: “The degenerateness of a youth
underpinned by bourgeois middle-class values is evident and universalized, not only by the totalizing
universe that is laid bare by Mario Vargas Llosa but by Xavier Miserachs’s eloquent photographs.”
Photographs and text thus function in parallel and form a coherent, highly unitary whole, an
opinion expressed by Carlos Barral in the foreword to Los cachorros: “Neither of the two, from what
I know of them, would have agreed to this collaboration between photographic story and photo-
graphic suggestion had they not been absolutely sure of their total independence. Neither would
Miserachs have wanted to servilely illustrate a text nor would Vargas ever had allowed the species
shaped by his imagination and expressed in his words to coincide with those of which a sensitive
photographer was capable. . . . The reader is confronted with two series of representations which
are guided by common motifs but by no means attempt to repeat each other, two texts of a differ-
ent nature, at most walking in the same direction but, like parallel lines, never meeting at any point.”
Vargas Llosa and Miserachs’s book was well received. Tusquets mentions problems with the cen-
sors caused by the inclusion of the word pichula in the title. The solution was to eliminate the subtitle
from the front cover and relegate it to the title page. The surviving report of the censor does not men-
tion this but merely observes that, despite dealing with a tricky subject, “the bold situations appear
doubly veiled by the Latin American expressions of the author, who thus perfectly mitigates (much
better than La ciudad y los perros, which is more faithful to narrative tradition) what might otherwise
be objectionable.”10 Los cachorros was published without problem, and preparations for a second
edition began soon afterward.11 J.O.-E.

196 197
198 199
 Vivir en Madrid [Living in Madrid] 1967 ideas for the people he was to photograph. His responsibility was to decide on the theme
and photograph it until the pictures took on their own identity.
page; in fact most will be like that, but it is
possible that a few will feature more than
photographsFrancisco Ontañón When they received the photographs, the staff at Kairós complained about the absence one and then the proportion for selecting
of certain subjects that Carandell had addressed, although they resigned themselves to On- decreases. I therefore believe that we can-
text Luis Carandell not accept fewer than 150 photographs.”
tañón’s idea of not merely illustrating the texts. The person in charge of striking a balance
design Núria Pompeia Guillermo Díaz-Plaja to Paco Ontañón, 20
between word and picture was Salvador Pániker’s wife, the illustrator Núria Pompeia, in
Barcelona: Editorial Kairós, March 1967 July 1966, in Archivo de la Editorial Kairós,
whom Ontañón was fully confident, although he continued to defend his independence.4 Barcelona. The letter was answered by On-
230 x 180 mm, 176 pages + [48] pages outside text, 52 photographs. “There is no reason why the photos should ‘illustrate’ the written part. What is important is tañón on 15 July and refers to a telephone
Paperback, covers illustrated with photograph, 3,900 copies for both criteria to lead to the same thing overall.”5 conversation.
The book came out at a time when abundant city guides, posters, and leaflets were being (4) Guillermo Díaz-Plaja to Paco Ontañón,
produced as part of a program run by the Ministry of Information and Tourism to improve 3 January 1967, in Archivo de la Editorial
Spain’s image abroad. An outstanding effort was made in this connection by the Destino and Kairós, Barcelona.
Everest publishing houses with their illustrated guides of all the Spanish provinces. The one (5) Paco Ontañón to Guillermo Díaz-Plaja,
on Madrid (Destino, 1954), featuring photographs by Francesc Català-Roca, shows a capi- 6 January 1967, in Archivo de la Editorial
tal twelve years older than Ontañón’s and has a more antiquated photographic style based Kairós, Barcelona.
(6) In 1963 the French director Frédéric
on sharpness of composition, details, and lights, as well as a more traditional selection of
Rossif filmed Mourir à Madrid in Spain, a
themes. Català-Roca shows easily recognizable places and types, trades, people, moments, documentary on the Civil War and Francis-
and streets. Ontañón, however, is vaguer in his approach, and his description is focused on co Franco’s dictatorship, with the consent
sensations and ways of life. This was the context of propaganda and control of the coun- of the government, which understood it
try’s overseas image that the text of Vivir en Madrid–which tiptoed around certain delicate to be a laudatory and propagandistic film
subjects–underwent censorship.6 The draft had previously been read by four people from about the Franco regime. When its leftist
the publishing house, and references to sex, religion, and politics had been removed. Even bias was discovered, the diplomatic alarm
so, the censor still considered some of the words listed in the “Madrilenian’s dictionary,” an bells started ringing, and the Ministry of In-
appendix Carandell had added to the text, to be unacceptable. To ensure that the book was formation and Tourism made every attempt
free of obscenities, the censor crossed out cojones (balls), cachonda (randy), calientapollas to prevent the film from being premiered
in France. But it was protected by André
(cockteaser), daopolculo (asshole), dar por saco (piss off), uno muy cabrón (a right bastard),
Malraux, then French minister of culture,
No hay dios que se mueva (It’s bloody impossible to move), güevos (balls), acostarse (go to
and became an international success, even
bed), hijoputa (son of a bitch), hostia (bloody hell)], paparrús (fanny), and many more. being nominated as best documentary at
What its publishers really feared was Carandell’s “vicious” attitude toward Madrid. They the 1965 Academy Awards. The introduc-
suspected it could offend the sensibilities of faint-hearted readers. They asked him to mod- tory text of the book mentions Rossif’s
erate his language and to add some sort of praise of the city and its inhabitants. The pho- film. “As a counterpoint to the famous film
tographs–more ambiguous and subtle–were also carefully examined, though in principle Morir en Madrid, the Spanish writer Luis
nothing in them was objectionable to the censors. (After the book was published, however, Carandell has written the book VIVIR EN
a lady from Madrid’s high society, whom Ontañón had snapped coming out of mass in her MADRID, which is a critical document on
veil and fur coat, managed to have her photograph removed from later editions because her the phenomenon of today’s Madrid (30
presence in the book could not be justified.) years on from the civil war.).” The intro-
duction then underlines the fact that a
Vivir en Madrid is humbler in all respects than Xavier Miserachs’s Barcelona blanc i negre
Spaniard is responsible for the book: “Here
(Barcelona in black and white), the book of urban photographs par excellence of the period.
is a Madrid that could never have been
Nothing is to excess in Vivir en Madrid: neither the photographs’ artistic expressiveness nor discovered by a foreigner.” The publishers
the number selected make them subordinate to the text. Ontañón was forced by the type assumed that linking it to the banned film
of publication to be more concise and prudent.7 The number of photographs (fifty-two) did could attract publicity. Ontañón reckoned
not allow him leeway for repetition, series, or the inclusion of trivial pictures for the sheer that the less the book had to do with the
pleasure of expressiveness. film the better, so as not to draw the atten-
The photographs in Vivir en Madrid do not bear explanatory captions. The conversations, tion of censors following the commotion
onomatopoeias, and exclamations captured by Carandell in the text and in the “dictionary” caused by the films made in response—
spring to mind when viewing them. Each group of photographs tells a brief story, just as each Por qué morir en Madrid and Morir en
(1) According to Díaz-Plaja, Gigi Corbetta España—which, in the opinion of the new
Guillermo Díaz-Plaja, the manager of the Kairós publishing house, met the writer Luis Caran- section of text is a short tale. But they are not directly related, nor do all the sections Caran-
had undertaken to send photographs minister, Manuel Fraga Iribarne, merely
dell and the photographer Luigi “Gigi” Corbetta in Madrid at the beginning of June 1966. At dell creates have a relevant illustration. Ontañón selected elements to denote the concept
every week: “He has assured me he will stirred up things.
the meeting Carandell offered the publisher a book about the city of Madrid, which they not waste a single free moment to make alluded to by Carandell in his text but not necessarily the anecdote itself. The relationship (7) In both text and pictures Vivir en
would have to work on during the summer. They agreed on weekly submission dates. From the most of situations valid for the book.” established between the two can be seen in, for example, the bullfighter outside the Palace Madrid is documentary in content and ex-
this point onward they worked at a frenzied pace: texts and photographs traveled from Ma- They planned to submit the original by hotel or the police among the bullfight spectators. These almost surrealistic elements add a perimental in form. Carandell’s writing is
drid to Barcelona, because any delay might mean the book would not come out.1 But some- 20 June and the photographs by the comic touch to otherwise fairly humdrum situations. Ontañón would reuse this technique–of part sociological fieldwork and part essay,
thing went wrong: early in July, at Corbetta’s request, his photographs were returned to him. 29th; to finish the dummy by 10 July seeking a significant object infused with a certain amount of surrealism–years later for his although with a contemporary picaresque
No record has surfaced to explain why he pulled out of the project. and begin the composition on the 30th. book with Manuel Vicent, Espectros [Spectres]. Ontañón has a special gift for finding these streak. The author, like the Diablo Cojuelo
After speaking on the telephone to Díaz-Plaja, Paco Ontañón accepted the 35,000-pese- (2) Paco Ontañón to Kairós, typewritten
symbolic elements, for imbuing common objects with surrealistic undercurrents. These ob- (a rascal character) looks behind the vis-
tas commission because he enjoyed a good relationship with Carandell. letter, 15 July 1966, in Archivo de la Editorial ible face of Madrid to reveal its idiosyncra-
jects are displayed as atrezzo and blend with spaces and figures to create a narrative reading
Ontañón, recently back from a six-month trip to East Asia, now faced the challenge of Kairós, Barcelona. sies. More than a typical guidebook, it is
(3) In Ontañón’s opinion the terms of the
in which what matters is not the plot itself but what the photographer is capable of finding
surveying the Spanish capital with the same ungodly approach he had taken to the most the reflection of two authors, writer and
contract did not respect his authorship: in the course of events.
exotic sights of China, Japan, and India. He received a list of subjects drawn up by Carandell photographer, who show their discomfort
“Bear in mind the following, it is we who The forceful, universal, almost mythical image of the “humanistic” photography of the
(whose judgment, he stated, “is more or less the same as mine,” although Ontañón had his and concern as cultivated people—also
must make the selection according to our School of Madrid was the village. In the opinion of these photographers–owing to their prox- modern or with an urge for modernity—
own unique view of reality that he rarely shared with anyone).2 The list–ranging from the judgment; if you give us 150 photos and imity to the subject matter and the “vulgarity” they saw in it–urban photography, removed vis-à-vis the decadent and repressed
José Luis cafeteria to the Rastro flea market, including the image of Christ of Medinaceli the book has 75 pages of illustrations, from a personal biographical setting, did not provide a “good photograph.” So what grabbed environment of the capital under Franco’s
and coffee with milk–provided a script, but Ontañón sometimes did want he wanted, at his that means we can choose one out of Ontañón’s attention about Madrid? He was an eminently urban man born in a working-class rule. With subtle irony, Ontañón’s austere
own pace and using his own judgment.3 But the commission helped him give shape to his two assuming it was to be one photo per

200 201
 neighborhood of Barcelona and orphaned during the war. Since puberty he had worked in and distant photography shows the same Vivir en Madrid — 1967

a bar in the red-light district to bring money home. He was errand boy at a bank and moon- outsider’s perplexity as Carandell. As Cata-
lighted doing many other odd jobs. At the age of twenty-seven he fled Barcelona to work in lans based in Madrid, both men hint at a
a Madrid news agency that did not need the blessing of the local authority, only the recom- sincere empathy with the working class and
criticize the privileged members of society.
mendation of his friend Ramón Masats. Ontañón would never have a press pass: as a photog-
(8) In a letter from 1959, Carlos Pérez
rapher he would never receive official commissions. In the “Madrilenian” language quoted by
Siquier accuses his colleagues in Madrid–
Carandell, he was “a chap without status, he was ‘nothing.’” On arriving in Madrid, he rented a Gabriel Cualladó, Paco Gómez, Cantero,
room in a widow’s house (but did not have use of the kitchen). The account of his adventures Vielba, Juan Dolcet–of paying no attention
is almost identical to what Carandell describes in his chapter “Vivir de patrona” (Lodging with to the valuable reality of the city they lived
a landlady). (The landlady in the photograph in the book was probably his own. Ontañón was in in order to portray the suburbs and pre-
one of the many young people who traveled to Madrid to seek their fortune.) modern features of the city. These subjects
Unlike other photographers of his generation, Ontañón, a working-class man, took on an provide “interesting” shots “that smack
assignment to photograph the most urban side of Madrid. His point of view differs from that of common folk” … a notarial record of
of his colleagues Leonardo Cantero, Fernando Gordillo, or Gerardo Vielba.8 Vivir en Madrid a world about to disappear in an age of
thus shows a different sensibility: urban photography does not need to be spectacular if pro-development propaganda. According
to Pérez Siquier, in doing so they forget to
it sets out to capture anomie, loneliness, grayness, boredom, and the timeworn customs
observe the bourgeois society of Madrid—
of a decadent society. The city is set fully in the present, without nostalgia for the past or a testing ground for the most modern,
yearning for future changes. The reportage has few dramatic effects and is based on direct nostalgia-free language—and other sub-
observation that presents what is thought rather than what is seen. jects that are more interesting, although
This type of nongrandiloquent photography of urban subjects began to be practiced in also more difficult to appreciate.
1960s Spain–a type of photography in the style of Luis Faurer, a less hermetic and less preten- (9) Guillermo Díaz-Plaja to Paco Ontañón,
tious photographer than Robert Frank, who is generally cited in connection with this “styleless 6 April 1967, in Archivo de la Editorial
style.” In Spain, Masats, Ontañón, and Gonzalo Juanes espoused this aesthetic. During one of Kairós, Barcelona.
his sporadic trips to Madrid in 1965, the latter portrayed customers outside El Corrillo in Calle
Serrano with the same critical and distant viewpoint as Ontañón, although in color. For both
men, photographing the high-class life of Calle Serrano did not entail preserving it for poster-
ity–as with trades about to die out or village people–but analyzing it. Gabriel Cualladó was
a different case: although he worked in the city, his photo-essays were always linked to land-
mark sites–the Rastro flea market, the Cervecería Alemana bar or the Prado Museum–that
faded into the background of his figures, imbuing his reportage with a poetic air.
Ontañón’s photographs are sad. His irony is cynical, and his intention might not be
grasped until the viewer remembers that Ontañón is a reflexive photographer who thinks
things over until he captures the best shot. His images might seem like “innocent” photo-
graphs that merely describe the city, but they are a critical view of the historical moment.
The text does not mention the dictatorship out of sheer common sense (one of the sentences
that was eliminated by the censors was, “There is nothing to do in this bloody country”; it was
replaced with, “We are not going to make anything of this bloody business”), but the reader is
never unaware that Madrid is constantly being judged as the capital of a fascist state.
Ontañón regarded himself as a man with bad luck. In a sense he was: the printing of the
book proved to be a disaster. On behalf of the publishing house, Díaz-Plaja sent him four
copies as a “gift from the publisher,” noting, “I really do not know what to say to you after the
trauma the sight of the book caused you. You know perfectly well that I share your opinion
about the defective printing; I have been making enquiries with the printer and the engraver
and both agree that the paper is to blame. . . . I am terribly sorry, as you can imagine, but I
should add that the photographs are important and that many more people than you assume
are lacking in typographic sensitivity and appreciate them for what they are worth.”9
Many photographer-reporters emerged above all during the Transition. Many were great
reporters who, forced by the urgent need for news, did not consider projects that required the
critical distance called for by Ontañón’s book. On the contrary–and like other photographers
of his generation–Ontañón was spurred to undertake projects that involved reflection and
art within the objective language of photography, projects that did not require him to turn his
gaze away from the real world and which demanded the same sensitivity from the viewer in
order to complete meaning of the images. If, owing to ignorance of this work (and its author),
this goal has not been met, from now on photographers wishing to embark on a project to
document a city should carefully study Vivir en Madrid and analyze Ontañón’s way of working,
his poetics, and his harsh reflection on human beings subjected to the pressure of routine. L.T.

202 203
 Vivir en Madrid — 1967

204 205
 Cabeza de muñeca [Doll’s head]
Excombatiente e introducción dedicada
a un buzo [Ex-combatant and introduction
dedicated to a diver]
photographs , text , and design Luis Acosta Moro
Barcelona: Ediciones Marte, 1968
245 x 245 mm, 215 pages, 80 photographs (66 full-page + 14 miniatures).
Paperback, cover illustrated with photograph, 1,000 copies
After working as an illustrator, designer, and artistic director for the publishing industry until 1963,
Luis Acosta Moro decided to take up promotional photography and directed television commer-
cials. In 1968 he was twenty-seven years old, lived in Barcelona, and enjoyed a successful career in
advertising from his studio in the fashionable Tuset Street.1 And he had just published a photobook,
Trece historias sobre la muerte (Thirteen stories about death) which had received favorable reviews
and for which he was almost entirely responsible: the photographs, text, and design were his.2 In
an interview, Acosta Moro–who, according to his interviewer, “greatly recalls” the photographer in
Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Blow-Up, which had recently premiered–dared to define the book of
the future as “a poem of short words and great pictures.”3
Of his second work, Cabeza de muñeca, Acosta Moro recalls, “My second book came on sale
following a little bit of promotion and had no reviews, good or bad, as nobody understood it. I don’t
think even I understood it–I, who had written and photographed it with Jenny [A. Koyman] under the
effects of alcohol, much engrossment in love and ideas that were too crazy to achieve anything co-
herent back then. But it was a different book, ground-breaking in its conception and layout and it was
as surprising for its story with no logical sense as it was for its pictures, which were intended to hint
at something: that Franco was a bastard and his civil war a real bugger that we still haven’t recovered
from. Nothing new. A couple of months after my crazy book came out the police confiscated all the
copies the distributor and publishers had and if its author wasn’t shot on Montjuic hill I suppose it
was because such an odd anti-Franco publication would have been very elitist and would never have
reached the public at large.”4
Although the book’s reception was as poor as the author points out, at least one critique of Ca-
beza de muñeca, published by the writer Ángel Palomino, appeared in a humorous magazine: “Book
of photographs with some literature. It is, I believe, a protest book. The author shows huge sensitivity
as a photographer.” Palomino takes a less kindly view of the texts, however: “He launches straight
into blah-blah-blah. It is all an attempt at a protest full of pain, scorn, anger.”5
206
1968
(1) “Luis Acosta Moro. Born in 1941. One
of the Spain’s best illustrators/designers.
Started advertising and direction TV/movie
commercials 10 years ago. National awards
total advertising 1970, 1971, 1972. Owns
very complete studio.” Art Directors’ Index
to Photographers, No. 3 (London: Chap-
man, Morris, Williams, 1973), 162.
(2) L. Acosta Moro, Trece historias sobre
la muerte fotografiadas, con seres vivos,
dentro de un cementerio (Barcelona: Edi-
ciones Marte, 1967). Moro was responsible
for the photographs, text, and design of
the book, which featured fifty-three full-
page photographs on 217 pages of special,
205 x 205 mm paper.
(3) J. Armengol, “La fotografía hace la
competencia a la literatura,” El correo
Catalán, 3 November 1967, 21.
(4) Luis Acosta Moro, “22.795 días, más o
menos,” unpublished memoirs, 2011; sup-
plied to the author by Luis Acosta Moro.
(5) Ulises [Ángel Palomino], “De tomo y
lomo,” La codorniz 1,393 (28 July 1968).
(6) Archivo General de la Administración,
Alcalá de Henares, Sección cultura (03),
21/19011, expediente 4911/68.
207
Palomino was not the only one to notice the book. The censors also seized on Cabeza de mu-
ñeca, seeking ill intentions. According to an initial anonymous report, it was a “series of poems il-
(7) M. G., “El fotógrafo y la modelo,” 1968;
press clipping supplied to the author by
lustrated with photos of a model,” “a veritable jumble [that] is essentially a criticism of the current
regime,” and should therefore be banned. A second report–signed by Pedro Borges Terán, a lecturer
Luis Acosta Moro.
(8) Ibid.
in the history of the Americas–underlines the dangerous “scandal” the sexual nature of the text could
(9) Ángel Casas with photographs by Enric
Abad, “Sessió fotogràfica ‘chez’ Acosta
trigger among the public and recommends “it not be exhibited in the windows of bookshops.” A third
report–anonymous, but most likely by a priest with a vivid imagination–is more tolerant and willing
Moro,” Tele/Estel, 1968, 28; press clipping
supplied to the author by Luis Acosta Moro.
to allow the circulation of Cabeza de muñeca, describing it as “a symbolic work that represents the (10) Juan Antonio Canti, “Acosta Moro,” n.d.;
cry uttered by the whole of mankind to God.”6 press clipping supplied to the author by
Cabeza de muñeca is “a symbolic work,” though it makes no more sense than the title: the broken Luis Acosta Moro.
head of a china doll found by model Elsa Peretti in a street market. This is the main feature of the (11) Acosta Moro, “22.795 días.”
book, to which Acosto Moro referred during its preparation as “the story of a soldier who went to war
when he was young and later asks himself, when he is old, why he did so.”7
For three months, photographer and model improvised scenes in the studio, always at night:
“Lights and more weird lights making combinations on Jenny’s figure and expertly made-up face.
They began working at nine o’clock at night. Before we knew it, it was four in the morning. The lights
continue to startle us with their powerful glare. The music is playing very loud: Bob Dylan, Bach and
Vivaldi. . . . An odd combination!”8
A page from the Tele/Estel magazine documents one of those photography sessions in fourteen
photographs by Enric Abad labeled with comic-strip thought balloons. The session begins in a bar
and continues in the studio–where the model spends ages on her makeup and rehearses a few poses
in front of the photographer, who does not take off his sunglasses–before fizzling out when the drink
runs out. “This is a game, the game of the artist portrayed,” the journalist sums up. He seems to feel
like a witness to a new Blow-Up.9
The sequence of photographs determines the text, which Acosta Moro describes as a “poem,
or whatever.” In a style that seems to mimic the flow of consciousness, the author alludes first to
“frightening stories of my childhood,” an amalgam of witches, dead men, people with deformities,
and mutilated soldiers. He also timidly voices his opposition to Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, with
vague allusions to “extremely important” people and the Civil War. But above all Acosto Moro dis-
plays his unbounded passion for women as sex objects, a view he rashly explains in his interviews:
“I think women are the most beautiful animals ever created. So I don’t agree with Michelangelo.
If I could I would have a stainless steel house and, instead of vases, I would have women. Women
nowadays are much more beautiful than before. They owe this to photography. The photographer is
today’s sculptor.”10
But playing at Pygmalion and Galatea has its risks. The sequences of miniature photographs that
head some chapters show a dance between the photographer and the model that gradually turns
into an unequal fight. The photographs have been edited photomechanically to eliminate the back-
grounds, making them mere silhouettes against the white of the paper. This creates an ideal, unlim-
ited space that is repeated in all the photographs of Cabeza de muñeca, in which the main feature is
unarguably the model Jenny E. Koyman, who plays a number of roles: diver, witch, peasant, soldier,
mother, prostitute, saint, hippy, model.
To translate the images into precise meanings is impossible. But the diver to whom the book is
dedicated must be Jenny, characterized as a prisoner trapped in an iron prison (the diving suit) and
free only when she is submerged; that is, hidden. And the ex-combatant must be Jenny, clad in the
uniform of an ordinary Civil War soldier, who according to the text is ashamed and disheartened:
“I have killed my brother. . . . And still we are hungry.”
Ultimately, the soldier is less important than the broken doll’s head, a symbol of lost inno-
cence and nostalgia for past or unfulfilled desires, beauties, and feelings. The doll’s head serves
as an image of nearly everything, including the book’s cover, whose execution is described in
detail by Acosta Moro: “I was working with Jenny in my studio, that double album with Bob Dylan
in a scarf was playing, I kept putting on the beautiful song that occupied the whole of one side,
whose lyrics my beloved model translated for me: Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands . . . And your eyes
like smoke . . . your voice like chimes . . . flesh like silk, your face like glass . . . your mercury mouth . .
. That magical night I was creating one of the most unsettling photos I have ever taken with Jenny:
completely naked with her whole body painted white, her face porcelain and her lips, also white,
which set off her blue eyes reddened by the cigarette smoke, repressed ideas and many hours of
preparations, beautifully made up in shades of dark turquoise. . . . And on her head a hard, unruly wig
of steel shavings I had made from a metalworker’s scraps.”11
In the book’s foreword, Tomás Salvador, a writer and police inspector in charge of Ediciones
Marte, ventures to predict the future. In addition to “a prodigy of attraction, artistic talent and tech-
nical prowess,” he describes Cabeza de muñeca as a new kind of book (“film-novel-artistic essay”)
that will take at least “twenty years” to earn the recognition it deserves. But Salvador fell short of the
mark: nothing since has been heard of that “poem of short words and great pictures.” H.F.
208 209
 Cabeza de muñeca ­— 1968

210 211
 Luces y sombras del flamenco 1975 Colita made her second trip to Andalusia in May 1969 in connection with a commission
from Caballero Bonald. This time she took with her a list of flamenco artists she was to photo-
(4) This commitment shows that, more
than being just a commissioned work,
[Lights and shadows of flamenco] graph. Although no contract had been signed with a publisher, the intention was to produce a
book in which Colita’s photography and Caballero Bonald’s text would be equally important.2
Luces y sombras stemmed from a motiva-
tion that began with Carmen Amaya. Where
photographs Colita The project did not come to fruition for another six years, in a book containing almost
it might have ended is still not clear: “I was
not unfamiliar with flamenco, but I had
text José María Caballero Bonald one hundred photographs (not 300, as she had dreamed). Colita managed to convince her
never seen or felt anything like it in my
design Colita, Esther Tusquets
publisher friend Esther Tusquets to include Luces y sombras in the Palabra e Imagen collec- life. Something like a bedazzlement and
tion.3 Colita was demanding with the book and continued to supplement it as part of her emotion to the point of sobbing. . . . The
Barcelona: Lumen, Palabra e Imagen collection, May 1975
commitment to documenting new flamenco artists.4 emotion is so strong; the exaltation is so
220 x 210 mm, 252 pages (144 orange paper for text + 108 white paper for
Luces y sombras del flamenco was printed in May 1975. By then Francisco Franco was intense that when it ends you are a poor
photographs), 95 photographs. Hardback, cover illustrated with photograph
almost on his deathbed, but his regime maintained a repressive iron fist, though in Barce- lost and misfortunate soul who has been
lona Colita’s milieu flouted this repression: its members had illegal cultural dealings and kicked out of heaven. From that moment
gave free rein to their sexual affinities and tendencies. This is the perspective from which onwards you embark on a never-ending
the viewpoint of the text and the concept of the photographs should be understood. That journey in pursuit of that emotion, that
viewpoint and concept were in total empathy with the gypsy ethnic group that, despite the unique, intense, unrepeatable feeling, like
a small death caused by the pleasure of
well-meaning society of the time, had not yet attained citizen status.5 As in the novels of
feeling and the pain of loss. . . . Flamenco
Juan Marsé, the drawings of Jaume Perich, or the early songs of Joan Manuel Serrat, Luces art has provided me with some of the most
y sombras del flamenco is a model of liberty, an exercise in depth, truth, and commitment. unforgettable moments of my life, and the
At the same time, it is also a document about a marginal community made by an outsider, privilege of fixing them in time, in order to
someone who shows the cultural clash and, overcoming it, goes further and is concerned convey and share them.” Colita, foreword
with the status of women. Through her reportage Colita succeeded in portraying the people to Colita, foreword to Luces y sombras del
of flamenco and established the universal icons of another way of living life. flamenco, 3rd ed. (Madrid: Planeta, 2006).
For his part, Caballero Bonald produced a parallel panoramic view of flamenco. The text (5) This tolerance belies the classist image
is structured like an essay, a piece of research that remains essential today. The index shows of this “girl from a good family,” educated
a text divided into sections that make up a flowing literary tale in which glosses in the margin at the Sagrado Corazón school, who at
night frequented Bocaccio, the operational
guide the reader.
headquarters of the Gauche Divine.
The photographs are not directly linked to the text. They are arranged into several groups
(6) This naturalness appealed to Amaya
and follow their own sequence. Nevertheless the writer and photographer share the same when she saw the portraits Colita had
view of the meaning and purpose of the work: to make known the art of flamenco through taken of her while shooting Los Taran-
strict observation and the expressiveness of literature and pictures. By no means does the tos. Amaya was familiar with Gyenes’s
style mask the content: the chief aim is to catalog and bring together the living masters studio and the stylized representations
of flamenco art–not by merely listing them but by capturing the essence that makes them of flamenco and was thus surprised by
unique–without neglecting the everyday features of the gypsy way of feeling and the tiny the movement, naturalness, and force of
human details that Colita’s spontaneous gaze succeeds in preserving. That is why photog- Colita’s portraits, which were taken with
raphy is so important. As Caballero Bonald states in his text, emotion is the chief means natural light and hardly any posing.
of accessing the essence of flamenco singing and dancing. Thus, writer and photographer (7) Josef Koudelka, Gitans: La fin du
voyage (Paris: Delpire, 1975).
function independently, although she might draw on the writer’s knowledge when adopting
(8) Recently it was republished with more
a stance toward the flamenco experience, and he might analyze the gestures and fleeting
pictures. See Koudelka Gypsies (New York:
moments of the art captured in her snapshots. Aperture Foundation, 2011).
Precedents for this book include books by Juan Gyenes–Ballet Español (1956) and Antonio (9) Delpire had chosen sixty photographs
(1964), a luxurious volume dedicated to the dancer Antonio Ruiz–which are referents of the from among the hundreds Koudelka had
Colita’s flamenco project, which includes the various editions of Luces y sombras del fla- (1) Rebés discovered the flamenco dancers “shadow” in Colita’s project, as they display some of the vices of the period: overemphasis on taken during his six years of travel around
menco, is also her most extensive project. She started on it at the age of twenty-two while La Chunga and La Singla and was a painter folk customs and local color and a sweetened view that conceals all the contradictions and Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, France,
out with her friend Paco Rebés, who was then in charge of casting gypsies for Francisco and intellectual, a collector, and the direc-
stylizes the passion (in order to present the flamenco dancers to tourists as a domesticated and Spain. The photographs denote the
Rovira Beleta’s film Los Tarantos.1 Colita took the photographs and experienced this contact tor of an art gallery. subjects’ degree of tolerance to the pho-
people and an illustration of the patriotic values the Falangist movement wanted to promote).
(2) Juan de la Plata, one of Colita’s compan-
with the gypsies of Somorrostro and Montjuic with curiosity and pleasure. In these pictures the artificial appearance of the spectacle stifles its vitality, force, and spon- tographer’s presence and how naturally he
ions on these Andalusian travels, described coped with situations, however appalling.
Colita perceived art as being linked to life, and flamenco thus became more than just taneity. Such a conception is diametrically opposed to the intentions of Colita, who sought to
his meeting with the young photographer Delpire’s 1975 selection is monothematic
an activity for viewing and entertainment. Her experiences of and direct involvement in the as follows: “She turned up in Seville in her express directly the genio or magical force of the flamenco artist, to echo daily life.6
trivial and everyday moments she shared with the gypsies led her to capture the essence and features only the gypsies of Slovakia
small [SEAT] 600, she came from Barcelona The same year that Luces y sombras came out, the French publisher Robert Delpire and their dire living conditions. The 2011
of flamenco. In 1963 she ceased to be Xavier Miserachs’s assistant and set out on her own. . . . her extraordinary capacity for hard launched Gitans: La fin du voyage, a thematic book on gypsies by the Czech photographer edition shows the original layout pro-
She was a portraitist without a studio, and this influenced her understanding of portraiture work, as we know that some days have Josef Koudelka.7 Gitans is a much admired photobook.8 In it, Spanish gypsies, excluded from posed by Koudelka in collaboration with
as part of life. She often visited Madrid, accompanying Paco Rebés to the best flamenco been really exhausting for her, after taking the first edition for reasons of “coherence,” infuse it with an air of optimism with their ani- the Czech designer Milan Kopriva, which
venues, where she continued to photograph the artists. In Madrid, she was given a taste of nearly five hundred snapshots, and going mals, smiles, flamenco, guitars, and frilled dresses.9 One cannot help empathizing with these should have been printed in Prague in
this art by poet José Manuel Caballero Bonald, who in 1968 proposed she illustrate Luces y from here to there, from one village to people, and gypsy life no longer seems suspicious. Koudelka’s book has evident parallels 1968 but was thwarted by the Russian
sombras del Flamenco. another always in search of the most sear-
with Colita’s, in both dates and intent. But the book closest to Luces y sombras in its ap- invasion and the author’s consequent exile.
A few years earlier, in June 1963, Colita had accompanied Rebés and Caballero Bonald ing reality.” (10) Jan Yoors, Gypsies of Spain: Photo-
proach to portraying gypsies and flamenco is André A. López’s The Gypsies of Spain.10 This
(3) The two subsequent editions of 1997
on a tour through Aragón, La Mancha, and Andalusia. Caballero Bonald was then preparing little-known photographer moved Colita, who saw her own gypsies in López’s because the graphs by Andre Lopez (New York:
(published by Lumen) and 2006 (pub- Macmillan, 1974).
a book on Spanish ceramic ware, and Colita documented the pottery workshops. Although two photographers shared the same gaze.
lished by Planeta) failed to improve on the
she did not photograph flamenco during the tour, her gaze did produce photographs that visual and conceptual results of the first Many other precedents can be cited. Jean Dieuzaide, Fulvio Roiter, Lucien Clergue, and
were nostalgic and sad compared to her usual work. The photographs she took of ruins, edition, which was selected, designed, and Inge Morath were still coming to Spain in the 1950s and 1960s to photograph Spanish gyp-
children staring straight at her, dusks, boats run aground, old women outside houses, soli- mounted by Colita herself, who stated, sies. Their Spanish colleagues recognized the “appeal” of these themes with a view to their
tary animals in the countryside would later be used to illustrate the territory of flamenco in “Luces y sombras has not been an edito- international promotion, but they were also aware of the dangers of falling into the trap
her book. The photographs were a far cry from the sunny, joyful Andalusia advertised in the rial project but a war against designers of superficiality and stereotyping. Flamenco was to these photographers what jazz was to
Ministry of Information and Tourism’s posters. and editors.”

212 213
 American photographers. Both were forms of music belonging to a well-differentiated mi- (11) Oriol Maspons, Miserachs, and Català-
nority, both were subject to social exclusion, both tended to have night settings, and both Roca photographed the same people in
featured improvisation–an inspiration that is found both in joy and in sorrow. the same places. So did Pérez Siquier, Ricard
Colita worked and came into contact with the theme of her book in a male-dominated Terré, Ramón Masats, Julio Ubiña, and
Gerardo Vielba. Likewise Paco Gómez and
environment and was the only woman to systemize her work in order to produce a document
Paco Ontañón, one step ahead, published
on gypsies and flamenco. For the other photographers, the gypsy experience was a pass-
a book that might have helped Colita
ing interest, a difference they observed and captured in interesting pieces of photography.11 capture the atmosphere of live flamenco
Compared to all these projects, Colita’s photographic contribution to the world of flamenco performances, although she does not
is that she stayed and returned time and time again until she became familiar with the people recall being familiar with it at the time.
and the environment. Colita lived with the gypsies. She accompanied La Singla to buy shoes See Zambra, tablao flamenco (Madrid:
and spent time watching gypsies style their hair, went to weddings, and joined in their mer- Spanish Pavilion at the New York World’s
rymaking. Sometimes she took photographs, and other times she did not. Fair, 1964).
Luces y sombras displays a wish for authorship: the pictures are not subordinate to the (12) A formula characteristic of the neoreal-
text. Colita chose from among hundreds of photographs that sum up the three elements ist sensibilities and found in other series
that are interwoven in the magic of feeling: the portrait of the flamenco artist and his or her dating from the period, such as La Chanca
by Carlos Pérez Siquier, who selected his
art, the gypsy way of life, and class and gender status seen in the historical context of the
subjects and raised them to the status of
end of the Franco regime. For example, she portrays La Piriñaca bringing in sheets from the social icons by means of a symbolic pose:
clothesline instead of singing outside her house, full of vitality. By capturing the randomness the gravedigger, the white girl, the gypsy
of reality, Colita thus adds a feminist discourse.12 breastfeeding, and so on.
Colita succeeds in penetrating the gypsy world and captures flamenco–and not because (13) Val Wilmer, Jazz People (London:
she is forced to do so by Caballero’s text but because she has felt the aesthetic pang that led Allison and Busby, 1970).
her to document the artists’ way of life. She recalls Val Wilmer and her book Jazz People,
which is similar in its understanding of photography and the message it sets out to convey.13
Wilmer, a white lesbian woman, decided to frequent a black man’s environment, looked jazz
musicians in the face, and then captured their vital experience in her portrayals of them. L.T.

214 215
216 217
 Los últimos días de Franco vistos en TVE
[The last days of Franco as seen on TVE]
photographs Ministerio de información y turismo, F. Nuño
design cubiertas Valdovinos
Madrid: Departamento de publicaciones RTVE, 1975
240 x 170 mm, [150] pages, 222 photographs. Paperback, covers illustrated with photographs
Los primeros días del Rey vistos en TVE
[The first days of the King as seen on TVE]
photographs Ministerio de información y turismo y F. Nuño
design cubiertas Valdovinos
Madrid: Departamento de publicaciones RTVE, 1975
240 x 170 mm, [150] pages, 263 photographs. Paperback, covers illustrated with photographs
Los últimos días de Franco vistos en TVE begins with two portraits of General Francisco
Franco in his coffin. The first image runs diagonally against a black background on the front
cover of the book. The second is a two-page spread (also diagonal) but viewed through a
TV camera: it is a screen capture of a low-resolution color TV. A note inside reads, “The
graphic material in this book has been photographed directly from images broadcast by
TVE (Televisión Española [Spanish television]). As they have been reproduced from video the
quality is therefore that of a living document and completely different from that of normal
transparencies.”
The text is categorical: “Thursday, 20th November. At 10 a.m., Televisión Española be-
gan the day’s programs with the chilling news of the death of Franco.” This is followed by a
grueling succession of speeches, masses, funerals, parades, and processions that ends with
a shot of a tombstone against a black background, floating amid the perpetual shadows of
eternity. The ending is reminiscent of another black slab that appeared in 1968–in Stanley
Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey–an alien monolith and the begin-
ning of important changes.
A second photobook covers the change that had been announced: the coronation of
Franco’s successor two days after his death, followed by more speeches, masses, parades,
receptions–events whose coverage makes up the material for Los primeros días del Rey vis-
tos en TVE. The second photobook completes the space odyssey or, as TVE suggests, “the
218
1975
(1) “Only a few days after Francisco
Franco’s death, Televisión Española (TVE)
published a book with a selection of pho-
tographs taken from broadcasts covering
that event. It seems obvious that televi-
sion became the ultimate authority on the
formulation of such references regarding
information and events and that the said
book was the result of this awareness. Its
aim was a visual chronicle with a testimo-
nial approach.” José Carlos Rueda Laffond
and Virginia Martín Jiménez, “Información,
documental y ficción histórica: Lecturas
televisivas sobre la muerte de Franco,”
Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies 11,
no. 1 (2010): 53.
(2) Among his solo exhibition catalogues
are F. Nuño, exh. cat. (Madrid: Ateneo
[cuadernos de arte número 97], 1962);
El fuego (Madrid: Galería Edurne, 1966);
and Del otro lado del sol (Marbella, Spain:
219
historic report.” “Those images could not be limited to a fleeting flash on the screen since
they are vivid images in the memory of all Spaniards. That is why all that was seen by the
Galería Opux-Nite, 1976). His main exhibition
was a retrospective at the Biblioteca
millions of deeply moved compatriots, their eyes fixed on their television screens, has been
published in two volumes that are separate in the form and not, however, in the depth of
Nacional in Madrid. See Fernando Nuño, exh.
cat. (Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura, 1978).
their content.”
(3) José María Iglesias, “Fernando Nuño y
la fotografía,” Bellas Artes 60 (April–May
TVE at that time may well have been devoted to providing information, but–as the late
1978): 38.
Spanish professor Agustín García Calvo might have said–it was still a medium for influencing
the masses. Live history is over in an instant, and the propaganda makers need a story that
will last, an official story. Thus, recordings of events are shown over and over again before
the lens of a new camera, now a photographic one. As Los últimos días explains, “This is
not an album of selected photographs but of images that made a direct impact through the
screen and were taken in front of a screen that showed the living warmth of memories again
and again in video.” The result is a collection of almost 500 photographs laid out and printed
in record time and with a by no means negligible print run: on the last day of 1975, just one
month after the events, both photobooks were on sale in the high street.
The first volume begins with a box and ends with a stone; its discourse is reserve, and
the predominant color is blue. The tone of the second is different, warmer, for history is still
in the making and yet to be told. With its profusion of mourning, tears, uniforms, and flags,
the past is more moving (perhaps also more photogenic). Everything is framed by the rec-
tangular shape of the screens of the time. Here and there, direct photography complements
TV images and shows the reader the spectators, who appear to be tinted in one of the three
cathode colors: yellow, blue, or magenta. Almost devoid of text, the design of the two-page
spreads alternates between individual boxes and vertical sequences, forming a fragmented
narrative that breaks down into a multitude of details and reinforces some of the shots. Oc-
casionally the photograph of a TV scene change forms startling photomontages based on
significant back projections and mysterious filters.
In Los primeros días the past fades swiftly; for example, in the two-page spread showing
an almost liquid mass of men dressed in black applauding their own extinction. The three-
color system is extended with some pictures tinged with the green of hope. At the end, pho-
tographs of a state banquet are more precise and friendly than the TV pictures.
The editors warns, “Authenticity has been sought over and above photo quality.” The
desire was to show, in “images that we have seen and now want to save from transience,”
“the sight that astounded the world.” Rather than credits, the books show a two-page spread
with video recorders running and a camera on a tripod in front of a TV set without the pres-
ence of technicians or photographers. The suggestion is that the books are the product of
automatic machines with no human intervention.
The names of those who made the decisions are not in the books, which mention only
the Ministry of Information and Tourism, the Franco regime’s propaganda department, one
of whose duties was censorship. Responsibility for the order of the images, the composition
of the texts, and supervision of the books’ publication fell to nameless ministry officials who
preferred television to newspapers and magazines, media whose ability to provide informa-
tion and entertainment had been eclipsed, not least by technology.1
The formal aspects were left to an artist-cum-designer, Hernán Valdovinos, who effi-
ciently produced startling covers. The back covers feature crowns in a reference to the past
and future. The first cover shows a solitary funeral arrangement of carnations and gladioli
that bears just a hint of a New Orleans Indian carnival costume.
In charge of photography was “F. Nuño” (i.e., Fernando Nuño), a press photographer of
some importance since the late 1950s. Identified by his full name or bearing his trademark
“Henecé,” many of his photographs appeared in dailies such as Arriba and weeklies such
as Gaceta ilustrada and Blanco y Negro. Nuño had also worked with the abstract painters
of the El Paso generation, was honorary curator of the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español in
Cuenca, and had held several exhibitions, of which catalogues and reviews exist.2
An article signed by José María Iglesias comments on Nuño’s main photographic works.
The first, called Fuego (Fire), was exhibited in 1965 and is as informalist as “that form of
painting which is engrossed in expounding on the potential of matter, in addition to unusual
materials, within vague or non-existent borders.”3
Ten years later, in 1975, Nuño was again in touch with the latest trends, as can be seen
from Del otro lado del sol (From the other side of the sun), a series of photographic murals
consisting of squares with a circle (the sun) at its center. Series in the style of conceptual art
frequently containing the reproduction of TV images are commonly found in the work of art-
ists such as Antoni Muntadas and Alberto Corazón. TVE’s propaganda photobooks are not a
million miles away from what in those years were called “new trends in art.” H.F.
 Los últimos días de Franco vistos en TVE — 1975

220 221
 Los últimos días de Franco vistos en TVE — 1975

222 223
 Los primeros días del Rey vistos en TVE — 1975

224 225
 Pintadas del referendum 1977 In March 1977, graffiti were everywhere. “We are living in an age of graffiti,” La Vanguardia
acknowledged; it was not the only newspaper to cover the phenomenon.1 Diario 16 report-
(1) “Pintadas,” La Vanguardia, 16 March 1977.
(2) Diario 16, quoted in “Las paredes

[Graffiti on the Referendum] ed, “Hardware stores in Malaga have sold 5,000 sprays in recent months. The best-selling
colors: black and red. They are out of stock in some parts of the city. It is a fact that, the
tienen la palabra,” Cuadernos para el
diálogo 192 (1 January 1977): 28. The issue
photography Equipo Diorama: Bárbara Allende, Rosa Asenjo, José Luis Asenjo, more dubious the system of political participation, the more sprays.”2 In Madrid the city
of graffiti sparked many comments from
the press. For example, “Una expresión
Dominique Bernis, José Enrico Bucciquero, Mariano Casado, Alfredo Cruz, council considered banning the sale of spray paint: “The Council does not have sufficient
alternativa: Las pintadas,” Triunfo, 19
Pedro Díez Perpignán, Guillermo Gay, Fernando Gil, Domingo Martín, means or guards to ensure the cleanliness of the city” and wishes “to avoid the degrading February 1977, 42–45; Joaquín Rábago,
spectacle,” a situation that “only culture and civic-mindedness can resolve.”3 Even so, some
Ramón Mourelle, Cecilio Palencia, José Rodríguez Tarduchy, José María saw the humorous side. An advertising agency left a blank space in its posters, adding the
“Las nuevas pintadas,” Triunfo, 5 August
1977, 47–48; “Pintada gallega,” Cuadernos
Sacristán, Carlos Villasante words, “Graffiti here, do not tamper with the rest of the advertisement.”4 para el diálogo 193 (8 January 1977): 57;
text Emmanuel Lizcano, José Luis L. Aranguren design Fernando Gil, Pedro A referendum was held in December 1976 to vote on the political reform bill, which six and “Olor electoral,” Cuadernos para el
Díez Perpignán cover Pedro Díez Perpignán months later made possible the staging of the first democratic elections since 1936. This diálogo 202 (12 March 1977): 62.
triggered a proliferation of street graffiti that was reported on by the press: “In countries (3) “Llamada al civismo para no ensuciar la
Madrid: Equipo Diorama, January 1977 ciudad,” La Vanguardia, 20 May 1977.
which have experienced a moment of political high spirits, like Portugal in 1974 or Argentina
150 x 210 mm, [160] pages, 291 photographs. Illustrated paperback (4) La Vanguardia, 1 April 1977.
after Perón’s return, the extensive reporting that has beein carried out merely follows in the
(5) “Las paredes tienen la palabra,” Cuader-
footsteps of a book about the graffiti of May 1968, Les murs ont la parole. There are already
Pintades Pintadas
nos para el diálogo 192 (1 January 1977):
collectors of photographs, one of whom has assembled more than 600 examples.”5 32. Julien Besançon’s book Les murs ont
Many photographers recorded graffiti made during the transition to democracy, among
[Graffiti] them the group who published Pintadas del referendum in January 1977. This was the Equipo
la parole (Paris: Tschou, 1968) is an anthol-
ogy of graffiti texts from Paris in May 1968.
Diorama, which was connected with the publishing house of the same name founded by
Barcelona: De Puig Antich al Referendum Titto Ferreira and with the Photocentro of Madrid, an institution established in 1975 by con-
Other contemporary books of photo-
graphs on this subject include Jean-Claude
[Barcelona: from Puig Antich to the Referendum] tributors to the Nueva lente magazine. Equipo Diorama had published only one other book,
Principio, an exhibition catalogue featuring the work of nine photographers, five of whom–
Gautrand, Les murs de Mai 1968 (Brussels:
Les Cahiers de Pensée et Action, 1969);
photography Foto FAD team: Cristina Zelich, Raul Vendrell, Manel Úbeda, Bárbara Allende, Alfredo Cruz, Pedro Díez Perpignán, Fernando Gil, and Carlos Villasante– José Marques, As Paredes em liberdade
(Lisbon: Teorema, 1974); and Roger Perry,
Enric de Santos, Salvador Obiols, Lluis Muñoz, Josep Moliner, Miquel were members of Equipo Diorama.6
The Writing on the Wall (London: Elm
Gil and Díez Perpignán selected the photographs, which were published without indi-
Moix, Siso Mitjanas, Eusebi Gonzàlez, Joan Fontcuberta, Lluis Crusellas, Tree Book, 1976).
vidual signatures. “We made small prints of all the photos, trying to establish some type of
Felix Camprubí criterion,” Gil recalls. “Basically we tried to capture the immediacy of the moment by docu-
(6) Principio: nueve jóvenes fotógra-
fos españoles (Madrid: Diorama, 1976).
text Jaume Jodri design Salvador Saura, Ramón Torrente menting something ephemeral that was going to cease to exist. It was a militant assignment Carlos Villasante recalls, “the dates of the
Barcelona: La gaia ciencia, 1977 in two senses; on the one hand, as it supported the idea of abstention and, on the other, show coincided with the referendum
300 x 230 mm, [128] pages, 199 photographs. Paperback illustrated with photography. 5,000 copies owing to the use of photography as a memory tool.” 7 on the Spanish Constitution. A group of
The book features nearly 300 photographs on the subject of graffiti and shows not only prominent students like Dominique Bernis,
graffiti but posters, pamphlets, billboards, even television screens. (The photobook begins Domingo Martín Autoranz, Cecilio Palencia
with a television set showing the prime minister, Adolfo Suárez, accompanied on the facing and others, as well as a few lecturers,
page by the text of the political reform bill.) The book’s intention, as stated on its back cover, took photographs of the run-up to give
is to record the graffiti, “to preserve it, through photography, as a necessary testament to substance to the second—and last—pho-
tography book of the Diorama publishing
and document of the vicissitudes of a people in pursuit of their future.”
house.” Carlos Villasante, “Elogio y nostalgia
The work is therefore documentary. The only text is in the photographs, making Pin-
del Photocentro,” Universo fotográfico 3
tadas a neutral book about which the reader must draw his or her own conclusions. In the (June 2001): 14.
introduction Emmanuel Lizcano calls for readings that are “less monotonous” than political (7) Fernando Gil to author, 4 and 6
interpretations, “more diversified or–we hope–fun.” He ends by stating, “any sort of scien- February 2014.
tific reading is not advised.” (8) Joan Fontcuberta, “Desde Catalunya . . .,”
Pintadas del referendum was launched in Barcelona in January 1977. Two months later Joan Nueva lente 61 (March 1977): 83.
Fontcuberta wrote a jocular chronicle of the event: “Despite very good intentions, the organiz- (9) See “Nuevo consejo directivo del
ers, who were very much Castilians, clashed with the Catalan character–composed, straight- Fomento de las Artes Decorativas,” La Van-
laced and serious if open-air dances are not held with the traditional requisites essential for guardia, 26 February 1977. Foto-FAD is the
this sort of thing, such as streamers with the colors of the Catalan flag, Aromas de Montserrat photographic section of Fomento de las
Artes Decorativas, an institution founded
[a local liqueur], sardana [Catalan folk song and dance] music, and the [Catalan] anthem Els
in Barcelona in 1903.
Segadors to top it off.”8 The audience’s seriousness and Fontcuberta’s sarcasm may be related (10) Manuel Úbeda and Joan Fontcuberta,
to the fact that another group of photographers (among them Fontcuberta) called Foto FAD, quoted in M. O., “El arriesgado arte de
headed by Manuel Úbeda, were then involved in a similar project in Barcelona.9 fotografiar pintadas,” Destino 2,066 (12
Foto FAD had been working with street graffiti since 1974. “We compiled as many as six May 1977): 34.
thousand graffiti” on various themes: from “a repressed erotic world” to political graffiti that (11) “Following the unspeakable vicissi-
depend “on the instructions received from the party.” The method was simple–“each pho- tudes suffered by the sector, the much-
tographer usually works in his own district”–and the results uneven: whereas the residential awaited book recording the country’s
areas had less graffiti, the center was “overrun with political graffiti” and “the suburbs with history during these three years of recent
the social type.”10 transition, written in paint sprayed on
the walls, finally came out on the feast of
A few months after Pintadas was published, Foto FAD brought out Pintades Pintadas.11
Saint George, book day in Catalonia. Three
According to the foreword, the aim was to present “a new and particular account of events
years working nonstop, in which the Foto
and provide data: the compilation of certain photographs.” The new photobook was “the FAD boys defied the antiterrorist laws,
result of three years’ patient work,” work on Barcelona and its suburbs that “calls for the hoards of undercover police disguised as
dryness of studies and depth.” The selection of pictures was governed by “the political ur- lampposts like Mortadelo [a comic strip
gency that dominates people’s interests these days.” Although the project initially “aimed for character famous for his disguises], hosts

226 227
 greater complexity of subject matter,” Pintades features only political graffiti made during of confiscations and exposures of film rolls Pintadas del referendum — 1977

the period from March 1974, when the anarchist activist Salvador Puig Antich was executed, and healthy dousings of cold water during
until the December 1976 referendum. the odd visit–as tourists, naturally–to the
The book is dedicated to the memory of Javier Verdejo–a student who was assassinated nearest police station.” Joan Fontcuberta,
“Desde Catalunya . . .,” Nueva lente 62
while writing on a wall–and begins with a photograph of his unfinished graffiti in allusion to
(April 1977): 86.
the obstacles encountered by graffiti artists and photographers. Úbeda explains, “We have
(12) Ibid., 34.
had the same problems when photographing the painters of slogans. We have all ended up (13) Miquel de Moragas Spà, “La pintada:
at the police station several times, and in my particular case I was even taken there three El lenguaje del spray,” Destino 2,066
times in the same week.”12 (12 May 1977): 33.
Pintades consists of about 200 pictures in which documentation is the predominant fea- (14) See, for example, Pedro Sempere,
ture. Salvador Saura and Ramón Torrente arranged the sequence. The book begins with a Los muros del posfranquismo (Madrid:
double-page photograph of a graffito referring to Puig Antich, which marks the start of the Castellote, 1977); and Los graffiti: Juego
timeline and is followed by series of photographs. Some pages feature brief commentaries y subversión (Valencia: Difusora de la
that infuse the pictures with an explicit sense of protest. Cultura, 1977).
(15) “Diorama’s second work was a com-
Some of the groups of photographs show walls that are seething with debate. For ex-
mercial failure and ended up on a flea mar-
ample, a graffito calling for vengeance for Puig Antich is contrasted with another stating,
ket stall.” Villasante, “Elogio y nostalgia del
“Puig, you got what you deserved, you pig.” Other series of pictures emphasize the affinity Photocentro,” 15. Nueva lente was offering
between the messages, which might coincide in a particular demand or in their support for Pintadas at a reduced price together
a party or trade union. From a certain point in the book, the appearance of anarchic, more with Principio and Ken Pate’s photobook
ironic graffiti can be detected. Roquette Rockers (Paris: Contrejour, 1975).
After an extensive survey of demands, protests, and insults comes the Referendum: walls See Nueva lente 81 (June 1977): 81.
are shown covered in posters encouraging people to vote. Many of the posters are daubed (16) Foto FAD’s new objectives were to
with graffiti calling for abstention and demanding more freedoms. The book ends with a work “on studies of violence in image and
double-page spread in which one wall displays the wish for a “happy and anarchic 1977.” This violent images, a compilation of old posters
marks the end of the timeline and a collection of pictures of city walls that bear witness to and advertising pictures, and photographs
on Barcelona’s three second-hand markets.”
an entire historical process.
M. O., “El arriesgado arte de fotografiar
The books of photographs by Equipo Diorama and Foto FAD address the same subject
pintadas.”
at the same time but take different approaches. Information is given precedence by Equipo
Diorama: the photographs are not accompanied by texts or commentaries and, although
pro-abstention graffiti are prominent, everything is framed by data: the book begins with
the text of the bill and ends with the Referendum results. In contrast, Foto FAD’s texts have
a haranguing tone, and the book follows no narrative structure. Although it begins and ends
with two photographs that establish the time frame, it provides no information about the
Referendum or its results. In addition, many of Foto FAD’s pictures are general views–pro-
viding context and often showing the street and citizens. In contrast, Equipo Diorama’s book
is drier, dominated by close-ups focusing on the messages on the walls.
Both show graffiti that have been erased or tampered with to change their messages or
render them incomprehensible–one of the most common tactics used to distort or cancel their
effect. “There has been a considerable fall in graffiti production,” states an article published
shortly before the 1977 elections. “The government policy of not erasing it has contributed deci-
sively to this decrease, by causing confusion over dates and references.”13 This heralded the end
of interest in graffiti, which nevertheless remained alive in 1977 in other publications.14
Pintadas was a commercial failure, and the Equipo Diorama team split up soon after-
ward.15 Following the publication of Pintades, which did not sell well in bookshops either,
the Foto FAD group embarked on new projects, although even they believed that, “as it has
become so vastly widespread, graffiti has lost its persuasive force.” 16 J.O.-E.

228 229
 Pintadas del referendum — 1977

230 231
 Pintades Pintadas ­­— 1977

232 233
 Antifémina [Antifemale]
Colita
photographs
text Maria Aurèlia Capmany
Madrid: Editora Nacional, 1977
295 x 225 mm, 196 pages, 172 photographs. Cloth,
dust jacket illustrated with photograph, 3,000 copies
In the last years of the Franco regime and then during the Transition, Maria Aurèlia Capmany
and Colita worked side by side on projects such as the Tarja d’identitat (Identity card) exhibi-
tion (1975) and the book and LP set Dies i hores de la nova cançó (Days and hours of Nova
Cançó, 1978). They organized activities designed to improve the situation of women and
contributed to the feminist magazine Vindicación feminista.1 From this close relationship
emerged the idea of producing a book that represented a type of woman “no one wants to
look at [but] who is genuine and real, who is not twenty years old, who is not pretty.”2
Capmany was a writer and essayist who was devoted to feminist issues.3 Colita had al-
ready published a few photobooks.4 What they had in mind was a book featuring a text and
photographs that would function as both a visual essay and a political essay.
Colita looked through her archives and selected photographs of women to form an anthol-
ogy of her work from 1960 to 1975.5 Many of the chosen photographs fit in with the established
aims: portraits of gypsy women taken systematically in the 1960s, of female laborers published
in Interviú or Vindicación feminista, and of fashion models, as well as pictures of weddings or
cemeteries that she brought together in book form years later.6 This group of materials–se-
lected, ordered, and accompanied by Capmany’s text–makes up a coherent whole.
The book, entitled Antifémina, explores the concept of femininity from various perspec-
tives. On the one hand, it serves a documentary purpose. “The pictures we are going to
234
1977
(1) The purpose of the magazine is
stated in the title: “To reach the greatest
number of women possible of all social
strata, which is why we must address an
extensive array of problems and issues
that affect them particularly.” Vindicación
feminista 1 (July 1976).
(2) Colita, response to author’s questionnaire,
30 July 2013.
(3) Maria Aurèlia Capmany, La dona a
Catalunya: Consciència i situació (Barce-
lona: Edicions 62, 1966); and Maria Aurèlia
Capmany and Carmen Alcalde, El feminis-
mo ibérico (Barcelona: Oikos-Tau, 1970).
(4) Most noteworthy are her contributions to
the Palabra e Imagen collection: Juan Benet,
Una tumba (Barcelona: Lumen, 1973); and
José Manuel Caballero Bonald, Luces y som-
bras del flamenco (Barcelona: Lumen, 1975).
(5) See ABC, 8 January 1978.
235
provide are no more and no less than the reflection in the camera’s eye of what is there.” On
the other hand, it is an essay and criticism: “The pictures speak for themselves . . . and the
(6) Pilar Aymerich and Colita, Els cementiris
de Barcelona (Barcelona: Edhasa, 1981).
slogan of the day explains to us that a picture is worth a thousand words. But that is true only (7) Colita, response to author’s questionnaire.
to the extent that a picture generates words.” Hence the need for a text, which is inspired (8) J. Fabre, “La Nova Cançó ya es historia
en fotos,” Tele-eXpres, 5 September 1978.
by the sequence of pictures.
The article features an interview with
The book has ten chapters, each dealing with a particular theme: old age, marriage,
Colita and Capmany.
work, religion, prostitution, the body, marginalization, advertising, clothing, and the prac- (9) Vindicación feminista 10 (1 April
tice of making flirtatious remarks to women. The chapters are pervaded by a critical tone, 1977): 21, 36; and Vindicación feminista
which is heightened by the essay inspired by the pictures. Everything is a product of team- 11 (11 May 1977): 31, 35, 47.
work, as Colita explains: “Maria Aurèlia and I worked together . . . the photos would be ar- (10) Vindicación feminista 2 (1 August
ranged and she would write text and stick it at the top or at the bottom.” 7 1976): 29–38.
The idea was for a clear and educational essay in keeping with the implicit political de- (11) Camilo José Cela and Juan Colom,
mands, and the result was a “thesis,” as its authors define it: “Our thesis for producing the Izas, rabizas y colipoterras (Barcelona:
book was that ninety-five percent of women are neither twenty-one years old, nor five foot Lumen, 1964).
six tall nor marriageable. That is, they do not match the female stereotype prefabricated by
men in the last third of the twentieth century. We detest the word femininity. It is an inciden-
tal feature.”8 In their opinion, “femininity is merely the set of historical and classist qualities
of a certain type of woman: middle-class, simple-minded, who wears perfume, does what
she has been taught and is just an ornament that the man shows off.”
The book begins in a documentary tone. The chapter on work features a series of pho-
tographs of female laborers that Colita had published earlier in Vindicación feminista.9 The
first photograph shows a sculpture of two men working, which prompts the commentary,
“Whenever the symbol of labor is represented, a man is usually shown.” Nevertheless, Co-
lita’s photographs show the opposite: that working women exist and that pictures of women
gleaning in Castile, women sewing fishing nets in the Costa Brava area, female laborers at a
Barcelona factory, and so on, debunk the clichés. In Antifémina these pictures are linked to
an argument: that femininity is related to the passive role of women. And this raises a ques-
tion: “Are the country laborer, the factory worker, the gypsy women really women?”
Whatever the case, the photographs and text are always partial, as they invariably take
the women’s side. Accordingly, the chapter on religion draws a distinction between “women
who genuinely feel a religious vocation” and those who “do not enter the convent [not] to do
something but to avoid the risk of life.” They are photographs that question the influence of
religion on the situation of women.
The other extreme is prostitution, which is represented by a collection of photographs
of a red-light district that Colita had already published in Vindicación feminista.10 These pic-
tures show the faces of the voyeurs looking to hire the services of prostitutes, but not those
of the prostitutes themselves, who are always shown with their back to the camera, objects
suitable only to be used. The photographs are somewhat similar to those published by Joan
Colom in Izas, rabizas y colipoterras.11 However, they are given the opposite meaning: where-
as Colom is a voyeur who secretly portrays the district, Colita sets out to draw attention to a
latent situation and therefore again asks, “How are we to call these women? Women?”
On reaching the midpoint of the book, Capmany adopts a different tone: “[as we could
be criticized for] putting the emphasis, too perversely, on their being treated as objects, we
should point out that all we have done is be surprised at what is customary,” adding that
all the two authors have set out to do is to follow “the advice of two wise males,” Aristotle
and Bertolt Brecht. (Brecht is quoted several times in the book as an advocate of “critical
amazement” that calls for attempting to see with new eyes what has often been shown.) The
writers thus propose a new reflection: “An affront to human dignity, however common, must
not cease to amaze us.”
This reflection leads to the chapter on advertising, one of the most brilliant in the book.
The chapter begins with a photograph of two women in a street with a headless female
figure behind them ostentatiously displaying a long bare leg. A “dismembered” figure that
is followed by other fragmented bodies: photographs of lipstick-covered female lips on bill-
boards, bits of mannequins, and a double-page spread full of cardboard bodies dripping in
jewelry. The text concludes, “To dismember” woman in this way, “even if only in pictures, is
to show that she is a person only in appearance.”
The theme of this series continues with “The Art of Becoming a Thing.” The chapter be-
gins metaphorically with a photograph–also reproduced on the cover–of a shoe on a stony
beach that is contrasted with a mannequin, prompting the question that is raised by the text:
“Is managing to become that beautiful flat-stomached doll . . . really an ideal for women?”
The book ends with a chapter on the male practice of making flirtatious remarks to wom-
en. A series of photographs taken in the Barrio Chino shows a woman sitting on a terrace,
while the men who pass by flatter her in different ways: laughing, stealing sidelong glances,
 or tipping their caps. In the end the woman gazes at the camera, sucking her finger. The se- (12) Colita, response to author’s
ries again sums up the book’s thesis: the woman who adopts a passive attitude to the male, questionnaire.
who feels forced to play a role in order to bolster his self-esteem. (13) Reviews of the time include
The book came out in 1977, published by Editora Nacional, the old Francoist publishing Enric Ripoll-Freixes, “Un llibre sumptuós:
Insòlites imatges femenines,” Avui, 31
house that continued to function for a few more years. Colita recalls its publication: “When
August 1978; and Sergio Leonardo, “Sin
the residual Francoists realized what they had done, they put it in a drawer and Antifémina retórica decorativa,” Clarín, 22 June 1978.
was nowhere to be found.” 12 Perhaps this explains why the book had almost no repercus- (14) Censorship file on Antifémina, 15
sions.13 However, the censors’ report does not raise any particular objections. Instead it de- November 1977, in Archivo General de
scribes the book as a “text alluding to women’s status that is devoid of the usual cliché that la Administración, 73/06363 expediente
the mass media attempt to standardize.” Because the book adopted “a very different angle 12901/77.
to that of the woman as clothes horse,” it was, in the censor’s opinion, “not objectionable.”14
Things were changing: 1977 saw the repeal of the law on the press and printing that had
established censorship. In those new times Antifémina encouraged readers to “shed their mask
and attempt to be a flesh-and-blood human being, even at the risk of living in the open.” C.C.

236 237
 Antifémina — 1977

238 239
 Antifémina ­— 1977

240 241
 Punk 1977 bringing out a book for a collection called Especial Star Books that was to be devoted (in
principle) to comics.3
Book Corporation, 1971). The photographs
were by David Fenton et al., and the book
photographs Salvador Costa More than a photobook on a musical phenomenon, it is about the tribe who embrace was designed by Neil Shakery.
it. While Punk features many musicians in action, photographed from below among the au- (4) Juan José Fernández to Concha Calvo
text Jordi Vargas (13 January 2014). Although commercially
dience, it is the latter who are the main subject. Slightly more than half the photographs
design Pilar Rodellar successful, the book fared less well with
are individual portraits taken from close up, with great attention to detail, especially the
Barcelona: Producciones editoriales, 1977 the photographic reviews: “Salvador Cos-
legs: fourteen photographs show figures from the waist down, the boys wearing jeans and ta’s pictures, full-face, bold and taken from
297 x 210 mm, 97 pages, 94 photographs. Paperback, sneakers, the girls a slightly more varied costume. Costa also pays attention to fashionable above the subject, do not show us much
covers illustrated with photographs, 5,000 copies accessories–dog collars and the photogenic studded bracelets–and devotes a photograph more than their facade and they also per-
to a mannequin covered from top to toe in razor blades, rubber insects, chains, and even haps repeat the picture to make up a set
a few joke items (all displaying price tags, of course). The first pages show a clothes shop which should necessarily be more power-
where the salient feature is the presence of plastic garments, which are also seen later in ful owing to the nature of the subject and
the portraits. the flamboyance of its outward appear-
The shop is followed by pictures of toilets that attest to the underground nature of the ance. At any rate neither the printing nor
subject, which is underlined by posters of groups. The introduction ends with one of the the appearance of the book is anything
to rave about. Not recommended.” Nueva
most notorious nightspots, the Roxy, its door closed, its neon sign unlit, its facade covered
lente 74 (April 1978): 79.
in graffiti and bits of torn-off posters. (5) Isabelle Anscombe, Not Another Punk
Accessories, walls, and record covers evoke the do-it-yourself street style with posters, Book! (London: Aurum Press, 1978). Other
advertisements, and fanzines printed in photocopies. This style is also found in Punk in the books with photographs of the topi-
matte tone and contrast of the photographs–very close to the gray ranges–in the pointillistic cal subject of the time include Caroline
definition of the photocopies. The cover also seeks provocation and aggressiveness: with Coon, 1988: The New Wave Punk Rock
a certain anti-bourgeois bad taste it shows a bathroom whose mirror displays the inverted Explosion (London: Orbach and Cham-
portrait of a teasing boy that is reproduced correctly on the inside title page immediately bers, 1977); Julie Davies, Punk! (London:
preceding it. However, this cover is not so orthodox in the graphic aspect: instead of a col- Millington, 1977); John Tobler, Punk Rock
lage of letters characteristic of Jamie Reid’s work, it chooses the aesthetic of graffiti, with (London: Phoebus Pub. Co., 1977); and
Punk Rock 100 Nights at the Roxy
abundant expressionistic splashes of paint over the photomontage.
(London: Michael Dempsey, 1977).
The book’s editor recalls that Punk was a success; it had a large run (nearly five thousand
copies) and was distributed in Spanish and European bookshops and record shops until the
edition sold out. Juan José Fernández notes that this is because Punk was a pioneering book.4
He is right: Costa was a forerunner. Barely a year after Punk’s publication another book
came out entitled Not Another Punk Book!5 C.C.

(1) As recalled by Montse Ferré, who

Salvador Costa, a twenty-nine-year-old photographer of Barcelona who worked in advertis-
accompanied Costa on his reportage,
ing, traveled to London in April 1977 to gain firsthand experience of a youth movement he
in her correspondence with Concha
had heard of. In London he visited the clothes shops and bars where the new tribe hung out Calvo (10 July 2013).
and frequented the joints where groups such as The Jam, XTC, Cherry Vanilla, Generation (2) On Star, cf. Juan José Fernández, ed.,
X, and The Stranglers played, some more new wave than others. Star, la contracultura de los 70, Barcelona:
Part of the audience dressed in accordance with stylistic conventions (which, except for safe- Glénat, 2007.
ty pins, were not yet entirely clear, although the odd shop would attempt to sell curious custom- (3) The Especial Star Books series would
ers garments and accessories with razors, chains, leather, graffiti). However, what was already in include one other photobook: Disparos,
vogue was one of the most distinctive characteristic of punk-style dancing–the pogo–although an alternative anthology of press photo-
back then punks apologized when they trod on someone else’s feet and, like good Englishmen graphs originally published in the United
and -women, patiently queued to get into the Roxy or the Roundhouse, the fashionable clubs.1 As States. For its edition, Especial Star Books
added a postface by Luis Vigil stating that
Costa’s photographs show, many attendees sport ties, almost always personalized in the style of
“to convert these photos into a visual part
those worn by musicians like Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon of The Clash.
of a written work would be an aberration
On returning to Barcelona, Costa showed his work to Juan José Fernández, editor in as great as using cannabis to make rope.”
chief of a magazine called Star–then a combination of pop music, drugs, and comics similar Disparos: Fotografías del Underground
to what is known as counterculture–which was advertised as a “comic magazine and under- Press (Barcelona: Producciones editoriales,
ground press, you can buy it if you’re not stingy.”2 Much to the surprise of Costa, who was 1977); and Shots: Photographs from the
merely hoping to have a photograph or two published in the magazine, Fernández proposed Underground Press (New York: Douglas

242 243
 Punk — 1977

244 245
 Punk — 1977

246 247
Index of Names

Abril, Manuel, 24, 82, 87 Barea, Arturo, 15, 29–30, 112–115

Acevedo, Adelia de, 22 Baroja, Pío, 17, 166
Acosta Moro, Luis, 62, 206–211 Baroja, Ricardo, 17
Adams, Eddie, 65, 66 Barral, Carlos, 47, 51, 57, 141, 197
Afal, Agrupación Fotográfica Almeriense, 45–46, Barral, Emiliano, 101
48, 146, 158, 191 Bartolomé, Álvaro, 39, 126–129
Aguirre, Mariona, 50 Batlles, Ramón, 44, 120
ALA, Agrupación de Amigos del Libro de Arte, 21–22 Batlles-Compte (see Batlles, Ramón; and Compte, José)
Alberti, Rafael, 50 Begoña, 36
Albiñana, José María, 22–23 Bergamín, José, 23
Aldecoa, Ignacio, 54, 144–149 Bernaldo de Quirós, Constancio, 17
Aleixandre, Vicente, 108 Bernis, Dominique, 226–233
Alemán, Francisco, 150 Bethune, Norman, 32
Alfonso (see Sánchez García, Alfonso) Blassi, Jaime y Jorge, 70–71
Allende, Bárbara “Ouka Leele,” 226–233 Blossfeldt, Karl, 81
Allende, Salvador, 65 Bonet, José (Pep) 48, 70, 150–155, 166
Almandoz, 36 Borges Terán, Pedro, 207
Alonso, Dámaso, 131 Borrero, J. M., 36
Álvarez de Toledo, José María, Count of la Ventosa, 21, 81 Bozal, Valeriano, 66
Álvarez Turiezno, Saturnino, 165 Brandt, Bill, 131
Amado, 36 Brassaï (Halász, Gyula), 131, 137, 166
Amilibia, J. L., 36 Brecht, Bertolt, 235
Amster, Mauricio, 22, 28–29, 32, 100–101, 107, 112 Breton, André, 58
Antonioni, Michelangelo, 206 Bucciquero, José Enrico, 226–233
Arbó, Sebastián Juan, 39 Buero Vallejo, Antonio, 51
Archivo Mas, 36 Buesa, Jaime, 47–48
Arconada, César, 22 Buñuel, Luis, 56, 66
Aristóteles, 235 Buonarroti, Miguel Ángel, 207
Arranz Bravo y Bartolozzi (Arranz Bravo, Eduard, y Caballero Bonald, José Manuel, 212–214, 234
Bartolozzi, Rafael), 51 Cabezas, Juan Antonio, 136
Arrarás, Joaquín, 36 Calleja, Rafael, 41, 126
Artero, José María, 46 Campoamor, Ramón de, 18–19, 71, 74–79
Asenjo, José Luis, 226–33 Camprubí, Felix, 226–233
Asenjo, Manuel, 20–21 Candel, Francisco, 68
Asenjo, Rosa, 226-233 Cánovas del Castillo, Antonio, “Kâulak” 18, 74
Auzmendi, 36 Cantero, Pedro, 202
Avedon, Richard, 54 Capa, Robert, 30, 32, 93
Ayestarán, E., 36 Capella, 36
Azcona, Rafael, 51 Capmany, Maria Aurèlia, 15, 234–241
Azorín (José Martínez Ruiz), 20–21, 60, 72 Cárdenas, Juan Ignacio de, 58
Azqueta, A., 36 Carpentier, Alejo, 50
Bach, Johann Sebastian, 207 Carrà, Carlo, 127
Baldwin, James, 54 Carretero, José María, 22
Ballester, Antonio, 33 Cartier-Bresson, Henri, 136, 158, 166
Barberán, Cecilio, 42, 117, 131 Casademont, José María, 152, 164, 171
Casado, Mariano, 226–233 El Paso (group), 219 Hosoe, Eikoh, 51, 54 Michaelis, Margaret de, 94
Casares, Francisco, 130–135 Ernst, Max, 22 Ibárruri, Dolores, «Pasionaria», 107, 108 Mihura, Miguel, 58
Casas, Gabriel, 39 Espinàs, Josep Maria, 170, 174–180 Iglesias, José María, 219 Miravitlles, Jaume, 29
Casas Abarca, Pedro, 17–18, 21 Esteban, Ángel, 130–135 Iraizos, 36 Miserachs, Toni, 50, 51
Castañón, 36 Faurer, Louis, 202 Irastorza, J. M., 36 Miserachs, Xavier, 46, 51, 57, 60, 65, 68, 157,
Catalán, Gustavo, 66 Feininger, Andreas, 191 Iturbe (family), 18, 74 174–181, 190–195, 196–199, 201, 212, 214
Català-Pic, Pere, 82 Fernández, J., 36 Izis (Bidermanas, Izis), 183 Mishima, Yukio, 54
Català-Roca, Francesc, 43–44, 46, 50, 57, 60, 136–139, 150, Fernández, Juan José, 242–243 Jalón Ángel, 36, 38, 116–119, 121 Mitjanas, Siso, 226–233
151, 190–191, 201, 214 Fernández Almagro, Melchor, 141 Jam, The, 242 Modotti, Tina, 30, 107–108
Catalá Roca, Francisco (see Català-Roca, Francesc) Fernández del Amo, José Luis, 43–44 Jodri, Jaume, 226–233 Moholy-Nagy, László, 24, 87, 137
Caudillo (see Franco, Francisco) Fernández Santos, Jesús, 51 Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, 218–225 Moix, Miquel, 226–233
Cavafis, Constantino, 51 Ferraté, Juan, 51 Juanes, Gonzalo, 45–46, 167–168 Mola, Emilio (general), 117
Cela, Camilo José, 42, 54, 58, 150–155, 164–169, 182–189, 235 Ferreira, Tito, 227 Julià, Gabriel, 43 Moliner, Josep, 226–233
Centelles, Agustín, 25, 31, 121 Fiore, Quentin, 65 Julià, Ramón, 141 Molinero, Fernando, 152
Cervantes, Miguel de, 21, 39, 62 Fontcuberta, Joan, 226–233 Kaskel, Sybille von, 41, 126 Mondrian, Piet, 141
Cesc (Francesc Vila i Rufas), 57 Forcano, Eugenio, 55 Kâulak (see Cánovas del Castillo, Antonio) Morath, Inge, 157, 213
Chim (see Seymour, David) Foto-Carte, 36 Kennedy, J. F., 65 Moreno Carbonero, José, 18, 76
Chirico, Giorgio de, 58 Foto FAD (team), 226–233 Kindel (see Palacio, Joaquín del) Moscardó, José (general), 117
Chunga, La (Micaela Flores Anaya), 61 Francés, José, 75, 82 Kitaj, Ronald B., 32 Moura, Beatriz de, 50
CIFRA, 36 Franco, Francisco, 31, 36, 39, 66, 82, 92, 116–117, 120, 130, Klein, William, 45, 57, 157–158, 175–176, 190 Mourelle, Ramón, 226–233
Cirici, Cristian, 70, 164–169 201, 206–207, 213, 218–225 Kosuth, Joseph, 65 Muelas, Federico, 60
Cirici-Pellicer, Alexandre, 44, 57 Frank, Robert, 158, 202 Koudelka, Josef, 213 Mulas, Ugo, 54
Clarke, Arthur C., 218 Franzen, Christian, 18, 28, 74, 76 Koyman, Jenny A., 206–207 Muller, Nicolás, 41–42, 46, 60, 184
Clash, The, 242 Frisell, Dick, 51 Krull, Germaine, 121 Muntadas, Antoni, 219
Claudio, J., 36 Galle, José, 157 Kubrick, Stanley, 218 Muñoz, Lluis, 226–233
Clergue, Lucien, 213 Gálvez, Antonio, 51, 66 Lafuente, Antonio, 69 Namuth, Hans, 33, 93–94
Clotet, Lluís, 47–48, 57, 70, 144–149 García Ascot, Felipe, 33 Lara, José Manuel, 43 Navajas, 36
Colita (Isabel Steva), 51, 54, 61, 71, 212–217, 234–241 García Berlanga, Luis, 51, 54 Larrain, Sergio, 50 Negrín, Juan, 33–34
Colom, Joan, 165–169, 235 García Calvo, Agustín, 219 Lataillade, E., 36 Neruda, Pablo, 36, 50
Colom, Juan (see Colom, Joan) García de Jalón Hueto, Ángel Hilario (see Jalón Ángel) Laurent, Jean, 20, 81 Noaín, 36
Compte, José, 35, 44, 120–125 García Gresa, A., 36 León, María Teresa, 88 Nuño, Fernando, 60, 66, 218–225
Contreras, 36 García Lorca, Federico, 32, 50, 108, 151 Lerski, Helmar, 117 Oates, Joyce Carol, 145
Contreras, Carlos (see Vidali, Vittorio) García Mercadal, José, 80–85 Letamendía, 36 Obiols, Salvador, 226–233
Corazón, Alberto, 65–66, 219 García Sanchiz, Federico, 116–119 Lizcano, Emmanuel, 226–233 Ocharán, Luis de, 21, 62, 76
Cortázar, Julio, 51 García Serrano, Rafael, 156–163 Lladó, Luis, 93, 102, 113 Ojanguren, Indalecio, 36
Cortés, M., 36 García Vela, Fernando, 82 Llamas, José María, 17 Oliver, Joan, 174–181
Cossío, Francisco de, 31 Gasch, Sebastià, 44, 140–141 Llopis, Arturo, 156–157 Olmos, Pedro, 36
Cossío, Manuel Bartolomé, 87 Gasparini, Paolo, 50 Lombroso, Cesare, 17, 37 Ontañón, Francisco, 46, 48, 50, 58–59, 61,
Costa, Salvador, 71, 242–247 Gay, Guillermo, 226–233 López, André A., 213 200-205, 214
Costa Martins, Manuel, 183 Generation X, 242 Lorrio, Félix, 69 Ortega, Francisco, 75
Crusellas, Lluis, 226–233 Gigi (Luigi Corbetta), 200 Lotar, Eli, 56 Ortega, Julio, 196–197
Cruz, Alfredo, 226–233 Gil, Daniel, 62, 64, 66 Luca de Tena, Torcuato, 75 Ortega y Gasset, José, 81–82
Cruz Novillo, José María, 61 Gil, Fernando, 226–233 Luján, Néstor, 60, 140–141 Ortiz Echagüe, Fernando, 81
Cualladó, Gabriel, 48, 156, 164, 202 Giménez, Juan H., 68 Lumière (brothers), 87 Ortiz Echagüe, José, 19, 20, 40, 65, 72, 80–85, 127
Curtis, Edward, 80–82 Giralt-Miracle, Daniel, 71 Machado, Antonio, 30, 100–105 Padre Ochoa, 36
Dau al Set (group), 140 Giralt Miracle, Ricard, 44, 58, 140–143 Maestre, E., 36 Pagola, A., 36
Deglané, Bobby, 36 Gleize, Louis, 66 Malet, César, 51 Palacio, Joaquín del, «Kindel», 39, 45, 60, 126–129
Delibes, Miguel, 48, 58–59, 152, 157, 170–173, 197 Goldman, Emma, 30 Manresa, Josefina, 106 Palazuelo, Enrique, 58, 182–189
Delpire, Robert, 213 Gómez, Francisco, 58 Marín, Luis Ramón, 36 Palencia, Benjamín, 24
Díaz-Plaja, Guillermo, 200–202 Gómez de la Serna, Ramón, 58 Marqués de Santa María del Villar, 36 Palencia, Cecilio, 226–233
Diego, Gerardo, 140–143 Gomis, Joaquín, 45 Marsans, Luis, 141 Palla e Carmo, Victor Manuel, 183
Dieuzaide, Jean, 213 Gonzàlez, Eusebi, 226–233 Marsé, Juan, 55–56, 213 Palomino, Ángel, 206–207
Díez Perpignán, Pedro, 226–233 González-Ruano, César, 43 Martín, Domingo, 226-33 Pando (brothers), 36
Diorama (team), 68, 226–233 Gordillo, Fernando, 202 Martínez Gascón, 36 Paniagua, Cecilio, 41, 126, 131, 184
Döblin, Alfred, 82 Goya, Francisco de, 18, 32, 87, 101 Masats, Ramón, 46, 51, 54, 60, 62, 144–149, 150–151, Pániker, Salvador, 190–195
Doisneau, Robert, 183 Goyanes, J. M., 36 156–163, 170–173, 175, 191, 202, 214 Pato, Jaime, 131
Doménech, Ricardo, 166 Gratner, E., 36 Maspons, Oriol, 46, 48, 50, 54–57, 59, 150–55, 157, Paz, Octavio, 51
Domingo, Xavier, 66 Grau Vilella, Miguel, 55 164, 166, 175, 196, 214 Pelespro, 36
Dorritie, Kathleen (see Vanilla, Cherry) Guindal, Mariano, 68 Mateos, Manuel, 150 Pemán, José María, 116–119
Dubuffet, Jean, 140 Gutiérrez Solana, José, 17, 166 Matilla, Alfredo, 197 Penn, Irving, 43
Duce, Alberto, 116–119 Gyenes, Juan, 213 Matisse, Henri, 141 Peretti, Elsa, 207
Dujardin, P. (printing house of), 18, 74–75 Heartfield, John, 22 Matute, Ana María, 47–48 Pérez Cubero, A., 36
Dumas, J. M., 36 Henrichsen, Leonardo, 65 Mayer and Pierson (Mayer, Léopold-Ernst Pérez Siquier, Carlos, 46, 54, 158, 190, 202, 214
Durán, Enrique, 42 Hernández, Miguel, 30, 33, 106–111 and Louis-Fréderic; Pierson, Pierre-Louis), 44 Perich (Jaume Perich Escala), 213
Dylan, Bob, 207 Hernández San Juan, F., 36 McLuhan, Marshall, 65 Peris, Carmen, 55
Echaide, 36 Herralde, Gonzalo, 70 Mena, Pedro de, 113 Perucho, Juan, 50, 140, 175
Echandi, I., 36 Herrera Petere, José, 107 Mendelson, Jordana, 88, 101, 122 Pessini, 36
Echeverría, J., 36 Herreros, Enrique, 166 Mendo, Miguel Ángel, 69 Picasso, Pablo Ruiz, 31, 57–58, 82
Elósegui, C., 36 Hielscher, Kurt, 81 Miaja, José, 101 Pintó, Alfonso, 42
Pla, Jaume, 60, 170 Serrat, Joan Manuel, 213
Pless, Otto, 108 Sert, José Lluís, 137
Pomés, Leopoldo, 46, 56, 61, 70, 140–143 Seymour, David, “Chim”, 32–33, 93–94, 107–108
Pompeia, Núria, 200–205 Simonon, Paul, 242
Pradilla, Francisco, 76 Singla, La (Antonia Singla Contreras), 212, 214
Prats, Alardo, 32 Sise, Hazen, 32
Prévert, Jacques, 183 Sorolla, Joaquín, 81
Primo de Rivera, Miguel, 22 Sota, Jesús de la, 61
Primo de Rivera, Pilar, 122 Speer, Albert, 35
Quiroga y Losada, Diego (Marquis of Santa María Steichen, Edward, 45, 157, 176
del Villar), 36, 41, 126, 184 Steinert, Otto, 45, 176, 191
Radunz, Hermann, 107 Strand, Paul, 45
Rafael, 36 Stranglers, The, 242
Ràfols Casamada, Albert, 174–179 Strummer, Joe, 242
Ramos Oliveira, Antonio, 32–33 Studio Per, 70
Rawicz, Mariano, 22 Suárez, José, 21
Rebés, Paco, 212 Sust, Xavier, 70
Reid, Jamie, 163 Taro, Gerda, 93
Reisner, Georg, 33, 93, 94 Teixidor, Joan, 140
Renau, José, 28, 34, 88, 107 Terré, Laura, 46, 145–146, 158, 171
Renger-Patzsch, Albert, 121 Torrente, Ramón, 226–233
Reuter, Walter, 22, 30, 102, 112–113 Torres Molina, 36
Ribera, P., 36 Torriente, Pablo de la, 108
Ridruejo, Dionisio, 121 Tusquets, Esther, 47–54, 150–151, 164–166,
Rilke, Rainer Maria, 44, 140–143 170–171, 196, 212–217
Ríos, Julián, 51 Tusquets, Oscar, 47–54, 70, 144–149, 150–155,
Rivière, Antonio, 121 164–69, 170–73, 191, 196–199
Robles Piquer, Carlos, 166 Úbeda, Manel, 226–233
Rodchenko, Aleksandr, 137 Ubiña, Julio, 46, 50, 57, 59, 150–155, 214
Rodellar, Pilar, 242–247 Umbo (Otto Umbehr), 137
Rodiek, Christoph, 151, 184 Umbral, Francisco, 164–166, 171
Rodríguez Tarduchy, José, 226–233 Unamuno, Miguel de, 23–24
Roibal, Luis, 60 Urabayen, Félix, 80–85
Roiter, Fulvio, 213 Urbina, 36
Roldán, 36 Urte, A., 36
Rolin, 36 Valdovinos, Hernán, 218–224
Romberg, Hans, 170–173 Valle Inclán, Ramón María de, 166
Rothko, Mark, 141 Vallmitjana, Ignacio, 184
Rovira Beleta, Francisco, 212 Van der Elsken, Ed, 54
Ruiz, 36 Van Lem, Nguyen, 65
Ruiz, Antonio, 213 Vanilla, Cherry 242
Ruiz, Carmen and María (see Modotti, Tina) Varela, José Enrique, 117
Saavedra y Martínez, Ángel María, Duke Vargas Llosa, Mario, 48, 196–199
of Rivas, 21–22 Vargas, Jordi, 242–246
Sacristán, José María, 226–233 Velázquez, Diego, 18
Sáenz de Tejada, Carlos, 38–39 Vendrell, Raul, 226–233
Sáinz, Fernando, 28 Verdejo, Javier, 228
Saiz Ruiz, Simeón, 70 Viadel, Luis, 68
Sala, Emilio, 18 Vicent, Manuel, 201
Salas, V., 36 Vidali, Vittorio, 107
Salaverría, José María, 80–85 Vielba, Gerardo, 60
Salvador, Tomás, 152, 166, 171, 207 Villarrazo, Pilar, 70
Sánchez, Alberto, 127 Villasante, Carlos, 226–233
Sánchez, José Luis, 62 Vivaldi, Antonio, 207
Sánchez de Gadeo, Carmelo, 166 Warhol, Andy, 66
Sánchez de Gadeo, Eloísa, 166 Wiene, Robert, 131
Sánchez García, Alfonso, 19, 42, 130–131 Wilmer, Val, 214
Sánchez Portela, brothers (Alfonso, Wlasak, Karl, 42, 184
Luis and Pepe), 130–135 Woolf, Virginia, 29
Sander, August, 82 Wunderlich, Otto, 41
Santos, Enric de, 226–233 XTC, 242
Santullano, Luis A., 87 Yeti (group), 69
Satóstegui, 36 Zabel, Lucian, 80–85
Satué, Enric, 51, 66 Zalbidea, Víctor, 69
Saura, Carlos, 58 Zelich, Cristina, 226–233
Saura, Salvador, 226–233 Zóbel, Fernando, 71
Savignac, 36 Zubieta y Retegui (studio), 157
Sempere, Pedro, 65 Zulueta, A., 36
Serra, Rafael, 175 Zurbarán, Francisco de, 40
Serrano, J. M., 36 Zuriarrian, J. M., 36
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This catalogue was published in connection with the exhibition Photobooks: Spain 1905–1977, organized
by the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS) and Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) from 27
May 2014 to 5 January 2015. After ending in Madrid, the exhibition is due to travel to other international venues

Exhibition Book

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Concha Calvo (C.C.)
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Acknowledgments

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and Acción Cultural Española express their sincerest
thanks, first of all to the photographers and authors of the photobooks who have collaborated on the
research, and also to everyone who has contributed generously to the project.

Luis Acosta Moro Pilar Irala, Archivo Jalón Ángel

Toni Abril Alfonso León, F. Miguel Delibes
Archivo Documental del MACBA Rafael Levenfeld
Archivo Jalón Ángel Emmanuel Lizcano
Jordi Barón Ramón Masats
Biblioteca Nacional Ignacio Miguéliz
Biblioteca–Museo de la Universidad de Navarra Toni Miserachs
Pau Cassany Arena and Mar Miserachs
Colita Aurora Ontañón Grimalt
Josep Cortès Salvador Pániker
Antonio Díaz Correa Agustín Pániker
Silvia Enrich Íñigo Pastor, Munster Records
Montse Ferré Jordi Pol
Juanjo Fernández Leopoldo Pomés
Fundación Miguel Delibes Carlos Pérez Siquier
Fundación José Ortega y Gasset–Gregorio Marañón Nativel Preciado
Fundación Pablo Palazuelo Celina Quintas
Fundación Pública Gallega Camilo José Cela Arturo Rodríguez
Galería arteSonado Covadonga Rguez. del Corral, F. Camilo José Cela
Fernando Gil Salvador Saura
Carlos González-Barandiarán Alfonso de la Torre
Jaime Gonzalo Hernán Valdovinos
Cristóbal Hara Facundo de Zuviria
 This book was printed on:
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***
264 pages, ill. color
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