BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Embassy of Spain -- Spain Arts & Culture -- Fence Exhibit: 50 Fotografias con Historia

DC -- Embassy of Spain -- Spain Arts & Culture -- Fence Exhibit: 50 Fotografias con Historia:

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Description of Pictures: 50 fotografías con historia
“50 Fotografías con Historia,” an open air-exhibition at our Cultural Center’s exterior fence, reviews the history of photography in the last 80 years in Spain.
50 fotografías con historia takes a look at the last 80 years of this discipline in Spain through its key participants: 50 images. Each of the selected photographs reflects an era, a way of understanding photography and, of course, its corresponding social and human burden.
Our visual journey will begin with the outbreak of the Civil War, when photojournalists such as Agustí Centelles and Martín Santos Yubero became the eyes and chroniclers of the conflict. In the post-war period and the years that followed, Ricard Terré, Ramón Masats or Joan Colom made a name for themselves as they began using photography in a wide variety of ways: through documentary photography, satirical portraits, photojournalism and street photography. The exhibition will then take us through a period in Spain that marked a necessary evolution in visual language as well: the Spanish Transition.
This was a time when photography started being used in different ways and new voices emerged —Alberto García-Alix, Chema Madoz, Pablo Juliá and Marisa Flórez, among others— with new discourses that were necessary for a society in full effervescence. We will then explore the boom in popularity of documentary photography and the lenses of Spanish authors who gazed abroad, which began in the 1990s and still continues today thanks to key authors such as Cristina García Rodero, Navia, Isabel Muñoz and Sandra Balsells. We cannot leave out the gazes of those who are now shaping the current photographic landscape of our country. A narrative wealth that is the result of our history and that we now invite you to discover with 50 photographs which tell us fifty different stories.
The selection of photographers includes 17 National Photography Award winners and 2 National Fine Art Photography Award winners. The exhibition in Washington, D.C. will be divided into two phases: 25 photographs will be shown during the spring/summer season, and the rest 25 in the fall/winter.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. 50FOTO_210719_001.JPG: Assault Guards at Carrer de la Diputació 1 / 25 by Agustí Centelles, 1936 Guardias de asalto en el Carrer de la Diputació, (c) Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica, 2021 If war is an animal of sharp teeth, photographer Agustí Centelles faced its jaws, like very few others did, during the Spanish civil war (1936-1939). Centelles, a member of the Agrupació Catalan Photogràfica, became a chronicler of the conflict. This photograph was taken a few hours after the beginning of the Civil War, in Barcelona on July 19, 1936, at Diputació and Roger de Lluria streets. The image shows three assault guards aiming their rifles at the rebels from behind a barricade of dead horses. The first of them, in a T-shirt, is Mariano Vitini, a Republican assault guard. But the image is actually a reenactment of the shooting that happened minutes earlier. After witnessing the scene, Centelles suggested that the key actors involved go back to their same positions, only this time he changed the angle of the barricade: preventing an uncomfortable backlight was essential. A shot that earned him the cover of the famous international magazine Newsweek. In recognition for his unprecedented coverage, he received Spain's National Photography Award in 1984. Because his is a bleeding chronicle that we can watch from a distance, and yet it appeals to the innermost center of our humanity. Agustí Centelles Valencia, 1909 -- Barcelona, 1985 He is the father of Spanish photojournalism. He began covering the Spanish conflict with a Leica camera, first on the streets of Barcelona, then on the war front, where he served as a soldier, and finally as a graphic journalist. In 1939, he left Spain with a suitcase that contained all his negatives. He hid it in Carcassonne and went back for it in 1976. He received the Spanish Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas (National Award for Plastic Arts) in 1984.
2. 50FOTO_210719_004.JPG: La Niña Blanca 2 / 25 by Carlos Pérez Siquier, 1958 "The district of La Chanca crouches at your feet, luminous and white, like an invention of the senses." Those were the words Juan Goytisolo used to describe the district of La Chanca, in Almeria (Spain). The same place that Pérez Siquier photographed for a decade, and which is depicted in La Niña Blanca. In an austere black and white, the photographer travels through a city quarter frozen in time. Each shot dignifies the poverty that plagues this neighborhood and sketches the humanity of its subjects, like the little girl who watches the visitor with curiosity from her front door. To Pérez Siquier we owe the specialized magazine AFAL, which brought together renowned names such as Masats, Terré, Cualladó, Miserachs or Sommers. We must also thank him for the way he documented beauty in the most neglected corners, his ability to reinvent himself or the irony that tinges his color photographs. These are reasons enough for him to win Spain's National Photography Award in 2000. Fifty years after taking this photograph, the author was visited by La Niña Blanca's daughter, an exchange of glances that Siquier returned by offering her a copy of the photograph. Some time later, the subject of his photograph visited Siquier and they both visited the place where she was immortalized. They found no trace of the house. Nor of the magic that trapped Goytisolo or Siquier. Some corners will only remain in our memory. Carlos Pérez Siquier Almería, 1930 He is considered one of the pioneers of avant-garde photography in Spain. In 1956, together with José María Artero, he founded the AFAL group, which brought together a generation of photographers challenging stereotypes. His first series in the neighborhood of La Chanca, which became a turning point in Spanish photography, dates from this period. In 2003 he was awarded Spain's National Photography Award.
3. 50FOTO_210719_009.JPG: Clemente and his Tricycle 3 / 25 by Gabriel Cualladó, 1958 Clemente con triciclo, © Gabriel Cualladó, 2021 Gabriel Cualladó always considered himself an amateur photographer, as he did not make a living from photography in the strictest sense. However, his photography represented a substantial change at the time, leaving traditional photography behind to develop a more humanistic work: without artifice and simple. In 1946 he moved to Madrid to complete his military service and then he went on to work in the express transport company managed by his uncle, Cualladó Recaderos, with several offices in the capital city. The picture of Clemente and his Tricycle was taken precisely at one of the company's headquarters, and Clemente was one of those deliverymen who worked with him. With his Leica and his Rolleiflex he captured what was happening around him with a clear tenderness in his gaze and great naturalness in his models, who he used to portray when they were seemingly unaware of the camera. In 1988 the transport company closed and from that moment on Cualladó dedicated himself entirely to photography. Despite considering himself only an amateur photographer, he received Spain's National Photography Award in 1994 and the Gold Medal of the Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid in 1998. Gabriel Cualladó Masanasa, 1925 -- Madrid, 2003 An amateur photographer, as he called himself, he did not make a living from photography in the strictest sense. He worked in the transport company he inherited from his uncle. His work represented a substantial change in his time, when he became interested in a more humanist approach to photography, which he carried out in a simple, straightforward manner, without tricks. He liked to photograph anonymous people from his environment with stories to tell. He won Spain's National Photography Award in 1994.
4. 50FOTO_210719_012.JPG: Dorotea do cara 4 / 25 by Virxilio Vieitez, 1960 There was a time when there was something liturgical about portrait photography. During the first decades of the 20th century, posing in front of a photographer was a solemn act that meant being captured for posterity. Aware of this, those who were to be photographed wore their finest clothes while striking a carefully chosen pose for the occasion. Virxilio Vieitez was a craftsman of photography who learned to develop a style of his own. His work shows us the rural Spain of the 50s and 60s: without any artifices and with great sharpness. The woman portrayed is Dorotea Do Cara. His son Antonio José had emigrated to Venezuela and she wanted to show him what she had spent the money he had sent her on: a radio. In this story, and in this photograph, there is a candor visible to anyone's eyes. Virxilio could have worked in big cities but preferred to stay in Soutelo de Montes. Perhaps because he felt the need to portray those who were close to him, without any artifices. Master Henry Cartier-Bresson took notice of his work and included it in his work My Favorite Photographs. His work was brought to light thanks to her daughter, who recovered his photographic archive and provided us with an essential portrait of a Spain that no longer exists. Virxilio Vieitez Soutelo de Montes, Pontevedra, 1930 -- Pontevedra, 2008 Vieitez learned the trade with a 6x9 Kodak box camera. On his return to his homeland, he set up a studio and became the most sought-after photographer in the region. He made photographic reports of ceremonies, weddings, funerals, etc., and with his camera he captured the key moments in the lives of the families around him. His daughter Keta brought his work to light at the end of the nineties.
5. 50FOTO_210719_015.JPG: Ladies Walking along the Gran Vía 5 / 25 by Francesc Catalá Roca, 1952 Señoritas paseando por la Gran Vía, (c) Francesc Català-Roca, COAC, 2021 The evocative nature of a photograph is innate. It is not surprising that the photograph of the Ladies walking along the Gran Vía instantly transports us to the heart of Madrid in the 1950s and invites us to ask ourselves: who are the leading figures captured in this instant frozen in time? The photographer Francesc Català-Roca helped, through his photography, ingrain in our collective memory the everyday life of his time, the customs of an era and its peculiarities. That is why he considered himself to be more of a documentarian rather than an artist: a loyal storyteller after all. On the 75th anniversary of El Corte Inglés -- Europe's largest department store chain -- this picture of Català-Roca was chosen as the main image for their campaign, and it was then that some of the women in the photograph realized that they are part of the history of Madrid. In 2016, on March 8, the photograph was published on a social network and Javier Marin wrote a comment: "one of them is my mother and another my aunt." That is how we learned the identity of Carmen, Pepita, Rosita, Mimi and two other friends, who that day in 1959 were going to see a movie in a cinema on Gran Vía. The photographer dedicated a large part of his work to immortalizing the ins and outs of our country. His work includes the travel guides published by Destino to Madrid, Barcelona and Andalusia. Because of this everlasting material, he became the first photographer to receive Spain's National Plastic Arts Award in 1988. Francesc Catalá Roca Valls, Tarragona, 1922 -- Barcelona, 1998 Coming from a family of photographers, he never considered himself more than a mere "narrator of everyday life." However, the body of work of this Catalan photographer is now recognized as one of the most valuable works from a crucial period in the history of Spain, the 1950s. A precursor of documentary photography, Madrid and Barcelona were the cities he portrayed most often through his gaze. He was awarded the Spanish Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas (National Award for Plastic Arts) in 1983.
6. 50FOTO_210719_019.JPG: Worker at the Drainage of the Tisza River 6 / 25 by Nicolás Muller, 1937 Trabajador en el drenaje del río Tiszla, © Nicolás Muller, Archivo Regional de la Comunidad de Madrid, 2021 The worldwide influence of Hungarian photographers of the first half of the 20th century -- Brassai, Capa, Kertész or Muller -- is indisputable. Nor can we narrate the evolution of Spanish photography without the lucky presence of Nicolás Muller. The photograph Worker at the Drainage of the Tisza River shows Muller's work in his home country: Hungary. The wrinkled faces of the farmers and the unadulterated humanity that unmistakably breaks through. Following the course of the Tisza River, the photographer immortalized the socio-economic reality that makes some of the country's political parties uncomfortable for reflecting latent poverty. Muller also traveled through France, Portugal and Morocco as a chronicler of his time, until he finally returned to Spain in 1941. In Spain he worked for, among others, the Revista de Occidente, surrounded by the intellectual environment of Ortega y Gasset and the Generation of ‘98. Ortega y Gasset said of Muller that he had "a tame light" and this statement hints at the importance of his work: handling the tools offered by photography with honesty, without interfering in the events portrayed, as the most accurate means of constructing reality. Nicolás Muller Hungary, 1913 -- Llanes, Asturias, 2000 In the 1930s, a young Muller traveled through the entire region east of the Danube with his inseparable Rolleiflex, documenting the difficult living conditions of Hungarian farmers while portraying their customs. His images combine melancholy, denunciation and commitment to an inhospitable reality, key elements in his work, which is always full of humanism. After spending time in Tangier, he arrived in Spain in 1948 and decided to stay there, working mainly for Mundo Hispánico.
7. 50FOTO_210719_029.JPG: 50 fotografías con historia #50FotosConHistoriaExpo takes a look at the last 80 years of this discipline in Spain through its key participants: 50 images. Each of the selected photographs reflects an era, a way of understanding photography and, of course, its corresponding social and human burden. Our visual journey will begin with the outbreak of the Civil War, when photojournalists such as Agustí Centelles and Martín Santos Yubero became the eyes and chroniclers of the conflict. In the post-war period and the years that followed, Ricard Terré, Ramón Masats or Joan Colom made a name for themselves as they began using photography in a wide variety of ways: through documentary photography, satirical portraits, photojournalism and street photography. The exhibition will then take us through a period in Spain that marked a necessary evolution in visual language as well: the Spanish Transition. This was a time when photography started being used in different ways and new voices emerged —Alberto García-Alix, Chema Madoz, Pablo Juliá and Marisa Flórez, among others— with new discourses that were necessary for a society in full effervescence. We will then explore the boom in popularity of documentary photography and the lenses of Spanish authors who gazed abroad, which began in the 1990s and still continues today thanks to key authors such as Cristina García Rodero, Navia, Isabel Muñoz and Sandra Balsells. We cannot leave out the gazes of those who are now shaping the current photographic landscape of our country. A narrative wealth that is the result of our history and that we now invite you to discover with 50 photographs which tell us fifty different stories. The selection of photographers includes 17 National Photography Award winners and 2 National Fine Art Photography Award winners. The exhibition in Washington, D.C. will be divided into two phases: 25 photographs will be shown during the spring/summer season, and the rest 25 in the fall/winter.
8. 50FOTO_210719_030.JPG: 18 months old 8 / 25 by Cristina García Rodero, 1995 18 meses de vida, © Cristina García Rodero, 2021 Cristina García Rodero is one of the most acclaimed Spanish photographers both in Spain and abroad. She won Spain's National Photography Award in 1996 and has been a member of the Magnum Agency since 2009. Behind her -almost anthropological- gaze there is a hard-working woman: that is the word that best defines her. This image is part of a commission from Doctors Without Borders. Rodero had absolute freedom to choose the destination where she would work and she chose Georgia: close and unknown. In 1991, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Georgia became an independent state, but because some regions wanted to annex to the Russian Federation, a civil war broke out. Rodero arrived in the midst of the postwar period to a country devastated by pain and poverty and in ruins. During this project, she captured the shocking image of a mother with a distorted look on her face as she said goodbye to her son. Rodero recalls that in Georgia she learned to deal with death through funerals, which lasted several days there to say goodbye and share the pain. In her photographs there is craft, vocation and an absolute passion for human beings in all their dimensions: between heaven and earth, between the mundane and the extraordinary. Cristina García Rodero Puertollano, Ciudad Real, 1949 A reference in the history of contemporary Spanish photography, she is a member of the Magnum agency, and one of the most outstanding photographers on the international scene. She is also the owner of a formidable body of work focusing on ancestral traditions and the contrasts between humans in different parts of the world. She has received numerous awards, including Spain's National Photography Award in 1996, for her creative work through which she claims to have discovered herself.
9. 50FOTO_210719_034.JPG: The Boy with the Drum 9 / 25 by Rafael Sanz Lobato, 1980 Niño con tambor, © Rafael Sanz Lobato, VEGAP, Madrid, 2021 In the 1980s, Spain had decided to look ahead, contemplating an increasingly clear horizon, one of modernization. It was a time to rediscover Spain, to know firsthand what it was really like, far from the folkloric image that had been fabricated for decades. Rafael Lobato had extensive experience in this area, backed by more than 20 years working as a travel photographer. A master in the art of reflecting cultural diversity, he traveled with his son Chema to Las Hurdes. It was in the highlands where Lobato found the star of his visual story: a boy, who was barely eleven years old, with a face of having been born before the world was made and then having suffered all its miseries, was playing a drum. His face and his appearance showed everything Lobato was looking for. After overcoming the initial mistrust for being an outsider, his camera's shutter captured the child in action, as can be seen in the blurred outline of the stick hitting the batter head. Rafael Sanz Lobato belonged to the generation of post-war photographers who, from the 50s, produced an exceptional documentary body of work, which earned him Spain's National Photography Award in 2011. His body of work, closely linked to black and white, focused on social documentary, portraiture and still life. Rafael Sanz Lobato Sevilla, 1932 -- Madrid, 2015 At the age of 22 he got his first camera, a Braun Paxette, and taught himself the secrets of developing and printing. He belonged to the generation of post-war photographers who produced an exceptional documentary output, which earned him Spain's National Photography Award in 2011. In 1964 he joined the Royal Photographic Society of Madrid, and a year later he founded the group La Colmena together with other photographers.
10. 50FOTO_210719_036.JPG: Pasacalles en Tarifa 10 / 25 by Benito Román, 1979 In contrast with the solemnity of bullfighting festivals, their symbolism and rituals, another form of bullfighting was born: comic bullfighting. Photographer Benito Román stepped into this world because of a commission from the newspaper he worked for at the time, but the truth is that he was trapped by it and traveled with several comic bullfighting shows throughout Spain for three whole seasons. Next stop: Tarifa. A parade through the streets to announce the show and Benito Román immortalizing the moment. In his viewfinder, the legs of the band director appeared and, in the background, as a contrast, the Hermanas Mínimas (The Tiny Sisters). They both were looking at the ground, struggling to keep up pace with the rest. Meanwhile, the music contrasted with the mask of bitterness on their faces. At that instant, he shot and took the photograph with which he introduces these ‘little artists' to others. Now, it is up to the viewer to accept that scale is just another accident in the circus of life. Benito Román began his career as a photographer in the 70s. Connected with news agencies and the media industry, he has received several awards, among them, the FotoPres Culture and Entertainment award for this image. Benito Román Madrid, 1950 He began working as a photojournalist's assistant and in 1972 he published his first works in a sports magazine. Since then, he has worked as a freelancer for different agencies and news organizations. He has won in several contests, including the Nikon International Constest in 1978 and the Fotopress de Cultura y Espectáculos in 1986. In 1985 he published the book Duendes, entes y mojigangas, dedicated to bullfighting dwarfs.
11. 50FOTO_210719_039.JPG: Self-Portrait with Wounded Body 11 / 25 by Alberto García Alix, 1981 Autorretrato con cuerpo herido, © Alberto García Alix, VEGAP, Madrid, 2021 The work of Alberto García-Alix, winner of Spain's National Photography Award in 1999, is proof that photography is not a universal language. Its understanding requires a viewer who is willing to decipher it, and this will happen the moment we feel the photograph is speaking directly to us. García-Alix's self-portrait tells us the story of a night out at El Sol night club in Madrid. When bodies began to stir in the heat of the night, Alberto and his friends came into conflict with the Guerrilleros de Cristo Rey (Warriors of Christ the King). After the brawl, the photographer realized that he was bleeding profusely from a stab wound; the doctor who treated him that night was blunt: "Don't stop smoking Fortuna". That pack of cigarettes, which he kept in his back pocket, deflected the trajectory of a stab that could have cost him his life. In order to narrate peripheral social realities, you must first walk through them: live in the uncomfortable and borderline corners from which others flee. Because photography, in one of its uses, is capable of creating a map of the person behind the camera. Alberto is found in each of his photographs. Photography is memory chained to a black and white. It is a way of looking at the world and this, in his case, becomes a way of being. Alberto García Alix León, 1956 Self-taught, a great portrait photographer, and a photographer of sometimes harsh images, determined to capture reality, García-Alix has immortalized notable artists of the time with his Leica and Hasselblad cameras. Music, the night, tattoos and motorbikes have been some of his sources of inspiration, which he has always treated in black and white. The passing of the years has led his work down more introspective and intimate paths. He won Spain's National Photography Award in 1999.
12. 50FOTO_210719_046.JPG: Sofia and Alia 12 / 25 by Gervasio Sánchez, 2007 Sofía y Alia, © Gervasio Sánchez, VEGAP, Madrid, 2021 Gervasio Sánchez is one of world's most famous Spanish reporters, honored on numerous occasions with awards such as Spain's National Photography Award in 2009 or the Ortega y Gasset Award in 2008. His photographs are characterized by a deep honesty and sincerity. In 1998 he began a project which would eventually materialize in his book Vidas minadas, about the impact that this type of silent weapons has on civilians, often even years after the conflict has ended. As part of this project, he traveled to Mozambique where he met Sofia, the main character of a story she never wanted to live. A victim, like so many others, of a land mine that severed her two legs when she was only eleven years old. When he met her in 2007, Sofia was about to turn 25, had two children and was a high school student. Her greatest desires were to get a job and to be able to study medicine at the university. Gervasio Sánchez photographs allow us to touch those scars left by injustice so we can feel that necessary itching triggered by an uncomfortable truth, as bleeding as it may be. Gervasio Sánchez Córdoba, 1959 He has worked as a freelancer for different news organizations and magazines covering the Gulf War, the Yugoslavian War and several war conflicts in Africa, Asia and Latin America. His images not only show the horror of war, but they also document its impact on civilians and how they survive. He has won several awards such as the Ortega y Gasset Journalism Award in 2008 and Spain's National Photography Award in 2009.
13. 50FOTO_210719_048.JPG: Prestige 13 / 25 by Xurxo Lobato, 2002 Since 1880, when a photograph appeared for the first time in a newspaper -- The Daily Graphic -- photography has played an important role to enhance what is told in a text. This is so because, at least in the today's society, the only thing that matters is what we show, "seeing is believing" as the saying goes. In photojournalism this demand is even greater, simply showing is not enough; it must be done at the right time so that communication is effective. This can only be achieved by a photographer who keeps a watchful eye on what is happening. And Xurxo Lobato was certainly wide awake on the morning of November 19, 2002. At 8:45 am, Iñaki Gabilondo announced the news on Cadena SER radio station: a ship had had a hull breach just off the coast of Galicia. Lobato was editor-in-chief for the newspaper La Voz de Galicia. The photographer's good intuition -- he was the first to arrive at the airport -- and a stroke of good luck -- he took the only small plane available -- came together in his favor and he scored an international exclusive. The photograph of the sinking of the Prestige, winner of the Ortega y Gasset Award in 2003, was the reward for decades of work by this Galician photojournalist. Xurxo Lobato A Coruña, 1956 This Galician photojournalist has portrayed a wide range of people in different countries over more than two decades, although his name became popular only after winning the Ortega y Gasset Award in 2003 for his photograph of the sinking of the Prestige, one of those images that remain engraved in the collective memory of a country. His work has been included in numerous exhibitions and his work can be found in numerous private and institutional collections.
14. 50FOTO_210719_052.JPG: Wedding in Taquile 14 / 25 by J.M. Castro Prieto, 2000 Boda de Taquile, © Juan Manuel Castro Prieto, VEGAP Madrid, 2021 Memory is always very present in the work of Castro Prieto, winner of Spain's National Photography Award in 2015. There is also a fascination for culture and, in the case of this image, for Peru, which transports us to almost dreamlike landscapes. Because reality serves as a starting point to represent the landscapes that the mind hides. This photograph Wedding in Taquile belongs to his project Perú, viaje al sol (Peru, a journey to the sun), in which Castro Prieto pursued his passion for this Latin American country, portraying its people with tenderness, the beauty of its landscapes and his curiosity for the culture that surrounds them. This is not the only work he has dedicated to Peru, he also delved into the photographs of Martín Chambi, portraitist of the 1930s. He traveled the corners he photographed in a journey that is inextricably intertwined with memory. In this image we can see the members of a family celebrating a wedding, a tradition that the photographer witnessed and immortalized with his camera. A dreamlike atmosphere seems to emanate from the reality it depicts, trapping the viewer. Juan Manuel Castro Prieto Madrid, 1958 He started out as a self-taught photographer, and in the early 1980s he joined the Royal Photographic Society of Madrid. Peru has been particularly relevant in his career, as it has been the main theme of some of his most renowned works, together with the small town of Cespedosa, in Salamanca, Spain, where he delved into its memory through images. He was awarded Spain's National Photography Award in 2015.
15. 50FOTO_210719_054.JPG: Torero Cordero 15 / 25 by Pablo Pérez Mínguez, 1972 Torero Cordero, © Herederos de Pablo Pérez-Mínguez, VEGAP, Madrid, 2021 Photographer Pablo Pérez-Mínguez narrated in first person the effervescence that society experienced during the Movida Madrileña movement. Provocation and colorful aesthetics were part of his unmistakable style. This photograph Torero Cordero was forged one afternoon in 1972. An open field near Barajas airport was the chosen location. Poet Ignacio Gómez de Liaño accepted to become a bullfighter for a day, dressed in a wig and a mask, holding a sheep. The resulting image is loaded with symbolism: a man turning his back on the archetype of that period. A true provocation. Together with his college friend and designer Carlos Serrano, he set up the Nueva Lente magazine, a true artistic revolution with which they contributed to the expansion of a new language, bringing a different perspective to Spanish photography. Pérez-Mínguez was one of the biggest supporters of incorporating this discipline into art galleries. Thanks to all his efforts to renew visual language, he was awarded Spain's National Photography Award in 2006. Pablo Pérez Mínguez Madrid, 1946 -- Madrid, 2012 His automatic Nikon took pictures of most of the participants in the Movida Madrileña movement (the Madrilenian scene), who marched through the streets and passed by his house in Monte Esquinza street, which had become a popular meeting point. Together with his friend and designer Carlos Serrano, he set up the Nueva Lente magazine, which brought a different perspective to Spanish photography, and also encouraged the incorporation of this discipline into art galleries. He won Spain's National Photography Award in 2006.
16. 50FOTO_210719_059.JPG: Escariano 16 / 25 by Tony Catany, 2007 A commission from the Gandía City Council was the starting point for this photograph, Escariano. The Consistory commissioned him to produce a book offering a personal view of the book Tirant lo Blanc. After months gathering information, an essential character -- Escariano -- was still missing to complete the visual plot he intended to create. Fascinated by the photographic archive of the parish priest of his tow, Tomás Monserrat, Catany became a self-taught photographer. He had a sharp eye, a gift he displays to the fullest in this image, in which he managed to transform something earthly into myth. In the holy city of Lalibela -- where he traveled after receiving an invitation from poet Manuel Forcano -- during a purification ceremony, he recognized King Escariano in a young man who was putting on a justacorps over his sweatsuit and a heavy golden metal crown on his head. After a first snapshot, which brought a smile to the model's face, he managed to capture the eternal gaze of the Lord of the Blacks of Ethiopia. His pictorialist images, and his versatility in the use of multiple techniques to photograph nudes, landscapes, portraits or still lifes, have earned him unanimous recognition in the field of photography. Life magazine named him one of the 100 best photographers in the world and was the winner of Spain's National Photography Award in 2001. Tony Catany Lluchmajor, Majorca, 1942 -- Barcelona, 2013 Self-taught, Catany began his career making travel reports. His pictorialist photographs and themes such as the nude, portraits and still lifes have earned him unanimous recognition. He frequently used the calotype technique, created by Talbot. Life magazine named him one of the 100 best photographers in the world for his mastery of light and his personal view of the world. He won Spain's National Photography Award in 2001.
17. 50FOTO_210719_061.JPG: Fraga's Vote 17 / 25 by Pablo Juliá, 1982 El voto de Fraga, © Pablo Juliá, 2021 Finding a key moment requires luck, but also the right combination of intuition and experience. Pablo Juliá put this theory into practice since the moment he started his career as photojournalist. In 1982, Andalusia was a political hotbed: a regional referendum, regional elections and general elections. A perfect breeding ground for Juliá, who had been working as a photographer for El País since 1979. Fraga gave a press conference in Seville in the aftermath of the regional elections. The reporter knew that Fraga was a man of fixed habits, every time he got up from a table he rearranged the papers in front of him and then left the room. The photographer waited patiently for the image he was looking for because he had noticed that Fraga had at the bottom of his papers several newspapers of that day with an ad that read "Vote PSOE." At the end of the press conference his intuition proved true: Fraga rearranged his papers leaving an image that he captured just in time. When Cebrián -- editor of El País -- received the image, he decided to stop the production of the first edition of the newspaper and place the striking image that the photojournalist had managed to get on the front page. Months later, Fraga acknowledged what the reporter had accomplished saying "Juliá, you are a good journalist and a great sonofabitch." Pablo Juliá Cádiz, 1949 Since the late 1960s, Juliá documented the Spanish Transition, and in 1980 he began his career at El País, reporting and conducting interviews in different countries. He is the author of several publications on the Transition and has participated in numerous exhibitions. He has been director of the Andalusian Center of Photography (CAF) and has won numerous awards for his work as a chronicler of one of the most important periods in Spain's recent history.
18. 50FOTO_210719_064.JPG: Paul McCartney 18 / 25 by Joana Biarnés, 1965 On July 1, 1965 at 12:40 pm, The Beatles landed in Madrid from Paris. The band that represented freedom was the polar opposite of the social and political situation in Spain. A young Joana Biarnés, who is considered the first photojournalist in our country, covered the press conference with Jesús Hermida for the newspaper Pueblo. The photographer, very aware that she had to get the photo that would make a difference, realized that she would not reach her goal at a press conference, surrounded by so many other colleagues. After the band's concert in Madrid, she traveled to Barcelona on the same plane as the English band. From the plane's lavatory, with a telephoto lens, she managed to get some pictures until some security staff noticed her presence and forbade her to continue taking photographs. Thanks to her skills, the photographer managed to sneak into the hotel room where The Beatles were staying by using the service lift. She knocked on the door of the suite and Ringo Starr let her in as she seemed like a harmless fan. Three hours later, Biarnés came out with a world exclusive: sharing a private moment with the Liverpool Quartet as no other professional had done before. Biarnés was, above all, a persistent and courageous woman, who always sought to get the best possible picture. Empathetic and generous, over the years, she earned the trust of her subjects, and always stayed true to her values and principles as a photojournalist. Joana Biarnés Tarrasa, 1935 -- Tarrasa, 2018 The professional career of a very young Biarnés was marked by an historic event: the Beatles' visit to Spain in 1965. After years of experience in sports photography, the field in which her father worked and where she took her first steps, she became a true a pioneer in photojournalism. For years, she was the official photographer for singer Raphael and she also worked for several agencies. She quit the press at the end of the 1980s.
19. 50FOTO_210719_067.JPG: Blue Chevy and Dancing Couple 19 / 25 by José María Mellado, 2006 Chevy azul y pareja bailando, © José María Mellado, 2021 José María Mellado is a photographer that became widely known for his research in the field of development of digital images. He created a new photographic language where landscapes are at the mercy of human whims. Roads, industrial fumes… reminders that humans leave their footprints in every corner of the planet. True to his conviction that photographers do not always need to carry a camera with them, he landed in Havana. Walking along the Malecón, he came upon a magnificent blue Chevy parked right in front of him. With the music blasting full volume, a couple got out of the car and started dancing. Astonished, Mellado suggested that they come back the next day to take a picture. And there they stood, like models waiting for the photographer's sharp eye to immortalize them. Mellado, a master in the art of finding beauty in everyday life, finds the perception of the scene in the yellow color of the boy's sweater with the line of the floor and the woman's clothes with the blue of the car. This couple from Havana has been forever entangled in a dance at sunset, the time at which Mellado, this trained engineer who was used to working with a rigorous methodology, chose to preserve them forever. José María Mellado Almería, 1966 He began taking photos of villages in Almeria with a Russian Zenit and has managed to turn his passion into a way of life. Despite having achieved great success with his books on digital photographic treatment, Mellado has always admitted that the artistic side of his work is the most important part for him. The passionate search for beauty in everyday life is one of the key elements in his work. He was president of the Royal Photographic Society.
20. 50FOTO_210719_070.JPG: Diptych #14 20 / 25 by Rafael Navarro, 1978 Díptico #14, © Rafael Navarro, 2021 A photographic dialog is the conversation between two images. A latent conversation that has different translations depending on the eye that is placed on them. This dialog takes the form of a diptych under the gaze of Rafael Navarro. In his visual poetry suggestion prevails over any logical explanation, leaving the field of interpretation open to the experiences and baggage of the viewer. To carry out Diptych #14, which was taken in the area of lower Aragon, Navarro photographed a tree without leaves in the winter and wrote down the coordinates. When he returned six months later, the tree had disappeared. He had no choice but to select another tree and reverse his search: He first photographed a tree with leaves and six months later he could complete the diptych. Search time is just another ingredient that needs be added to the work of this photographer. With a language halfway between abstraction and figuration, he has always been a natural-born observer who has paid attention to the human body -- nudes in particular -- the passage of time and the relationship with nature. He runs away from the obvious to suggest rather than explain. Rafael Navarro Zaragoza, 1940 With a language halfway between abstraction and figuration, Navarro has always been a natural-born observer who has paid attention to the human body -- especially nudes -- the passage of time and the relationship with nature, which are the pillars on which his extensive career is based. Through frames that seek to de-contextualize, he flees from the obvious to suggest rather than to explain.
21. 50FOTO_210719_073.JPG: Ajaia Ajaja 21 / 25 by Luis Castelo, 2007 The imaginary we collect over the years accompanies us when we try to explore any artistic discipline. The photograph of Luis Castelo is a collection of fragments of the world he wishes to treasure. The photographer's childhood was linked to his father's taxidermy workshop, where he helped with any of the tasks of that occupation. It was also linked to his frequent outings to the countryside where he used to catch butterflies and insects; or to those summers when he studied and captured amphibians and reptiles. In his head, Luis combined his interest in taxidermy with the images he saw in naturalists' notebooks, and imagined how he could capture three-dimensional objects with a scanner. He began manufacturing prisms and testing different illuminations to immortalize the objects he wanted to scan. In the case of Ajaia Ajaja, he needed to scan it in different fragments, which he later combined using a photo editing software. Castelo used clips, strings and other items for fastening to place the piece in the desired position. With his proposal, Castelo explores the limits of this technological support, which, just like the camera, we can use to preserve what our memory cherishes. Luis Castelo Palencia, 1961 His father was a taxidermist and so the animal world has always been closely linked to Luis Castelo's life. Since 1990, he has focused his work on searching and studying other ways of seeing nature by using scanners and other alternative instruments to the camera. He holds a PhD in Fine Arts and is a lecturer at the Complutense University of Madrid.
22. 50FOTO_210719_079.JPG: Shujaa Graham 22 / 25 by Sofía Moro, 2009 Sofia Moro knows that photography is about making reality unforgettable. That's why in 2009 she traveled to Hotel Altarista located in Birmingham, Alabama, to witness the meeting of 21 of the 139 exonerated death row inmates who had managed to prove their innocence throughout the history of the United States. A meeting full of sadness and joy. For four days she met all the key figures of the meeting: she delved into their stories, their feelings and the difficult journey that all who have been sentenced to death go through to prove their innocence. She took notice of Shujaa Graham and his life marked by poverty and segregation. In 1973 he was charged with killing one of the guards of the prison where he was being held and he was sentenced to death. The California Supreme Court overturned the judgment in 1979 based on the systematic exclusion of African Americans jurors. In 1981 he was declared innocent and released. He let Sofia take his photograph: A tear rolled down his cheek while his photo was being taken, he knew this image would become a manifesto against the death penalty. Sophia Moro went to that meeting because she knew that the eye is insatiable. She wants to see. She wants to snatch from reality anything resembling the issues that cross her mind. That's why you will find commitment and excitement in her photographs. Sofía Moro Madrid, 1966 A lover of photography from a very young age, Moro's work is split between photojournalism, documentary photography and editorial photography. She considers herself a very documentary photographer who tells stories through her images, and focuses her attention on those images that inspire emotions and are capable of moving people. In her work, the faces of her subjects are of vital importance. Her most personal projects are of a social nature in defense of human rights.
23. 50FOTO_210719_084.JPG: Los Thyssen 23 / 25 by Chema Conesa, 1989 The difficulty of editorial photography lies in getting the image to show part of the psychology of its subjects without words. In 1989, while working for El País, Chema Conesa and Alberto Anaut were commissioned to interview and photograph baron and baroness Thyssen at their residence Villa Favorita, in Lugano, Switzerland. When they arrived at the residence, at about ten in the morning, the aristocrat received them in his bathrobe. Heinrich Thyssen announced that the Baroness was in London doing some shopping, but that she would meet with the journalists over the course of the morning. Meanwhile, he invited Conesa and Anaut to visit his house freely: A bedroom filled with works of art, a bathroom decorated with a Renoir… Upon arrival of the Baroness, they set the scene for the press report: the outside of the Villa Favorita and the iconic painting of her collection Arlequin, by Picasso, add the final touches to the portrait. Conesa, in addition to the portraits he took of many well-known personalities, has worked as a graphic editor and curator of many exhibitions dedicated to key figures of Spanish photography. Chema Conesa Murcia, 1952 He is known for his work as portrait photographer and, in recent years, as editor and curator of exhibitions. An admirer of Cartier-Bresson, he began his career as a sports journalist for El País, but soon began to develop his career as a portrait photographer. His camera has captured a snapshot of the main characters of the new Spanish democratic era, such as Alberti, Felipe Gonzalez and Almodovar, and has also immortalized international figures such as Annie Leibovitz, Mario Vargas Llosa and Jack Lemmon.
24. 50FOTO_210719_090.JPG: Wannabe 24 / 25 by Elisa González Miralles, 2017 Societies are polyhedral realities, so in order to address its most fundamental issues, a deep look like that of photographer Elisa González Miralles is necessary. In her work, she explores issues related to social pressure, stereotypes, identity building and objectification, from a feminist perspective. The starting point for her project Wannabe are the so-called Japanese baby dolls, eerily realistic luxurious sexual dolls that look like real women. Her photographs also show women who look like dolls, an idea that is as disturbing as the previous one. The unconscious of women is also represented as a globe fish, a poisonous species which can slowly paralyze the muscles of a person's body and cause death by asphyxia. This is a metaphor for the roles we unconsciously play in society. In particular, of course, the roles of women. Miralles' work raises many questions to the viewer, who sometimes cannot tell whether the image he or she is looking at is that of a woman or a doll. To be able to photograph these baby dolls, Miralles visited an exhibition in Tokyo where, paradoxically, women were not permitted to enter unless they were accompanied by a man who spoke Japanese. Elisa González Miralles Madrid, 1978 With a degree in Chemistry, she is a photographer and co-founder of the MADPHOTO school. Her work explores themes such as the construction of stereotypes, human behavior and the conflict with one's own identity. She received a grant from World Press Photo in Manila, and was awarded the first FotoPress 07 prize. Her latest work, WANNABE, has been published by La Fábrica and exhibited in Un cierto panorama. Reciente fotografía de autor en España, curated by Jesús Micó for PhotoEspaña17.
25. 50FOTO_210719_092.JPG: Iko Iko, Afronauts Series 25 / 25 by Cristina de Middel, 2011 Afronautas, © Cristina de Middel, 2021 Artistic disciplines arise from an elementary question: How can we give shape to what lives within our mind? The medium chosen by Cristina de Middel, winner of Spain's National Photography Award in 2017, to give free rein to her fertile imagination is photography. In 1964, feeling ecstatic about their newly won independence, Zambia launched its first space program. Their goal was to send 12 astronauts and 10 cats to the moon, thus surpassing the United States and the Soviet Union. Only a few optimists supported the initiative of Edward Makuka, a Zambian high school teacher. Funding never came. The United Nations refused their support and one of the astronauts, a 16-year-old girl, became pregnant and had to drop out. The work of Cristina de Middel, which started with this failed space race, lies on the blurry lines between reality and fiction, far from the categorical imperative of truthfulness and documentalism. The Afronauts explores the idea of an impossible dream: what would have happened if that space program had continued? Cristina de Middel imagines colorful space suits, trainings, space explorations and encounters with extraterrestrials. All sorts of adventures that make photography the perfect companion for the imagination. Cristina de Middel Alicante, 1975 One of the most personal gazes in contemporary Spanish photography, Cristina de Middel has worked as a photojournalist for Spanish newspapers and NGOs, which has given way to more personal works where she questions both the language and the veracity of photography. The blurred line between reality and fiction is another constant in her work. In 2017 she was chosen by Magnum to be a nominee member of the agency and received Spain's National Photography Award.
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