Frederic Juandó Alegret

Vilanova i la Geltrú , 1882 – Barcelona, 1961

grupo autores

Pioneers of motor racing, early football stars, Basque pelota players, the crowds at athletic events… On the other side of the lens capturing this inception of mass sport at the turn of 20th century was Frederic Juandó, one of the first Catalan photojournalists to specialise in sport.

Frederic Juandó Alegret was born into an upper-middle-class family in Vilanova in 1882. Although it is not clear when he moved to Barcelona, by 1908, he was listed as living at 8 Ronda de Sant Pere. An economist by profession, he specialised in stock trading, and photojournalist, the field in which he left his mark.

From the turn of the century, he was a regular in photography competitions. He won several awards, including, amongst others, in the competition held by the Ateneu Social de Sant Feliu de Guíxols in 1907, the contest held by the Ateneu Enciclopèdic Popular in 1910, and in the stereoscopic photography category in the contest held by the Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid in 1915. In 1912, he exhibited his work in Vilanova during the 2nd Regional Congress of Athenaeums and Cultural Associations.

A member of the Barcelona-based Centre Autonomista de Dependents del Comerç i de la Indústria [Autonomist Centre for Shop and White-Collar Workers, or CADCI] union, in 1913, he teamed up with Josep Puig and Ernest Bretó to organise its photography section. Ten years later, he was a member of the jury for the competition organised to celebrate the section’s anniversary, along with the photographer Rafael Areñas and the painter Olegari Junyent.

His first known credited photograph in the press was published in Ilustració Catalana on 7 June 1903, in an article about the magazine’s third photography competition, in which he won a special mention in the sea photography category. Thereafter, although he never became one of the main contributors like Ballell, Juandó collaborated with Ilustració Catalana until 1916. It is in his work for this publication that his artistic facet can be seen, with images of landscapes and monuments, sometimes experimenting with chiaroscuro and playing with light. Since 1908, he also published sport-themed images, about motor racing and cycling.

Sport photography was Juandó’s main calling as a photojournalist, making him a pioneer in Catalonia. In addition to in his work, this facet is reflected in his involvement in professional associations. He was a member of the Sindicat de Periodistes Esportius [Sport Journalists Union] from its founding in 1912 and sat on its board of directors, first as a member and, from 1918, as treasurer.

The pages of the magazine Stadium, revista ilustrada de sports y sociedad allow us to appreciate his work as a reporter in a more intense and continuous way, as he was a regular contributor. Juandó captured the most important sport news of the time with snapshots of competitions, portraits of leading figures, and panoramic views of the atmosphere of the crowds. In 1923, he held a slide show at the Centre Excursionista Barcelonès [Barcelona Hiking Centre], where he was introduced as ‘the well-known Stadium photographer’.

Despite his popularity, his photo credits disappeared from the media from the 1920s on. Juandó died on 2 January 1961 in Barcelona. Months later, his brothers Joan and Enric deposited his collection of negatives with the Barcelona Provincial Council’s Servicio de Patrimonio Arquitectónico Local [Local Architectural Heritage Service]. The collection is currently deposited in the Arxiu General Diputació de Barcelona and consists of 8,498 images.

 

Resources: 

Diputació de Barcelona (2021). Catàleg de l'exposició Mirem el passat. Esports. Barcelona: Diputació de Barcelona.