Despite being one of the most prolific professionals of graphic design in Barcelona during the first third of the XX Century, Joan Maymó Duarte went unnoticed, as did many of his colleagues.  

The first photo of his that we have been able to trace was published in Hojas selectas in 1908 when he was only 16 years old. During the 1920s and 30s, he worked regularly as a photojournalist on current affairs for Flama, La Jornada Deportiva, Gaceta Deportiva, and the newspapers El Día Gráfico, La Noche and La Vanguardia. He also worked in Madrid media such as the magazines Mundo Gráfico, La Esfera,  Luz and Crónica and the newspapers El Sol and La Voz, among others.

His parents Antonio Maymó and Carmen Duarte had 4 children: Joan, Clotilde, Enric and Antoni. His siblings shared the love of photography, although as far as is known they never went professional. Joan Maymó married Isabel Fernández and they had two children,Ignasi and Jordi.

During the twenties he was a member of the Centre Excursionista Barcelonès (Hiking Centre of Barcelona) where he promoted the photography section, as well as playing a role in some of its governing bodies. Regarding professional associationism, in 1926 he joined the Associació de la premsa diària de Barcelona (Association of the daily newspapers of Barcelona) and the Sindicat de Periodistes Esportius (Union of Sports Journalists).

In addition to the photography featuresand news, he also experimented with compositions for various competitions of what was then called "Artistic Photography." In 1933 he contributed photographs to the book Barcelone, Catalogne: premier cahier de l'Album de photographies de Barcelone published by the Associació d' Hotelers i Similars de Catalunya (Association of Hoteliers and Similars of Catalonia).

At the beginning of the Civil War, like most reporters, he joined the Agrupació Professional de Periodistes (APP) (Professional Association of Journalists) linked to the trade union UGT. There is little information available on his journalistic work during the conflict.  In the documentation we have been able to locate he appears to be a professional in active employment in 1938.

He lived from the end of the 1920s until his death in 1960 atcarrer Verdaguer i Callis, 2 where he also had his photographic studio. No-one realised that his archive remained in this building until 2012 when the current owners began refurbishment and threw it away. Nevertheless, part of his work can be consulted in the Photographic Archive of Barcelona.