P·H·O·T·O·G·R·A·P·H·E·R·S

Francisco Florit (1883–1956)

He is the most unknown pioneer of sports photojournalism.Francisco Florit was born in Barcelona on 22 April 1883. He was the son of Guillermo Florit and Sebastiana Ricart. Like so many of his colleagues who engaged in sports photography, he began his career during the 1920s in a context in which sports news began to make headlines. The first captioned photograph of his that we have been able to locate was published in the magazine La Jornada Deportiva in 1922.

Josep Gaspar (1892–1970)

One of the most versatile and kaleidoscopic figures that practised in Barcelona during the first decades of the 20th Century. A devotee to travelling, constant learning and experimentation, Gaspar was a reference of his time. He stood out in the world of cinema, a field in which he became one of the most recognised pioneers. As a matter of fact, his own life seems taken out of a film. After the war he tried out his luck in the Americas unsuccessfully and he ended up spending the last years of his live in Barcelona, alone and forgotten, in the most absolute misery.

Kati Horna (1912–2000)

The Hungarian Katalin Deutsch Blau, known as Kati Horna, was born into a well-off Jewish family. At a very young age, she began to sympathise with leftist movements, where she eventually met Paul Partos. As a result of his political activism, the couple left Hungary.

Frederic Juandó Alegret (1882–1961)

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.

Anna Maria Martínez Sagi (1907–2000)

Intense, brief, exceptional. Three words to describe the only female photojournalism published in the Barcelona press between 1900 and 1939. In a field dominated by men, the first photo credited to a woman did not appear until the start of the Spanish Civil War. Behind the credits Informaciones Sagi, Foto Sagi or, simply, Sagi hid the rebellious spirit of Anna Maria Martínez Sagi.

Adolf Mas i Ginestà (1860–1936)

An indisputable touchstone of Catalan and Spanish artistic heritage photography, Adolf Mas was also the visionary founder of Arxiu Mas [the Mas Archive], wellspring of thousands of images from the first decade of the 20th century onwards. The importance of that work has overshadowed other facets of the photographer, such as his work as a portraitist or photojournalist.

Manuel Mateo (1896–1984)

His relation to the profession of reporter started when he was only 14 years old, as assistant to Alessandro Merletti. In an interview Mateo recalled, “at the beginning my tasks where simple and humble; I drove the popular photographer’s car. I prepared his cameras, very voluminous back then. I was in charge of carrying, on my shoulders, his notorious ladder”. 

Joan Maymó (1892–1960)

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.  

Alessandro Merletti (1860–1943)

Born in Italy, this senior member of the photo-journalists of Barcelona was amongst one of the most famous persons of the Catalan capital during the first decades of the past century. He was the first in using motorbike much aware of the required mobility of the profession, a pioneer with the side-car, a precise watchmaker, an inventor of his own photographic devices and the ladder which made him famous, positioning himself above the others this way yielding different point of views. In possession of an extroverted and pleasant personality, one of his most characteristic gestures was to distribute sweets amongst the people that he portrayed.

Margaret Michaelis (1902–1985)

In December 1933, a couple fled Berlin, leaving their flat intact. She was Margaret Gross, a photographer; he was Rudolf Michaelis, an archaeologist at the Berlin State Museum. They were headed for Barcelona, where they were taken in by fellow German anarchists in exile.

Pages