Ramon Violant. D4767.
Ramon Violant i Simorra
Sarroca de Bellera, 1903 – Barcelona, 1956
Ethnographer and museographer. Born into a humble Pyrenean family, he was the oldest of five children. He was a tailor by trade and it was his family and his self-teaching that got him interested in folklore and ethnology, independently from schools and, above all, dogmas. He amassed a lot of cultural and scientific knowledge, developed in extraordinary research work (especially on the Pyrenees), communication (taking part in the Words and Things movement for approaching popular culture) and museography. In 1940, he was put in charge of organising the Museu d’Indústries i Arts Populars in Poble Espanyol, the origin of the MEB, where he acted as curator from 1942 onwards.
Other protagonists
Albert Folch on a totora boat. Expedition to Peru in 1963.
Albert Folch Rusiñol
(Barcelona, 1922 – Barcelona, 1988)
Was a chemist and businessman. He took a liking to ethnology while he was doing his military service in the Canary Islands, as he often travelled to Africa in order to carry out cooperation work in a drinking-water plant in the Sahara. He inherited his taste and passion for collecting from his father, Joaquim Folch i Girona, an eminent mineralogy collector.
Further information
Joan Amades carrying out field work. Fons Amades/Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya. CP20-1047.
Joan Amades i Gelats
(Barcelona, 1889 – Barcelona, 1959)
A well-known, renowned self-taught folklorist, he was a leading Catalan and international ethnologist. He explored many different areas, from festival imagery to oral tradition, including dances, rituals, cordel literature, clothing, trades, etc.
Further information
